A SEAMAN'S NARRATIVE OF THE THUNDERER DISASTER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5344, 31 March 1879, Page 3

A SEAMAN'S NARRATIVE OF THE THUNDERER DISASTER.

A London paper publishes a private letter written by one who was on board the* Thunderer at the time of the recent terrible explosion, giving an account of the disaster. He says : — " They had fired all three guns by electricity, for the first round as a broadside, and we were expecting the next when we heard a strong report, although not much louder, if any, than a broadside makes, but the sound was altogether different, and we knew directly something was wrong. All of our party were knocked down by the shock; in fact, I do not think there ceuld have been six men in the ship who kept their feet ; the smoke and fire came down the ladder almost enough to choke us. Now just fancy our position : a narrow passageway, about two feet wide on each side — all the amidships portion is occupied by the engine at work, steaming eight knots or thereabouts; the torpedo party have got a Whitehead torpedo about half-way up our only access to the upper deck, and the water-tight doors all shut, — with, smoke, flame, and the stench of powder' enveloping the torpedo, driving you from, the hatchway and knocking you silly with: the shock. For three or four minutes, there we were like rats in a trap— could, hear the poor fellows groaning, and notable to help them ; for, remember, no one could, tell at first what was the matter, and if her-' bottom had been damaged, the whole, of! the party in that compartment must die,for the safety of the rest. Well, th«yJ opened one door, and I was sent to soufcd! all the wells and find if she made any ! water at all. To do this I had to go! along the flats : and to see the jpoor fel- ;

lows I met as soon as the doors were opened was heart-rending — , the poor : fellows blackened and disfigured tillj unrecognisable, and still struggling and ; saying, * Look out for poor So-and-so ; ; he is worse than me !' One of my messmates passed me, leading another man with all his hair burnt off his head by the fire. f I'm all right, Jack,' he said, ; ' and I am glad you are.' He now sits opposite me, with both hands skinned and' bound up with cotton wool and oil, his head all bandaged up, and his sight so weak he cannot bear the light of a purser's . dip. This is called a slight case, not in the list of injured, you will see. To hear one poor fellow saying, 4 My poor dear mother !' another, * What will my wife do now !' would have made anyone's blood run cold. . But still, stern duty stares you in the face. ' Stop for nothing till you report the ship's wells !' were my orders, and ' Stop for nothing' was what I had to obey, if I could any way jump over or get through it. At last, much to my relief, I got to the last well, and found her making water nowhere. Then 1 went on deck, and for the first time found what the cause of this was. At independent firing the left gun in the fore turret missed fire, and by some means the gun — a 38-ton one — burst into fragments, killing the whol.e of the men in the turret with the exception of two, who are both given up by the doctors. Well, we had. to go to work coffin-making, and at 10 o'clock, when the captain walked round at the head of those who wished to take a last look at their messmates before we screwed them down, the tears ran down his cheeks, and those of many others who a few hours before were joking, skylarking, or working com^ fortably together with what in every' case but two looked now like charred masses mixed with cotton wool. Such :a sight I never wish — or, rather, I trust I may never see again. We sent eight or nine of the worst cases to the flagship in cots, and we have one poor fellow on board who is just lingering out his last few 'hours. He belongs to the next meas to me, and, to give you a specimen of how it comes horne — there are three messes ; \ take about fifteen feet of the lower deck, Nos. 1, 3, 5. In No. 1, one dying ; in No. .3, two hurt ; No. 5, one gone to flagship, thigh fractured, one in his hammock over my head, and two killed ; the brother of one, sitting next to me, writing to his wife about his things. To-day (January 3) we buried them. The procession was as follows : — Band ; a firing party of about 100 marines ; then 10 field-pieces, each with a coffin with a Union Jack ; our captain as chief mourner, followed by every man that could be spared from the ship, and a funeral party from others in the fleet, in all, I should, say, about 1000 men. The admiral him-: self .followed. The service was read all; through by the graves in torrents of rain, and in presence of a number of the inhabitants, and a 'Turkish guard ofhonor.' The damage done is very serious, : and you would never believe, 851 b of' powder could do the work — pieces of the gun, weighing hundredweights, blown in' the air in. all directions." . >-.'•.