MINES AND SUBMARINES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16590, 13 January 1916, Page 5

MINES AND SUBMARINES

THE KING EDWARD VII. DETAILS OF DISASTER. LONDON, January 11. A survivor from the mined battleship King Edward VII states that the disaster took place on Thursday, at 11 a.m., the weather being moderate but the wind high. All the watertight doors were at once closed, but the shock extinguished all lights aboard, and it was some time before other lights were got going. Nevertheless every boat was out within half an hour. Meanwhile a oollier came up and began to tow the battleship, and an hour later four destroyers responded to her wireless appeals, and took her in tow, but heavy seas sprang up, rendering towing difficult and dangerous. First one hawseT and then another parted, until all were gone. At 3 p.m. the captain, seeing it was hopeless to save the ship, ordered every man to save himself. At the same time he ordered the destroyers to stand alongside. The King Edward's stokers remained at their posts until the last, keeping the dynamos going. All were got off safely by 6 p.m. except the captain, who left the bridge at 7.30 p.m. Ten minutes later the battleship disappeared. There was an entire absence of panic, the officers setting a splendid example. AUSTRIAN ASSURANCE. SIR E. GREY'S REJOINDER. LONDON, January 11. Replying to the Austrian Note stating that that Government would hold the British Government responsible for' the safety of Austro-Hungarian subjects being repatriated from India, Sir Edward Grey says: "I am astonished at this request. The Austrians themselves are one of the authors of the submarine danger. It is the Arjstro-Germans themselves who carry on this novel and inhuman form of warfare, which disregards all hitherto accepted principles of international law. By asking for special precautions on our part to protect their own subjects, Austria practically admits that the sinking of . the Lusitania' and Persia were part of a settled premeditated policy. Britain does not propose to take special precautions in the present case." THE BARALONG CASE. A GUNNER'S NARRATIVE. COWARDICE OF SUBMARINE'S CREW. LONDON, January 11. A gunner on the auxiliary naval vessel Baralong states: "We received the Nicosian's wireless message on August 19, and went at full speed to her assistance. An hour later we sighted the Nicosian being shelled by a submarine while her crew were getting into the lifeboats. We had plenty of ammunition ready' on the poop, and our marines took shelter behind the bulwarks, while the captain, by excellent seamanship, brought the vessel up to starboard of the Nicosian, so that we were hidden from the submarine's view for a few moments, during which wo cleai-pd for action, trained oirr guns outboard, and hoisted the White Ensign. "When we appeared around the Nicosian's bows the submarine fired a shot. Our marines replied with a volley, which swept her decks. The submarine seemed to become at orice demoralised. Her crew immediately left the guns and rushed to the conning tower, several of them going overboard. We fired our port and stern guns, and hit the submarine beneath tho waterline. Our second shot hit the conning tower, sending two men flying high in the air. The submarine gradually sank, and every one of heT crew was either drowned or shot. Only a few parts of bodies and a- large quantity of oil remained on the surface. The action lasted only four minutes and a-half. We fired 37 rounds, and the submarine fired one. "The U boat was one of Germany's latest and largest, being 300 ft long and 1000 tons displacement, mounting two guns fore and aft, those being of slightly larger calibre than the Baralong's guns. Wft were disgusted at the cowardice of the submarine's crew. Apart from her heavier guns she had several torpedo tubes. Her crew were ready enough to kill or maim defenceless merchant vesrels and "passengers, but had no stomach for fighting armed ships, even when the odds were in their favour. "We rescued 107 of the crew of the Nicosian, of whom nine were injured or killed. Our own casualties were nil."

TEE DESTROYER OF THE ARABIC. A NAVAL CORRESPONDENT'S ACCOUNT. (Times and Sydney Snn Services.) LONDON, January 11. The naval correspondent of the Observer writes: " The submarine which the Bara'iong sank was the destroyer of the Arabic, and her crew's hands were still dripping with tho blood of women and children. Germany's allegations have not been proved. The witnesses are contradictory and unreliable; but the commander of the Baralong obviously could not allow the Germans to reach the Nicosian, to which vessel they swam, instead of to the Baralong. The Germans could have taken out the submarine's valves and hold up their hands and cried ' kamerad.' Concerning the statement as to the death of the German U boat commander, most people think that the destroyer of the Arabic deserved his alleged fate. The statement that he attempted to surrender is contradicted. The story that tho British kicked the faces of dead men is a palpable lie. The world knows what to think of those who whine over the necessary shooting of a submarine crew, while at the same time they continue to perpetrate outrages like the slicing of the Persia."