ON THE SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 January 1919, Page 5

ON THE SEA.

STRANDED AMERICAN TRANSPORT.

RESCUE OF WOUNDED SOLDIERS.

New Yont, Jan.

The troops have been landed i'rom the Northern Pacific. Fifteen fell into the etirf, but were rescued..

Jinny soldiers >vero rescued by means of a breeches buoy. Four were taken out o£ an overturned surf boat. They were unconscious wlien dragged out of the water by rescuing parties.

BRAZILIAN FLEET TO VISIT

ENGLAND.

New York, Jan. 2.

A United Press Rio de Janeiro message states that the Brazilian fleet now in European waters, will visit England at the invitation of the British (.Government.—Aus. jS.Z. Cable Assoc.

NAVY'S SECRETS.

KEYES LIFTS THE VEIL,

London, Dec. 24.

Vice-Admiral Keyes, commanding the Dover patrol, in a speech, revealed a number of the secrets by wliicli the great successes against submarines were achieved.

He explained that the Channel barrage consisted of two lines of speciallybuilt ships, able to ride at anchor throughout the stillest gale, and provided with the most powerful searchlights One line ran from Folkestone to Cape Gris Nez, and the second extended across the Channel for seven miles westward. Scores of drifters and small craft, which patrolled the intervening interval of darkness, were so thick that it was impossible that anything could pass on tb." surface, while underneath were masses of anti-submarine devices.

The duty of the patrol craft was to attack and prevent submarines passing on the surface, and drive them down to the hidden perils below, and then drop depth charges.

These measures were so successful that by September, 1918, the submarines gave up the Channel passage. There was definite enemy proof to this effect. Between January, 1918, and September, 1918, the T:'landers submarine flotilla lost 30 U-boats, of which 17 were identified under the lighted barrage. There were, many others not yet located definitely.

NAVAL MYSTERY.

LOSS OF AUDACIOUS.

AN INTERESTING WAR SECRET

CLE ARED

With the signing of the armistice, the first of the many war secrets has been cleared up by the announcement tliat ,tho Britisli dreadnought Audacious was sunk aftere striking a miue oil' the Irish coast on October 27th, Wl4.

It is stated that the fact was not disclosed. previously at the express command oi the Commandei'-in-Chief of the Grand fleet. It is believed that the reason oi the Admiralty in holding back this etatemeijt as compared with its freedom in issuing hews in connection with other losses, may have been due to desire to keep secret the fact that a naval Had been established at Lough, Swilly, in the north of Ireland. The story of 'the loss of the battleship, however, was freely published in the neutral and enemy press, and the only people who knew nothing of it were the subjects of the Allied Powers.

PUBLIC BEWILDERED. Circumstantial stories from passengers on the steamer Olympic were published in the American newspapers . at the time, but the Admiralty immediately announced thai there \va,s no truth in the report. The public was further bewildered when photographs showing the sinking of the .vessel ttere published, and, despite attempts by the authorities to keep details out of the press oi the limp ire, the story became one t,i' the matters which the people in wai-thc. liace to be content to allow to remain a mystery.

A story of the occurrence appeared in the New York Herald on November 15th. 1914, which said: That the British Dreadnought Audacious, one of the finest ar.J most powerful = u Britain's great navy, has been sunk twenty-five miles off the Irish coast by a German submarine or German mine was continued yesterday in mail advices sent from the toth of Ileland to the Associated Press. The disaster, the most serious loss of the war so far as battle efficiency is concerned, overtook the Audacious on October 27th. With the possible exception of one or two men, the entire 80Q officers and men of the Audacious wwe saved by the Olympic, of the White Star Line, which explains why, when the Olympic pu; into 'Lough Swilly two days &tei% Charles ?.{. Schwab was the only passenger permitted to go ashoie. Before this was permitted, it is said he promised to maintain secrecy, and ;i similni' pledge was exacted of the other passengers before they were allowed to land when the Olympic readied Belfast. All mention of the disaster was prohibited ir> Great Barrier.

STJ2JK BY OWii AMMUKip)*.

The Audacious carried a complement o: about 1000 men. These were saved by tile inesi in tjie small boats ot the Olympic, -wnicii lor hows fought to save, the Audacious by towing her, but about iiJ iiours alter she had been first wounded, there was an explosion on board the Dreadnought, supposedly her magazines, which sent lier to the .bottom stern iirsfy . The cruiser Liverpool and several other warships were standing close by, and w spiinter of armor plate, hurtling to the dec!: of the Liverpool, severed the legs ol ft gunner, mortally wounding liiiu.

