CRUISER BLOWN UP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 216, 5 June 1908, Page 7

CRUISER BLOWN UP.

—.— TBS SIATSUSHIHA. OVER TWO HUNDRED KILLED. . ' FEARFUL SCENES. BY TELEGIIAPII—WiESH ASSOCIATION—COrrItiaHT Sydnoy, Juno 4. Tho "Herald's '•' Hong-Kong correspondent supplies tho following particulars, ill connection with tho explosion in tho after magazino of tho Japanese training ship Matsushima, which visited Australasia a year or two ai;o:— . . A THIN WREATH OF SMOKE. Tho cruiser was off the Pescadores at 4 .o'clock in tho morning. Nearly all wero asleej) ,on board tho Matsushima. In less than fivo minutes after the explosion, tho bow rose, and she went under water in a smother-of'foam.' Of 461' officers and men, only threo officers and 236 men escaped. A r bluejacket whoso duty it' was to striko tho hours on tho ship's bell, noticed a thin wreath of smoke from tho deck near tho magazine, and at the samo instant- -.smelt a peculiar odour. Ho ran-to tho officer; on duty, who hurried down towards tho magazine', asking, for. a light. Thoroughly alarmed, the sailor ran for a lantern, calling out "Firo! Fire I" As ho reached the fifth gun there was a deafening explosion, and a choking rush of smoko and fumes. Ho crept on with difficulty to the' upper deck, over which the water was already cominE. -- ' Tho rooms occupied by tho midshipmen were blazing furiously, and the after-part of tho cruiser was enveloped in smoko and flame. Explosions followed one, another in rapid succession.;

BODIES BLOWN INTO THE AIR. t Amid volumes of flames and smoke aft, the bodies of officers and men were seen to bo blown up into the air, some to a height of a hundred feet: . - - ' • ' The magazine was situated just below the rooms of the junior officers,,-which wero surroundod by tho senior officers' quarters. The oadets were on the second deck, and tho bluejackets amidships. ■-. > •' So terrible was tho explosion that' thn stern, was smashed and every officer in the stem killed, a surgeon; a lieutenant, and two officers who wero on shore remaining as tho representatives of .the Matsushima's officers. 1 r Tho cadets behaved with coolness amounting almost to recklessness. Most of them sconibd to flight with friends, in order to escape on deck, and. quietly, awaited results. HOW THE BLUEJACKETS DIED. .If tho cadets displayed stoicism,' thb bluojackets showed; a grim exaltation which is probably peculiarly Japanese. . Tho explosion, threw the sailors in tho middle of the ship out of their hammocks. As. they. scrambled on to thoir feet fumes and water rushed in; Q'ho stench of . gunpowder was suffocating. ■ . , ' Somo. of the, Japanese placed handkerchiefs to their mouths and waded to tho portholes. These portholes enabled a few to escape, but tho water roso so- rapidly that tho majority .wero drowned or suffocated. In the last moments tlio, sailors shonted a Japanese war'soiig, and the survivors heard two, loud BanzaisT"' then a 'third.one;' a faint, hardly: perceptible cheer. ■; After that 'tho cruiser sank.' Tho terrible swiftness of the disaster prevented sufficient help being rendered. \