THE BULWARK DISASTER.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11111, 28 November 1914, Page 5

THE BULWARK DISASTER.

BOTTOM OF VESSEL BLOWN OUT, TWO TERRIFIC EXPLOSIONS. LYDDITE SHELL FALLS INTO MAGAZINE. {United Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.— Copyright. , London, Nov. 27. The Daily CJironicle says most of fthe Bulwark’s crew were breakfasting below. Eye-witnesses state that a long muffled roar was heard for ifourteen miles. A terrific flash was •seen in Wales, the ship momentarily .resembling a firework display. A great white cloud arose similar to a •cordite explosion. Apparently the forward magazine blew up. When tike smoke cleared not a vestige of the vessel remained. At the time of the explosion the Bulwark: was signalling another ship. The signalling officer watched the"smoke clear and was astounded to see nothing. Workmen on shore counted vessels at moorings not crediting that one had entirely gone. Officers and men in the other ships rushed to the decks half stunned and rescue boats put off in all directions. The vessel is visible in three sections at low water. The mast and funnels have gone. A chest of drawers was fonnd in a marsh half a mile away. All glass and crockery in the vessels near by was shattered. The general opinion at Chatham is that the bottom of the vessel was blown out A number of men were drilling on deck at the moment of the disaster. A sailor on a vessel nearby states that two heavy reports followed a flash of fire, and the whole ship seemed to iieave and then drop in fragments. Another eye-witness affirms that there were two explosions, one fore and the other aft. He believes they were simultaneous explosions. The concussion shook Southend pier and was felt by hundreds of civilian Germans interned in ships at Southend Roads.

It was thought by people ashore that it was a Zeppelin raid. Then there was a suspicion that an aeroplane had bombarded the gasworks, until obey found the aeroplane was British.

Three minutes at' er the explosion, only a whirling sea, white with foam and specked with caps, wreckage and kit-bags, marked the spot. Fourteen of tlie crew were sent to hospital at Gillingham suffering from concussion and fractured limbs. Four of the cases are critical. No officers were saved. Very few were actually aboard.

Few other craft were - moving in the Medway at the time. Uue boat was protected from the direct efforts of the concussion by s river bank

and headland, yet was flung out of the water. When she righted, she picked up a bluoj aoket. The latter stated he was sitting on a grating when the explosion threw him high in the air. He turned somersault after somersault into the river. He was little hurt and was able to swim until picked'up. He suggested that the Sheerness disaster was ( due to the fall of a twelve inch lyddite shell into the Bulwark’s magazine. Lord Charles Beresford, who once commanded the Bulwark, states that the magazines were in a very safe position protected by every modern device to keep the ammunition at the right temperature. Even a shell might be dropped in the shellroom without exploding the magazine. Sir Hiram Maxim said the faulty manufacture of guncotton was impossibleunder modern conditions of manufacture. There might have been some accidental fulminating powder present to set the cordite off.

Hundreds of the crew were Portsmouth men aad there were pathetic scenes at the barracks, where griefstricken women came.