NAVAL CATASTROPHE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9058, 6 April 1908, Page 5

NAVAL CATASTROPHE.

COLLISION DURING MANOEUVRES. A DESTROYER SINKS. THIRTY-SIX PERSONS PERISH. LONDON, April 3. While the cruisers Berwick (9,800 tons) and Argonaut (11,000 tons), the battleship Prince George (14,900 tons), the cruiser Essex (9,800 tons), and the cruiser Forte (4,360 tons), with the torpedo flotilla, were manoeuvring off Saint' Catherine's Point, with lights out, the destroyer Tiger collided bow to bow with the cruiser Berwick, and was ripped in halves from keel to gunwale. Thirty-six persons perished. Those below had no chance of escape. Several were killed by the impact. Lieut. Middleton, the commander of the Tiger, perished. Twenty-two were saved. HOW THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED. Received April 5, 4.4 p.m. LONDON, April 4. The night was dark, the sea choppy, and a drizzling rain was falling. The Berwick was steaming fast, and the Tiger 25 knots. Experts suggest that the Tiger's helm jammed, causing a collision. The Tiger's fore end lilted up almost perpendicularly and carried Lieut. MidUeton and most of the deck hands straight away to the bottom. The aft half kept afloat for three minutes, enabling several men to grasp spars and bits of wreckage. Fifteen of the rescued men belonged to the engine-room department.

The Recruit and Tiger were hunting together. The Tiger launched a torpedo against the Prince George and then steamed abeam of the tserwick to launch another. She mysteriously swerved across the Berwick's bows. Engineer Vinning jumped aside to escape the Berwick's prow, and shouted down the tube, "Shut off steam. All hands escape." The already pouring upon the engine plates. The Tiger was cut through like an egg-shell. ...'., Splendid discipline was maintained Engineer Vinning escaped.