WORSE THAN WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1918, Page 3

WORSE THAN WAR.

THE HALIFAX OISASTEiu A WELI..U\<;T(JMAN » DKScmi'Tlo>\ Xho Mayoi ..f Wellington (Ah . I'.' Luke, C.M.G )„ hfe receive' ■■■■■ letter from ;'iigineer-iieij.euaiii giving a graphic description of tin: recent terrible explosion auy (iestriH'Uou to life and propertv in 'luiifux, Nova bcotia., lie writes; —• "You will be lather surprised tr hear' from i:ie from this port of Halifax, .Nova £eoi.ia. Onto to* a lucky alteration in our plans and >.>. delay m berthing yon would probably novel have heard from nir again. I have been through something on the Western front, and hav°i seer. destruction in life and property to a great extent, but the. disaster here yesterday surpassed the lot. Happenings of the last two years I will never forget- certainly this calamity has been placed first in my memory. Wc. lef + in the belief that it was to he the same as usual, hut had not, beer out* many days when -ve "'er-- ordered here Ha' 1 a smooth run,' although t.ht weather was very dull and cold. On arriving here we anchored and started coaling, expecting to finish in tune to be berthed on a certain day in the afternoon. We did jiot- ge 1 alongside an intended, and just as '.vef. for us, as it was during the morningoop. p this day that the disaster occurred. We were sitting at breakfast in ';iic. ward room when a loud explosion was heard, and the ship shook and heele" over. I had jus' time tfl think that- t ship had collided with vw, when another tremendous report, hundreds of times greater than the first, rent the air Most of us were thrown out -.if our chairs, the thick glass ports were smashed, and everything movable was upset. . at once thought that a hostile submi nne had sneaked in the harbor and torpedoed us. There was a rush from below t*> tin* and there we saw a wonderful but awTul sight.. A huge, thick, white, rolling cloud ot smoke "vas rising up, and debris was falling into the water wherever you looked. Jt was soon realised that an awful explosion had taken place, but of what there, was no telling. When the cloud disappeared it was seen to have happened ir, the vicinity of the and just near A'here we expected to be tlit previous day. All hands were mustered, and the cutters were soon away with very available man and officer. Wo had already made >■ signal asking if help wa? required, but the flagship did not immediately answer, probably owing to eonfusior. and casualties aboard her. Fires were seen to be raging all over the. town, and near the scene of the explosion everything was alight. We really went with the intention of fighting the flames, but found our job to be rescue work. ' "One part 'it the town was absolutely cut off by fires, and fortunately wr landed hero and were able to use our boats to convey wounded to a place where they could he taken away. The whole, locality-was demolished,' and the scene was appalling. Hundreds of killed were lying about, and other poor beggars were pinned down amongst the ruins. How we did work, and what awful cases we. had to deal with! All conveyances were put intG service, and it was very soon seen that the hospitals could not deal with the injured. Other buildings were utilised, and even the ships in the harbor were used. "At first we did not have time to think ol' the cause of the explosion or e\'en what had gone up, hut we eventually learned of it. It appears that a French steamer, iaden with 4000 tons of explosives, and also a quantity of benzine on deck, was inward hound, and she got into collision with a Belgian relief ship flying- the Norwegian flag. The benzine caught fire, and, of course, that was the end. of it. The ship was blown to pieces, not a part of her rsmaining on the water. Some of her twisted plates are to be seen in the town, and her gun I has been found, three miles away. Shipping in the immediate vicinity suffered badly. A number of vessels have disappeared altogether, while others have, been stripped of funnel and all deck gear. Even the interior of some are just a mass of wreckage. The casualties aboard them arc numerous. all hands heing killed in some cases. It was a pitiful sight to see the craft being towed out into mid-harbor out of the danger zone. They had to do this, as there was a chance of tilt ::horc magazinf going up any minuta For the same reason all the- remaining people "were driven to the) extreme opposite end of the town. Luckily the magazine did not go off, and it -Wjir, soon mad.* safe. "The huge fire raged all day and night, and U make matters worse the weather, which :>ad been fine, turned to a nasty blimri'. The following day it blew and snowed without ceasing, but still the rescu>j work went on. 'We had tucker and relief parties sent from the ship, and we arc still carrying on in this way. Tlis ;lre is now out. but a tremendous number ot people are still missing, and it means shifting a lot of debris to get the bodies. A few have been found alive, but, there is no chance for any more now. "The paper gives it out that tliev estimate the killed to be about 2000, while the injured wil' be about iiOOO or 0000. The homeless number 20,000, so you can see what a dreadful thing has happened, Relief is being sent from all quartersspecial trainS bringing doctors, IHu-ses' medical supplies, clothing, and food Things, have got mow settled now, and it makes onr notice the plight of the people more. One man to-day was searching ®mongsf. the ruins of his house, and hart p. few charred bones on a tray. I-Ie turned round and remarked that that was all that was left of hrs family of seven."