A BATTLESHIP AT LARGE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLIX, Issue 12629, 17 October 1905, Page 7

A BATTLESHIP AT LARGE.

If battleships were sentient beings that could use their weapons \vithout human control they would surely be dangerous beasts to be at large, and even as it is, with nothing 'but sheer bulk to count on, a battleship that has broken loose may inflict enormous damage. A few weeks ago the battleship Dominion went adrift in Portsmouth Harbour. She -was moored, says the " Daily Mail," off the North Cornea-, amid, quite a fleet of other vessels, the King's yacht, the Victoria and Albert, 'being her nearest neighbour. Just after five o'clock the look-outs on the other ships saw. to their consternation, that the Dominion had broken loose. She weighs 15,600 tons, and she was being driven by the tide down upon the other vessels. The massive chain sepuring the Dominion to her buoy had snapped under the (heavy strain (thrown upon it. As soon as the alarm'was raised aboard the errant battleship her crew were turned out, and she dropped anohor as quickly as possible. This caused the Dominion to swing round, so that she struck the gunboat Ant, lying near. Being a sturdy little vessel, the Ant bore the impact well. Her mooring stanchions, however, <wero swept down by the Dominion's 'boom, and the force of the collision sent the Ant and her mooring buoy floating down stream. A private yacht was lying near at hand, and straight upon this 'bore the leviathan hull of the Dominion. Several ladies, who were aboard the yacht were paralysed with terror as they caw the huge grey mass drawing near. The yacht's crew could not get out of the way, and their tiny craft was crumpled up like- an eggshell where the Dominion touched it. So badly was the yacht damaged that she had to be at once removed, and her occupants taken aboard the battleship. Still sweeping on, the Dominion crashed full into the King's yacht Albert, which was- struck on the starboard quarter, her bulwarksbeing smashed and her paddles injured. The yacht's injuries are so serious that it is considered doubtful whether she will be repaired. But as the King had already decided to have her bi-oken up about a year hence, when his new turbine yacht will be ready, the loss is not very serious. Eventually the Dominion grounded on a mudbank/ and was recaptured by lugs. -. ' k