VESSELS BREAKING UP

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 11 September 1923, Page 5

VESSELS BREAKING UP

ONE DESTROYER CAPSIZES

25 MEN, DROWNED IN BUNKS

NEW YORK, Sept. 9.

A message from Santo Barbara states that » destroyer flotilla in the command of Captain Edward Watson was travelling in- formation at. a speed of 20 knots in a dense fog and a heavy sea when the flagship Delphy, carried ahead by an eccentric- tide, crashed ashore. Within a few minutes six others were beached at intervals of 250 feet. Thev were the Delphy, the Chauncey, the 'Woodbury, ’the Fuller, the Splee, the Nicholas, and the Young, which capsized within two minutes of striking, and drowned 25 men in their bunks and injured another ] 20.

The rest of the personnel in the flotilla were safely landed. The wrecked destroyers are slowly breaking up and are already beyond redemption. The seas are so heavy that all were taking water wjtliin a few- minutesA hundred men, cut and bruised, swam shore wards. Scores of sailors disobeyed orders, leaped overboard, and swarii ashore.

The boatswain’s mate, Peterson, of the destroyer Young, swam to the Chauncey with a l’ope line, over which the survivors escaped from the fast submerging boat. Lost in the fog, the destroyer Reno took a different channel and suddenly encountered the boats from the liner Cuba, which had met the same fate as the destroyers on another part of the coast.

All were lescued except Captain Holland, the purser, a steward and eight others of the steamer who remained aboard to guard silver bullion worth 2,500,000 dollars. It is understood that these were observed afloat in a small Boat during a momentary fog lift after the Cuba had disappeared.

CAUSE OF DISASTER

A WIRELESS AIR JAMB

(Sun Cables.)

NEW YORK, Sept. 10. A wireless air jamb was responsible for the disaster to the destroyer squadron. Wireless vibrations filled the air and, speeding to the relief of the Cuba, the destroyer squadron depending upon directional wireless messages, lost their bearings and piled up on the rocks which the - commander believed- were 20 miles away. : - The Delphy has broken into three pieces. ' . A . ‘All the destroyers appear to be total wrecks. They cost £3,000,000 and were of the most modem type and have been commissioned since the war. Each carried: five officers and over 100 men. All efforts to get into touch with wireless ashore were unavailable and the first news of the disaster came in the morning from sightseers who observed them frpm the. beach when the. fog lifted. Then boatloads of men began to come ashore, bringing with them ten' bodies of? the. drowned. . ‘ Apparently the ships were travelling almost ,at right angles to their proper course when they struck the sharp, sword-like rocks. The destroyer turned right over and 14 of the crew were badly injured. They were rescued and sent, to hospital. The two leading i vessels struck .close inshore and the others a few hundred feet out: -The destroyers ; belonged to the “D” class of a tonnage of 375. NO SIGN ~OF THE CUBA (Sun Cables.) NEW YORK, Sept 10 Tugs sent to the assistance of the liner Cuba report that the vessel has entirely disappeared. The rocks where she struck are crowded with sea lions which. greatly impeded the work of rescue- One lifeboat crew found it impossible to force its way through a herd in the rough water and were forced to return to ship and .try in a new direction. Naval officials announced to-night that there was no chance of the salvage of the seven destroyers until the heavy surf abates. The general opinion is that they are total wrecks.