BY UNMITIGATED GERMAN BARBARIANS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLI, Issue 9515, 24 November 1916, Page 7

BY UNMITIGATED GERMAN BARBARIANS

> HOSPITAL SHIP DELIBERATELY SUNK TORPEDOED FROM EACH SIDE FIFTY LIVES LOST; 1106 SAVED By Telegraph—Press Association—Copvright. VANCOUVER, November 22, The Whit© Star liner Britannic (48,158 tons) has been sunk in the Aegean Sea. Of those on board, 1100 were saved, 28 of whom were injured. High Commissioner’s Cable. LONDON, November 22, 4.15 p.m. The Admiralty reports:'—The British Hospital Ship Britannic was sunk by a mine or a torpedo yesterday in the Aegian Sea. There were 1106 survivors. Fifty others were lost. Australian and New Zealand Cable Association. LONDON, November 28. , The “Daily Chronicle’s’’ correspondent at) Athens reports that the Britannic was sunk by a submarine on the island of Zea. . The survivors and nurses were landed at Phaloron Bay. Reuter’s Telegrams. , ATHENS, November 22. The hospital ship Britannic was apparently from Salonika. She lowered all her boats, numbering thirty-five. Details are lacking. The ill-fated liner Britannic was launched at Belfast in 1914, the construction of this mammonth liner marking an epoch in the history of shipbuilding. She was about 900 ft long, and over 48,000 tons gross register. She represented the highest skill and periection yet atttaihed m naval architecture and marine engineering. Her double bottom extended the whole length, being sft 3in deep, increasing under the engine-room to Cft 3Ln. The vessel was built with massive beams and close framing, shell plates, steel decks, double skin and watertight bulkheads, and hydraulic riveting being utilised. These ideas were earned out with a view to esuring the safety of passengers, the inner skin and watertight divisions being introduced as. a protection against serious damage, and allowing the leviathan to float with *ny six compartments flooded. She was fitted with wireless, submarine signalling apparatus, and electrically-driven sounding machines. The decks were connected by electric lifts, and the boats could be lowered by a perfect system of davits, on either side of the vessel, . whichever happened to be clear'. The gear in This connection was kept far inboard, so as to give a wide passage for marshalling the passengers in case of emergency. The Britannic’s largest beam was 92ft long. The vessel had three screws, driven by reciprocating engines and a low-pressure turbine, and her effective speed wav over 23 knots. The Briianuit. iva o the largest, British steamer, and is exceeded in size only by the German liners Bismarck, Vaterland, and Jinperator. BRAVERY OF CREW AND NURSES TWO LOADED . BOATS SHREDDED BY WHITTLING SCREW. Australian and New Zealand Cable Association. (Received November 83, 5-5 pJbj LONDON, November 32. The “Daily Chronicle’s” Athens correspondent gives details of the outrage to prove that the Britannic was the victim and another example of Germany’s unmitigated barbarism. . Two Hun submarines lay in wait m the narrow sea for the express purpose of sending the Britannic to the botom. The submarines attacked on both sides simultaneously. Each launched a torpedo. One missed, hut the other struck fatally. . ■ It was, declares the correspondent, a deliberate crime, all the worse because the submarine commanders must have noticed the Britannic going north—a fact implying that she was carrying only the usual orew and complement of doctors, and medical service men. That did not count with the inauxaHj was going to Mudros to take aboard the sick and wounded there She was fitted to carry 3000 invalids. A survivor says that perfect order prevailed, the nurses, like the officers and men of the Medical Corps, lined the deck. There was not the slightest suspicion of pome, A stewardess tells a terrible story of the launching of the first two boats near the stem of the ship. The vessel was heeling over and the screw out of the water whirling round. The two loaded boats were sucked towards it and out up .like matchwood. Many were killed outright, while others were horribly injured.