SHEERNESS DISASTER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 9153, 29 May 1915, Page 5

SHEERNESS DISASTER.

AW APPALLING CATASTROPHE

SHIP HI3IILED INTO THE AIR. • DEATH ¥OLL 400.

LONDON.-May 28

The Princess Irene, which was accidentally blown up in Sheerne.ss Harbour, was a" niino-layer, and. ■belonged to the Canadian-Pacific Company. An ■internal explosion occurred ■■ at ll o'clock in tlio'"raoniing;;^r;{l: i : ti»yi---'vesser totally -disappeared.." '..--'Stoker.', pavic) 'Wills .■was picked up.. Ho. had' .sustained severe 1- burns.. Sevfihil iv.'en on the'vessels nearby were' wounded by falling splinters. Pathetic scene.'; occurred .6u,tside.'the' gates,' wliero notice was ■.'posted that 77 workers had lost their lives in the execution of thojivduty in . the', Sheer-■■ ness shipyard. 'Besides her rrr-u of 250 m<-n. the Princess Irene is imo^cially's+atod to have had on br-nni a vo~fitters and do"kov->. "'SmfiKß^bra if .s give the number lost as 'roBJBK»*sV:' Two pillars of flame at inljßfals c.i a few seconds ro<-o to a heiprft^f' 300 feet, and there was a deafenin^.roar. When the .'moke cleared away, "''only fragments of tlic wreckage and the corpses were to bo seen. The explosion was felt at Ma'd^tone. 22 noiles away. An olScer aboard a vessel near by says that the Princes Irene was hurled into the air a mile high in 10,OG0 ■fragments. He could distinctly make out the • forms of mon araktst flying | wreckage. I The Princess Irene was largely I manned by Chatham men. She had only left the dockyards 24 hours previously, and was moored to> a buoy 350 yards from the shore. ■

Wills, -when picked up from the water, was unable to give an account, of the accident. He was understood to say that he was in'the middle of the explosion, and thought he must have been blown" into the water with the pai't of the- ship-: m which he was working. ' , ■

Three ether men belonging to the Princess Irene .hnd Just gone ashore, otherwise the whole crew vrere blown to pieces. Nothing except-/, a portion of the most marks the' nlabo where• the Princess-. Irene'was ■'berthed. • • '■''■ ■..- ■'

. The Medway was ■ srk>tte& vwitlv pieces of wreckage and little bits-of Itiiman bodies. The ■. ojcnloaion '■.■was .severer than that in the Bulwark. Houses near the quay .seemed to rock under the shock. ' V