HORRORS OF' A SEA EIGHT.

Northern Advocate, 19 April 1915, Page 2

HORRORS OF' A SEA EIGHT.

I PICKING UP*SUBVIvBEB.

♦' A SIGHT."

The horrors of naval warfare waged under modern -conditions are vividly presented in the following extracts from the letter of a-British-naval officer to his father. The officer in question belonged to H.M.S. Invincible, which took part in the Falkland Islands battle, where four German cruisers were sunk, and in his description of that encounter he states that it was impossible for the British any r of the ?erew of the Scharnhorst, because she went down with such startling suddenness that she took every soul on board to the bottom with her. Badly damaged by the British gun fire, she capsized in a minute and went down like a etone. Shortly , afterwards the Gneisenan got her death-blow and healed over on to the water. The Invincible made every possible effort to save some of the crew.. The following is the officer ,'c account of those efforts. ' His story •is written throughout in'the present tense: —

A "SEA OF* DROWNING' MEN. "A very, very pitiable sight meets our eyes. We are juet over the, spot where the Oneisenau sank. -?....Three of tvur boats are away picking up survivors. The Inflexible's boats aTe doing the same, and so are the Carnarvon's. "The sea, which is so different from its state at noonday, is now quite angry, ■* is -■ strewn , with - .■ floating wreckage supporting drowning men. To add ..to .the.,.misery a drizzling rain is falling. We cast overboard every rope we can,.and try our >hands* at casting to come wretch feebly ' struggling within a> few yards of the ship's = side. "Missed him! Another shot. He's further off now. Ah, the rope isn't long enough! No good, try someone else. He's sank now. L wonder •who '11« mourn him. 'It wonder if. I had any forebodings of this 24 hours back, wonder if he thought of that body those limbs of his which no man might touch with impunity, would be jostled hither and thither byi the waves, rolled over and over by: , ,the;tide like a bottle «east loose. Flotsams and jotasm, -allele is now. >*Mtray such , , we •see* Now we lend a hand hauling a rope, pulling some poor devil out of the water.

HAVOG OP THE SHELLS. "As they are hauled on deck they are taken below into the wardroom ante-room or the admiral 'c spare cabin. Here with knives we tear off } their dripping clothes. Then with a towel we try to start a little warmth into their ice-cold 'bodies. They rtremble violently'from-the iciness of : their immersion. Some' 6i them had 'stuck it , for 30 minutes in a temperature of 55deg Fahr - Most of 'them need artificial resuscitation. / Some on coining to to consciousness give ■* the most terrible groans as if there were represented to their minds ■ some awful picture. What : fearful sights they must have witnessed, ■ some of -them. Our shells did terrible havoc, sometimes wiping out an entire gun's crew. One or two are horribly burned,- and some of their* bodies are red and white where they s have been peppered ■>. with lyddite. *We get what spare clothing we ican, such as blankets and sweaters. Wβ? have three surgeons on board, and these do the best they can, relieving suffering frequently with morphia. I will draw a veil over the: rest of this. I myself don't like to think of it. human body is not beautiful in all circumstances. In all we rescued about 107 i men. Of these 20 succumbed to the? cold. J, '■ -