COSSACK'S END

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 272, 17 November 1941, Page 7

COSSACK'S END

CAPTAIN KILLED

Explosion Vividly Described By

Officer Survivor

United Press Association,—Copyriglit. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, Nov. 16. Captain E. L. Berthon, D.5.0., and members of the crew of the destroyer Cossack who were killed when the ship was lost, could have known and felt nothing of what happened, said an officer describing the explosion which resulted in the ship's end. "I had gone down from the bridge to the charthouse and the next thing I knew was I was being helped back to the bridge by a seaman. I had a dislocated shoulder and broken teeth. There was oil everywhere and the seamen who were helping me were so black they were unrecognisable. "There were eight or nine officers on the bridge when I left and none were there when I returned. All had found themselves in other parts of the ship or in the water, not knowing how they got there. The ship j was head to the wind, making the fire spread rapidly and causing ammunition ready for use on deck to go off like fireworks." The officer added that some of the ship's company included participants in all the exploits of the Cossack, including the Altmark capture, the Narvik raid and the sinking of the Bismarck.