'£' he Olympic waa only about 10 miles avtay ■when, soon before 9 o'clocE on October 27th, a torpedo from a submarine or & mine tore a, hole in the Audacious' side just below tie water lint;.

Like other batUeships of he? type, the -Audacious wvs equipped with strong bulkheads, asd this kept her afloat, despite the gravt damage which had been done under water

A W44><ks». call i<n fcebt wan tottedi-

ately sent oat, and the Olympic, the nearest vessel, was the first to reach the Audacious. The Audacious had her after engines put out of commission, hut two others escaped damage.

KKSODURS ut;. PERIL.

When the Olympic, driven ftt full speed by Qaptain Haddock, drew near the Audacious, there was a iiuavy and dangerous sea running, and the work of putting ovui the small boats was a perilous task. 1 Captain Eaudocic called lor volunteera, and More than twice the number o£ men who could he employed stepped forward eagerly. The heal men were picked, and the boats were pot over in lirillisct atyie.. Struggling through the .dangerous was, tlic.v rwlu'd the side of the Auitacious, awl begins the work of rescue. t

discipline o;» boaid the battleship «•# pcrfwf-, every man standing p.i quarter* until it was his iuvii to enter the rescue boats. Before noon the Olympic's bouts had taken off all except, about a hundred of the crew of the Audacious.

While those remained on board. Captain Haddock essayed to tow tlie Audacious to the Irish coast, only V>v«ntvfive miles away, where she e.nuTl be beached and saved. The Liverpool and otiie'.- rescue ships stood by as the difficult work of getting a cable aboard the Audacious was performed. By this iime the Audacious was well down' hy thv stern, and when the Olympic started she.ad the drag on the cable was two grari, srd it parted. GIANT GRAFT A3A'>TDOHED. " Tho buikheadj of tiie Auaacious began to give way under tlie straiis, and the task of saving her, it became clear, was a hopeless onj. 1 he.rest of the crew, which had remained on board, were then taken off, and the Audacious v.i:s abandoned. Soon ufte.' the order to abandon tin; ship was given the Audacious began to settle lower in the wuter as oi;e after unother of her bulkheads yielded to the increasing pressure. At nine o'clock, as the big Dreadnought was rolling in the heavy sea, a helpless hulk, there was a violent explosion, which shattered her stera. The gi -at battleship, with her lisii guna, stood almost straight up in the air witn he:- bowa pointing up, and then ;a a moment disappeared. What caused the explosion 13 r.ot known, but it is supposed that one of the great sheila, rolling loose as the Audacious lifted and floundered about, was detonated and caused a magazine to blow up. Great splinters of steel and other wreckage wero tossed high in the air and over a large area of the sSa, but the splinters which fell aboard the Liverpool caused tho only casualty reported as a result of the terrific explosion. OLYMPIC ALSO SEEKING SAFETY. The opportune presence of the Olympic so near the disaster was due to the fact that she was skirting the coast of northern Ireland to be safe from Uer-

iniui mines or submarines. Khe left New York on October 21st ior Glasgow. A wireless warning or a German minefield off Tory Island, which lies about ten miles off the Irish coast, and jn''tiie American steamship lanes, had oeen Hashed to hei', and the official explanation of her arrival at Lough Swilly was that she had put in to escape the mine peril. The Olympic had about 300 passengers on board, of which about -a third were British reservists-' ' At Lough Swilly Mr Schwab, who wa3 travelling on business for the British Government, was permitted to go ashore, but the other passengers were not. . Mr Schwab would say nothing on landing, except that no accident had taken place on hoard the Olympic. To make the seal of secrecy regarding the catastrophe even stronger, even officials of the White Star Line were not allowed to go on board the Olympic at Lough Swilly All supplies taken off were put aboard by men from the warships. The rescued crew and officers of the Audacious were distributed among the other warships as quickly as possible.

At Belfast, when tiie Olympic reached there, it was discovered, it is alleged, that she h(jd a German spy on board. One of the waiters was taken ashore on that charge and detained for examination.

The Audacious, the first Dreadnought loot by the British, wns of the King George V. class, provided for m the naval estimates of 11)10-11. Her displacement was 25,000 tons. She was supposed to make about '22.r>\knots. Her powerful main battery 'consisted of ten 13.5-inch guns.