A BAKER AT THE BIG SEA FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2861, 28 August 1916, Page 6

A BAKER AT THE BIG SEA FIGHT

REMARKABLE NARRATIVE WATCHING A "BATCH" AND A BATTLE The following letter is addressed by tho baker of H.M.S. , an eye-witness of the great battle, to the head teacher and children of his old school, Longirick, Bucks: — My dear Miss Watson and Children, —I guess you are expecting a few lines about the great action. On Wednesday afternoon we suddenly had the news the enemy was not very far ahead; our noxt. report was that our battleoruisers and fast battleships were very heavily engaged with the enemy, not far ahead. We did not, personally Speaking, place much value on this, for we nave been very close on many other occasions and had been doomed to disappointment. Shortly after tins' heavy cannonading could be plainly heard, and soon we appeared on the scene of action.

At the time I had 3601b. of dough proving (rising) in the tins, and as my bakehouse is situated on the upper deck it is very exposed. My orders were to leave it au3 get under cover below armour as soon as the position became critical. Twenty minutes before we commenced action, or, I should say, opened fire, I went to the commander and obtained permission to remain in the bakehouso until the last moment, which was tho firing of the first gun. This order gave me the. opportunity, of witnessing jiim opening of the battle. fleet action. _ While my dough was proving in the tins I went out on the quar-ter-deck and witnessed a most magificent spectacle, one never to be forgotten. The whole visible horizon, which was not more than four miles, was one long blaze of flame; the hulls of the enemy's ships were not visible to the naked eye, hut could be seen dimly through the haze with: the telescope, and the only means we had of knowing th« enemy was there was by spurts of flame from the enemy's guns'. I. was so intensely interested that I could not realise the risk until observing a oruisor ner on fire.

Saving My Broad. I went back to the bakehouse and endeavoured to save my batoh of bread My staff, which consists of three men) had gone down under cover. The firo party by this time had orders to extinguish my fire; the dough required at least twenty minutes more proof. But being very loath to waste the material and labour, I put the tins in the oven and chanced to luck, if it was possible to save it later, though my superior officer had given mo orders to leave everything at anv critical time. Havinrt done this I hastened down below. By the time I nnt to my station we were in the thick of it." Several minutes laW I qot a book nut to read, entitled "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius," and had not rend much whe.n wn received the news that tho Invincible had rjono down And we were passing close h'v her. A few minuted Inter we got the report of a second ship blown up and then,a third. The next roport was that the iship next to us was on fir«, but this was quickly got under. Needless to say, no more reading.

Shortlv after snnm enemy's dostrovora appeared mnWenlt nut of the mist (*> attack the ship. We opened fire w ; th our anti-torpedo armament, and the leaduitr destrovpr was observed tn ho hit "and to nteh aft. She quickl* tnrrmd and dropped out of station, and phortlv after was observed to turn over. At tho come t.imo one nf our heavy Eiina et the same lino of destrover«. and when the smoke ond cplnwli of the nrnincfile had cleared awnv the K«cond hnat in the lino lynn mminrr. Tho other* took'tn flitrhfc and disappeared in the mist. Thi s sho<vr, yon the awful havoc of modern lynpnYe. At th» snnio time we " rot -o blazing nw».v at .i h"ttle-oruiser. which wen ntwervafl to he I'nqvil'- on fire end stationary.

After about two hours' ruirrarfompnt there name a nbort lull. If, vf>«\ \-flown tw, tho -»nm,' s w.tla (!„„).. i l!K i tnniPd Wk Cirri loft tho ; - hnttWrniwirs to their fnte) to nvoi'd cnmir>r» info rnll . tir>t witfc «"r whoV (loot. Phortiv nft»r this Wharf to take f>™». n- <!<ir main armament lm<l o"°n?"l fi-» it what was supposed to be the Derfflinaer. Riiirerj y/Whoiif F'r». I discovered just before going to my action station that my hatch of bread had actually baked without any fire, and turned out fairly creditably. And though we did not know how long the bakehouse would remain intact, I was anxious to save it, knowing.full well wo might be glad of it if anything hanpened. I went to my action station. Firing had commenced again, but I requested the fleet surgeon to allow me to go and draw my oven; he wa» very reluctant, but eventually consented, at my own risk. I asked for two volunteers out of our staff, and without any hesitation two came forward. Of course, our risk was no greater than any other's, but I tell you this to show the spirit that prevailed. No one seemed excited; everyone I met seemed perfectly cool, as though we were carrying out an ordinary evolution; in fact, we had a gramophone playing some of the time! ■ This engagement did not last very long, and_ darkness set in—the most anxious time for a battle fleet.

Wo witnessed several attacks of tho enemy's torpedo craft. We saw one of the enemy's light cruisers blown clean out of the water in one of these' attacks, just astern of us. Our light cruisers and destroyers did some wonderful work that night; thev kept our battle fleet safe; not one ship was hit. But one must pay tribute to the enemy _; they are brave men, and fought splendidly. ■ Several instances were observed during the battle where their vessel was awash and they blazed away with one gun. It is a pity their battle fleet did not show some of this spirit. The gun flashes, searchlights, star-, shells (which the enemy use), and the explosions made a grand but terrible spectacle, for we realised hundreds of bravo men were going to their doom. But we did not seem to realise the full extent of our danger; I supnose we had waited so long to get, at them it was in the blood and v:o wanted to square accounts, as it were.

A Midnight "Batch." There was not much sleep in the ship that night. I made a batch of dough" at midnight and then lay down on the lockers with my life-saving belt on. I thought at the time one might just as well sleep as keep awake, for should anything happen there would not be much chance of being saved oh such a night as that. I had a couplo of lours' refreshing sleep. We were all alert as the dawn broke, and I went on deck again. It was a beautiful morning. Half an hour after dawn we heard very heavy cannonading, and half an hour later we saw tho ca\ise of the gunfire, for dropping from the clouds from the soutb-west was a large Zeppelin. Wo had a lovely view: this w,as the first one a great many of us had seen; it was visible for about fifteen minutes, and it manoeuvred very gracefully. It received a very warm reception from our battle fleet. We fired our heavy guns at it, and it was last seen crossing the rays of tho rising sun and disappearing in the clouds. This little scrap

was Tory imposing from a spectacular point of vibw. We patrolled the battle ground for mauy hours after this, as we nad heard one of the enemy's battle-cruisers was helplessly adrift, but I think 6he must h&vo sunk. _ This patrolling was the uxisi pathetic incident during 'the ivhoh? hnsiness, for we wore constantly passing wreckage and dead bodies, cither floating or on rafts—comrades arid foes. This is what goes homo to you; but one does not grumble if one has the spirit of a Briton. One feels proud they have done their bit and .taken their chance. The battle-cruisers fought the whole German nary until we camo on the scene of actfon! This, I think, is Worthy of all our traditions: they have only scratched Britain s sure shield; wo hope to strike home next time if the elements are favourable to Us. With evwy good wish, I remain, yours srScercly ———. Jrnis 6, 1916, H.M.S. .