DESTROYER CUT IN HALF.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 11298, 12 June 1908, Page 5

DESTROYER CUT IN HALF.

SUNK IN NIGHT ATTACK

RESCUED MEN'S GRIM HUMOR. LONDON, May 1. April, 1908, will be a black month in the annals of the British NaA-y. On April 2 the destroyer Tiger Avas sunk • in collision with' H.M.S. Berwick, resulting in a loss of thirty-five men, and on Saturday last, April 25, H.M.S. Gladiator was rammed by tlie liner St. Paul in the Solent, tbe accident costing the Navy twenty -seven lives! Noav to these disasters have to bo added the loss of the torpedo-destroyer Gala, Avhich Avas cut in two and sunk in the North Sea at midnight on Monday by the scout Attentive, which later collided Avith the destroyer Ribble, inflicting some damage; and also a serious explosion on board the . battleship Britannia, in Avhich five men Avere injured. Once more the disaster is mitigated 'by the proof it brings of the cool, resoliito, disciplined courage and the splendid energy and resource Avith which the men of the British Navy face a great emergency. There Avas no panic oil the sink, ing cockleshell craft. The creAV lined up on deck cool and steady, and there Avas no bungling or loss of time on tho part of the other ships of the flotilla. At 2.30 on Monday afternoon, the scout Attentive^ accompanied by fifteen torpedo-boat destroyers, . left Harwich Harbor/ in 'charge of Commander /Wilmot Nicholson, foi" the purpose of firing exercises and midnight manoeuvres. Just before midnight, Avhen the destroyers Avere steaming along at full speed in two parallel lines, the Attentive, a powerful vessel of 2,670.t0n5,i Avith 16,000 I. H.P. engines, crashed ihto the port side of the Gala Avithout the least warning. The scout took the destroyed squarely in the Avardroom, Avhore Engineer-Lieutenant Fletcher Avas sleeping, and he must have been killed outright. '■;''■ So great Avas the momentum of the Attentive that although her engines Avero immediately stopped, she droA-e oh against the second column of destroyers and struck the Ribble abreast of the navigating platform; seriously damaging her. Instantly the searchlights of every ship of the flotilla sprang into life and were- turned upon the" stricken vessel. \ Boats we're lowered Avithout a second's delay and hastened to the rescue down the: paths of the beams of light from every side. Men struggling in the waterAvere picked up. » Three men Who were- 'on the after part ' of the Gala Avere also taken off by the Attentive, and the remainder of the crew of eighty all told, AvhoAvere lined 'up. in. perfect; discipline on the fore part of the vessel, Avere taken off by the 'Ribble, --'which,- despite her injuries, had steamed alongside. ' As soon as the arrangements for the safety of the crew had been completed, ./ the, £avo portions of the destroyer Avere taken in toAV, in the hope that they might be salved. But the damage had been too great, and soon after midnight the fore part sank, the after part fallowing "an hour lator.y Both lie in thirty fathoms of water, and there is no hope of salving.', them, ....-„. Meanwhile the ■'Ribble, Avhich Avas found to be leaking badly, Avas toAycd to Sheerness by the Attentive. ./'■-'. The idea of the manoeuvres during / Avhich .the collision occurred Avas, a night ".'.' attack by the six River class destroyers of the Harwich flotilla upon the tAvo scout ships Attentive and Adventure.. All. ligh>S were out, and the night avus black dark. There was little wind and the sea was calm. .■■"'■•: The flotilla had left Harwich at' nine o'clock at night, and had steamed about thirtyefive miles to a point between the Outer Gabbard, light and the Kentish Knock. Here the destroyers had located one of the scout ships, the 'Adventure,'; and Avere manoeuvring to cross hei* 'path' fbr a better" position of attack., when unexpectedly her sister ship and con- . sort, the Attentive, came crashing doAvn upon their line. She was steaming at about eighteen knots, and drove head-on >' into the' Gala, in the after-part of . her engine /room, cutting a .way. almost clean through the lighter vessel. / .'V The' .'Gala- Avas steaming eighteen or , : twenty. 'knots at the time. ' She was not • cut instantly clean in tAvo, but nearly 50,7 and the momentum of her heavy after-part added a wrench . Avhich broke it aAvay as the Attentive disengaged herself. It is -a strange coincidence that the Gala was run down and sunk by a former commander bf her own. Commander Wilnlot S. Nicholson, of the Attentive, AA*as only recently appointed to that ship from the Gala. If it Avas his misfortune to rurt<-doAvn his old ship he had at the same time the satisfaction of being chiefly responsible for the rescue'of his old ship's company. ; . , The rescued . men took their adventures very cheerfully. They 'were philosophic on 'the Subject of night' attack manoeuvres Avith lights out. "If yCu Avan't destroyers in' the Navy," said one /of them, "yOii have got to have night manoeuvres, and if you have -night manoeuvres something has got to, be ; chipped about a bit npAv and ihen. It's all in the game." • ' A. "I haVe never heard such a smash as there Avas Avhen the Attentive \ stritck us," said one of the men. "She seemedto come right on top of us, and her boAVs suAved iheir >vay clean through irito our after engine-room: The men frpm beloAV came, scrambling up/ AA-ken the collision occurred, but though everyone Avas excited there Avas perfect calm. The skipper was great. You might have \ thought the danger Avas the i last thing he had in his mind." A graphic description of lioav the collision happened was given, by, one of the Attentive's men : "We Avere all steaming .with lights out. The Gala Avas about one hundred yards; aAvay when Ave first sighted her, leading the. Ribble and the Teviot. They were trying to cross our •bows.' Directly the Gala saAv tis So close she SAvitched -on her boAV lights, and we folloAved suit and/AA'ent full steam astern in an attempt to avert the collision. . It Avas of no use; Ave could not manage it, and struck. /'The commander of the Gala Avas, of course, on the bridge at the time of the collision, aiid the men -were.- behaving excellently, acting. quietly under the order's of their commander, and trying to launch their collapsible boats, though ihe , wafer Avas already washing around the funnels. One stoker Avas Avalkihg about Avitih nothing onbutu flannel shirt; and a; lifebelt.- "We ain't a choir or we'd sing 'Sons of the Sea,' " I heard him say 7-• -A -■ y. '• ; v y y.y' r"Another man-- 'who* actually jumped through the gap in the Gala's side as, it • jAvidened, and swam, supporting a stoker, 1 sang out, 'Are yveV downhearted. ?VNo. 7 The lieutenant of 7 the destroyer would, ! riot go until he was sure everyone else had left. Then one of the men Avanted to go back for the dog and had to be held down by force. "It Avas Avheh the creAV mustered ,in the Attentive that avc found the en-gineer-lieutenant Avas missing./ We; Avent back for hhuj but all. wecamie; across ■. was a .blpod.-stained' 'piljd\y.-'^:. , B i .irfafty7' : ■ ivthe'n '^daylight calne, /Ave marked the v spot Avhere the Gala- had gone do avu Avith flag buoys." J , v