Maritime Activities

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 178, 6 January 1915, Page 5

Maritime Activities

BRiTiSH NAVAL 3TJIAT£uY. i Received it, 7 p.m. New Y'ork, January 5. The Times' article on British naval fctrategv, attributed to an American naval writer ranking next to Admiral Malum says: "The British fleet has accomplished what was expected of it in the circumstances and produced strategy of the highest order. England was still mistress of the seas. The amateur strategists who demand that the English should steam madly over the minefields in order to reach the Germans, simply ask the English to commit national suicide. A policy of watchful waiting must be pursued. Every man is doing his duty, which is as much a key-note of the service to-day as in Nelson's day." JAPANESE STEAMER SUNK, Received 5, 11.30 p.m. Tokio, January 5. The steamer Dartomaru, Xo. 2, bound from Dalny to Osaka, foundered near Fort Hamilton. Twenty-four were drowned.

GERMAN STEAMERS SEIZED. ATTEMPTED ESCAPE FROM GIBRALTAR. Received 5, 11.30 p.m. Copenhagen, January 5. A Xonvegian shipmaster from Gibraltar reports that some German steamers attempted to sail under Norwegian nam.es to avoid seizure. The Ilauiburg-Anierika's Gracccia, under an assumed name, and carrying three months' provisions for two German warships, tried to cross the Atlantic. An English cruiser captured her and took her to Gibraltar.

THE EMDEN'S LOOT. BAGS OF GOLD THROWN OVERBOARD. A SAILOR'S YARN. Received 5, 8.50 p.m. Frcmantle, January 5. The Times of Ceylon reports that the Emden's prisoners state that previous to beaching the vessel sailors threw overboard two bags of looted gold. THE FLEET'S CHRISTMAS DAY. WAITING FOR THE GERMANS. ALL THE MEN AT THEIR GUNS. Times and Sydney Sun Services. Received f>, 5.30 p.m. London, January 5. Admiral Sir John I'ellicoe, in a letter, states that the navy spent Chrstmas Day waiting for the Germans. Church services were held, and communion dispensed, with the ships cleared for action, and the men at their guns. THE KKON PIUNZ WILIIELM. STILL SINKING OUR SHIPS. Received 0 12.35 a.m. Las Palmas, January .j. The German steamer Otavi, from Pernambueo, landed thirty-eight sailors of French ships sunk by the Kron l'rinz Wilhclm, and fifty-five British from the steamer Bellevin, sunk on December 4.

LOSS OF THE BULWARK. SHIP SPLIT IN TWO. A SUDDEN CALAMITY. The disaster which overtook the battleship Bulwark i:i Shccrness Harbor is described as having been sudden, overwhelming and complete. The ship sank within three minutes. A sheet of flame seemed to split the vessel almost amidships and throw the severed sections apart. A fraction of a minute later, even as Shecrness shook with the force of the detonation and the smaller craft in (he vicinity rocked with the shock, a heavy pall of smoke hung upon the surface of the river where had been the Bulwark. When the smoke cleared nothing was seen except the. survivors struggling in the swell beside some mangled bodies and pieces of wreckage. The Bulwark had disappeared. The fore of the explosion was so great that houses in Slieernes'j and in Southend, seven miles away, and on the other side of the Mcdway, were violently shaken. Residents rushed to the streets in alarm. A dash to the waterfront followed, but nothing was seen but tile cloud of smoke which hung overhead. Through the blaze there darted to and fro several small craft, and as (he veil lifted these picked up from the eddies the smuggling few who were left alive. An eye-witness who was on board a vessel a short distance from the Bulwark said:—"l was at breakfast at about ten minutes to eight o'clock when I heard an explosion and went, on deck. My first impression was (hat the report was produced by the firing of a salute by one of the. ships, but the noise was quite exceptional. When I got on deck I soon saw that something awful had happened. T(„. wafer and the sky were obscured by dense volumes of smoke. We were at unci' ordered to the scene of the disaster to yen ler what assistance we could. At first we could see nothing, but when the smoke cleared we were horrified to find I bat 'be battleship Bulwark had gone. She seemed (o have vanished entirely from sight, but a little later we detected a portion of the battleship showing about four feet above the water. '.Ve kepi a vigilant look out for the unfortunate crew, tut saw only two men.

j ! (ic-i't know \v/k-I!ut t/i,- V.h-r boats s».t:v dVa*. (']!<• .i ; (• h ;r,v . v. ;j. cjs iU |." ; [ !• ►t \v!j •» i ..I::i ;! ;; pv.il VO1;II:M "*!' i-HHf •.'.;)•! ,1m?l hi'u tlu> niv. : ; i-i xvMl in two ;uul t]:";; 1■- <- ■-(' o\i-r anil She .;\i\wv! i,: livts aiinut'.-;-. " ' 1 «' tin* I'u'.v.'rk was Oip(iivy oiiiw r \.ts ....... Pliiilips and the navigating v, a--Lieutenant-Commander Joiin R. S. Penrose. The gunnery officer was Lieutenant Nigel E. Fergusson and the torpedo odifer Lieutenant Edward T. I). Finch. Houses all over the adjoining eountryi;ide were slmken by the explosion and even before men on ships anchored near by could reach their own deck the Bulwark had disappeared. The neighbourhood presented a terrible appearance, being strewn with an enormous amount of wreckage, while pieces of the ship were thrown six or seven miles on to the Essex shore.