THE JAPANESE CALAMITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13768, 5 June 1908, Page 5

THE JAPANESE CALAMITY.

MATSCSHI M A EXPLOSION.

COOLNESS AND HEROISM

By Te!»j(f»pb —Trt*i A**iJci»ti«tn,— Ojprrljhi.

Stiwet, JWW **. The Hongkong correspondent of th* Syrfiifsv Morning Herald supplies particulars of the expiation of the after magazine of the Japanese trainins!-*l»ip M*l*n*h.im», which visited Australia a, year or two ago.

Three cruisers wet*? anchored off the I'mcadores* Islands at four o'clock m the morning of April 50. Neatly all were ssieep op board the Matsushima when the after magazine exploded, and within five mi nutate thebow rose, and *he went under the witter in ,i smother of foam. Of 461 officers and men aboard only three officers and 256 men escaped. A bluejacket, who-., duty it wa.« to strike the hours on the ship's hell, noticed a, thm wreath or smoke rising nom. the deck above the magazine, and .0 the Mine instant smelt j . iili.ii odour. He i.hi to tin* ofrkei on duty, who hurried down toward* the magazine, ticking for -< light.

Tin* thoroughly-alarmed sailor ran for * lantern, mllinn out "Fire! Fire'." A* he reached the tilth (run there wits a deafening explosion, and a choking rush of smoke- and fume?. He crept on with difficulty to th«* upper deck, over which water was already coming, and found the room* occupied by the midshipmen blading furiously, and the after-part of the cruiser enveloped in smoke and flame.

Explosions followed one .mot her in rapid «icce&sion. Amid volume* of finite and smoke aft, bodies of officer* and men were see „ to be blown up into the air. some to a height of a hundred feet. The magazine was situated just below the rooms of the junioi officer*, which were surrounded by the senior officer*' quarter*. The cadets were on the second deck, and the bluejacket* amidships. So terrible was the explosion that t.ljtt .Htern was smashed, and every officer- in the stern killed: a surgeon-lieutenant, who was, in the lavatory, and two officer.", who were on shore", remaining a> representative* of the Matsushimu's ollkei*.

The cadets Iwhnved with eoolne>« amounting almost to recklessness. Most doomed to light with friends t.. escape on deck, and quietly awaited results. It tin; cadets displayed stoicism, the blin»jackets showed a grim exultation which is probably peculiarly Japanese. Th* ©JCplo. sion throw (ho sailors in the middle of the .-hip on' >f their hammocks. A" they scrambled on to theii feel, mingled fume* and water rushed in. Iho clench of gunpowder being suffocating. Some Japanese placed handkerchiefs ovm their mouths, and waded to the porthole*. These portholes enabled a few to escape, but the water rose so rapidly that the majority were drowned or suffocated. In the la.st moments the sailors shouted •i Japanese war song, the survivors heard two loud " Baiizais'" then a, third faint and hardly perceptible cheer. Aft erf that the cruiser sink. The terrible swiftness* of the disaster prevented Hiiflieietlt help being rendered.