British Battleship Blown Up.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 28 November 1914, Page 5

British Battleship Blown Up.

TERRIBLE EXPLOSION AT I SHEERNESS. HEAVY LOSS OF LIFE. London,. November 26. Official.—The Bulwark, an armoured ship of 15,000 tons, with four 12-inch guns, was blown up in Sheerness Harbour at eight o'clock this morning, owing, it is believed, to an explosion of the magazine. Only twelve were saved out of a crew of 780.

[The Bulwark was built in 1002. She had a speed of 18 knots, and carried four 12in. and twelve 6in. guns. Shccrness is a naval seaport and Government dockyard on Sheppey Island, at the mouth of the River Medway, which runs into the Thames, near its mouth. The dockyard (00 acres in extent) is enclosed and strongly fortified. It seems quite impossible for a submarine to have reached the vessel, which would be inside closed dock-gates, and in day-" light an airship could hardly make a successful raid on a port specially protected against, sucli incursions. The only other possibilities are accident or treachery.] London, November 26. Mr Churchill, in the House of Commons, in announcing the disaster, said that the Admirals were convinced that .the internal magazine exploded and rent the ship asunder. There was no upheaval of water. The Bulwark had entirely disappeared when the smoke cleared. The loss of the ship had not sensibly affected the military position, but the loss of life was very severe. The Bulwark disappeared in three minutes. The explosion shook every building in the vicinity. Some of the debris was thrown six miles. The concussion was felt at Southend, on the other side of the' Thames, which is eight miles wide at Sheerness. Dense clouds cf smoke arose and drifted across the estuary of the Thames.

ROAR HEARD FOURTEEN MILES DISTANT.

VESSEL VISIBLE AT LOW WATER. BROKEN IN THREE SECTIONS; THE FORWARD MAGAZINE EXPLODED. .Received 27, 11.5 p.m. London, November 27. The. Daily Chronkle says most of the Bulwark's crew were, breakfasting bilow. * . ' ;

Eyewitnesses state thai a long, miufilcd roar was heard for fourteen miles, and tile terrilic flash was seen for miles, tlie shin momentarily resembling a fireworks display. A great white cloud a rose, similar to that of a. cordite explosion. Apparently the forvanl nuizazine blew up. When the smoke cleared, not a vestige of the vessel reniaind. At the' time of the explosion tin; 'not a vestige of the vessel remained. The signalling officer watt-lied the smoke clear, and was astounded to see nothing. Workmen on shore counted' the vessels at their moorings, not crediting that one had entirely gone from the harbor. Instantly commissioned officers and men on tile shfys rushed on deck, half illumed. Rescue boats put off !n all rtT'Ttions.

The vessel is visible in three setions 'at low water, with masts and funni'ls gone.

A chest of drawers was found in a marsh 'half a mile away. All the glass and crockery in the nearbv was shattered.

The general opinion at Chatham is that the bottom of the vessel wa3 blown out.

STORIES OF EYE-WITNESSES. GREAT SCARE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. VERY j FEW SURVIVORS. THEORIES AS TO THE CAUSE. Received 28, 1 a.m. London, November 2.7. A 1 number of men were drilling on deck at the moment of the disaster.

A sailor on a vessel near by states that there were two heavy reports, followed by a finish of lire. The whole ship seemed to heave and then drop into fragments. ' Another eye-witness affirms that two explosions occurred, one fore and the other aft. He believes they were simultaneous explosions. The concussion shook the Southend pier, and was felt by hundreds of civilians and by Germans interned on ships in Southend roads. It was first thought by people ashore that it was a Zeppelin raid. Then came the suspicion that an aeroplane had bombed the gasworks, until it was found that the aeroplane was British. Three minutes after the explosion only whirling sea, white foam, specked with caps, wreckage and kitbags marked the spot.

Fourteen of the crew arc in hospital at Gillingham, suffering from concussion and fractured limbs. Four are in a critical condition. No officers were saved. Very few were aboard.

Few other craft Mere moving in the Medway at the time. One boat, protected from the direct effects of the concussion by the river-bank and a headland, was yet flung out of the water. When she was rightlid she picked up a bluejacket. The latter stated that he Was sitting on a grating, when the explosion threw him high in the air. He turned somersault after somersault, and landed in the river, little hurt. He was able to swim until he was picked up. It is suggested at Sheerness that the disaster was due to the fall of a 12-inch lyddite shell into the Bulwark's magazine.

Lord Charles Beresford, who once commanded the Bulwark, states that the magazines were in a very safe position, and protected by every modern device to keep the ammunition at the right temperature. Even a shell might be dropj ped in the shell room without exploding Ijhe magazine.

' Sir ■ Hiram Maxjm that .faulty