TOLD BY THE NAVY.

North Otago Times, Volume C, Issue 13135, 6 November 1914, Page 7

TOLD BY THE NAVY.

-«r<lb'f TicuDCfMiictA dt .TmUn ABTlsw 1 fiCRyISERoIiPAIvM isMfi£ 'i stroyerMiyos|alUvok#<ount-ai|tne4'.: 'th6m f At? Bay/?tl) l \ \ ■V.V -"v , i-.' , .'K:!'v , ,>' ; ?!l*.i : Vi ■'": H '■ its; companions^tho:dpg:wpn^barks^ak; } round|inJf.rpn|jp^h|!^: .be ! hJnji'';,hjmVnb^^^ back'^just^on'^tlie^llmUß;:,of^ ■ itrle'd v to'luro

:': f'Pna Bi-:bft'tel/but;'a;cruder;ca|e]b]i|: andEngaged^ : bur'Arethutaj it iroal i heart-to-heart; : m ed bnVand'a few of ÜB;trifed to- shoot at.;'; tlio enenry; ; tooj'(though it^ns-beyond; dur; Ayere[getting nearer' and iiearerv Hellgbiand''all'the'time]::; there was 5 a J.expecjEbd; every minute'toindihe forts on ,the\isjv land'; bomb'ardng usj'so, Arethusk pre-' senHy;drew off,-after one-good sheiion'thb enemy. Speing/ .'our papers admit'it,:sbi m'ayllj-our : fel;'; lows•got'-a quite ; riasty Hummy'-ache.; The enemy gave'evbry,bit asgopiashe;' got;th'ere.'■'.■•'v.: .•■.■■■'•.;r:- ■;'. : ' / ' then stroyer '■■ belonging -: to, the: Bubmarines.: r got'chased, v and;Arethußaand' , Fearlesß : , went,back to' look iafter 'her; and ;we/ ; presently'heard a hot action'astern., So tho'Captain who was in command of the flotilla turned us round; and we. went back, to help,", but' they; had driven: the.... enemy off, and on our arrival told us toform up on the Arethusa.- ~ • ~ ■ ■:<■;: «• ■■ ' Out of the "Ererywhere.»V

"When"wo had partly" formed and;; were very much bunched together, a fine., target, suddenly out of tho ; 'everyr, where' arrived five- or six shells not■/, 150 yards away; We' gazed at whence they came, and again five.or six stabs of fire pierced the mist, and,Tvo made., out a four-funnelliel. cruiser of the Breslau class. Those five, staba were her> guns going off, of course. "Wo waited fifteen seconds, and tho Bliotß and the noise of .the^ guns'arrived, pretty well simultaneously,; fifty. yards; away. Her next salvo went 'over. and I personally ducked as they wwrrcd overhead like a covey of fastpartridges/ You would,have supposed the-Captain had done this sort of thing all his life; lie.gives..me the impression, of a Nel.son officer who has lived in a Btato of : suspended animation since, but yot'lias kept pace with the times, and is nowiso perturbed at finding his'frigate a,destroyer. ,;Ho. went, full speed ahead once at tho first salvo to string tho' bunch out, and thus offer less target; aiidtho Commodoro f rorri the "Arethusa .made ,> a signal itousj.tonttack.iWithi.tDrpqdQ.es., ' liiKrwHuJsariAttfttk,' '" So" we swung'round at- right angles and.charged full-speed at the enemy, liko a Hussar attack.' $ Wo' got away "at; tho start magnificently, and led tho field so that all the/enomy's firing was aimod at us for tho next ten minutes. When wo got so closo that the debris of their shells fell on board wo altered course,' and so.throw them out in;their reckoning of our speed, arid they had all their work to v do ovbr again. • 'fHumanly •speaking, therefore, the Captain by twisting-and tur.ning-at tho' physological moment saved,us; actually I feel" wo aro in kcoping these days. After ten minutes wo got near enough to firo our. torpedo, and then turned back to Arethusa. Next our follower arrived just whero wo had been, and fired his torpedo, and, of coursej'the enemy fired at him, instead: of at us—what a blessed relief!. It was like coming out of a really hot and oppressive orchid-ho\rse. into tho cool air ' of a summer garden. A 'hot' fire is properly descriptive; it seems actually to 1)0 hot!

■ Engaging the Mainz. * ■ "After tho destroyers camo the Fearless, and alio, stayed on the scene, and sopn wo found she was engaging, a three ftinnellcr, tho Mninz, So off we started again to go. for the Mainz, the situation being, I take it, that crippled Arothusa was-too ,' tummy '-aching :to do anything, but be defended by us, her children.' Scarcely,.however, ~had wo started (I did not.fecl the least like another gruelling) when from out tho mist. and across our front injurious pursuit came, the First Cruiser Squadron, the Town'"class, Birmingham, etc., each unit a match for. three.Mainz, and as we looked and reduced speed; they: oponed fire,- and' the clear bang, bang of their' guns was just a cooling. drink! ,' ■ vf'To see a Teal big four-funneller spouting " flame, which flame denoted shells starting and those Bhells hot aimed at us "but for us,' was.tho most cheerfill thing possible.'•; Eyen as Kipling's infantryman .under- heavy fro cries, 'The Guns,'thank Gawd, the Gnus,' when his own.artillery had come into action over his' head, so did -1 feel ■'■ as those; 'Big. Brothers.' came careering flcrosßi" ■'>' ■' -l . •■. ■-' * /'. * .'"'.; What Might Have Beah, "Once we were in.iafbtvvl hated' it; we had just-been having bur "oWn imaginatiojiG stimulated' onithe subject' of shells 'striking'usj" and now a few minutes...Juter, to; see another,ehip ; , not three miles away reduced;to a piteous mass of. unrecoginsabillty,'.wreathed in; blacb, funics, from ; which l flared .out: angry gouts' of fire,; like Vesuvius, ; in; erupti(m,as;aii unending stream of; hun-dred-pound shells burst oicboard j it just. pointed.tho. moral;and showed jis;what might have, boon I ■ Tbor'Mnlnityas'jm<.; monscly 'gaijaiiti' Tlie la'st.Lsiiw of her ■ Rbsolutolyr iyrocked -ialow./ and, aloft,: her; •whole niidships, a. ; fuin)iig'ijifcnioV>She> liiid.ono giin.fovfoard-ami que aft stillv spitting forth fury,iinil 'dofiancoj?lik'o a■' ,wjl(lvc'atiinau'with;wounds,!;^ ■'!■']<■■. ■;.' /'.'.Our.own rc)f cciiiiliten<ied;vat\this juncture cQiiplo;of sa Ivo os,.,but v r A tlicr lunlr^iqtjfrt/ j cillyi j^ for; tlierefstrnighVahea'doS lordlyv elephants '<■': f.pi^lbgs^enilie^tlrtl IJjbm'QufcmMiiw Zoa|kd,*;p|r^ !';'tl|o'y?iob^'df^ ; :tiie^n;#hfiipie3ps^ , pieltjiiy^oMiW ; h(i|H{di|el ; 'sitr6'vbrsifou ii'oi 1 ef.^'a^i Ml;'fh'6y|lestros;# ; m$M wmommmm