THE NATAL ENGAGEMENT.

Southland Times, Issue 17933, 26 January 1917, Page 4

THE NATAL ENGAGEMENT.

It is quite impossible to harmonise the various reports concerning the latest naval encounter in the North Sea. This is one of these cases In which it is wise to distrust all but official sources, and at the time of writing the only report from the Admiralty that has come to hand is that which appeared yesterday morning. The Admiralty statement referred to two distinct encounters. In one of these the British light forces, while | patrolling the North Sea, not far from the Dutch coast, met a division of enemy destroyers, and after a short engagement one of the latter was sunk and the rest scattered after having been considerably punished. Darkness prevented an observation as to the fall results of the action. The second encounter, according to the Admiralty, is described as a sharp engagement between German and British destroyers off Schouwen Bank, a Netherlands island. In this action a British destroyer was torpedoed, and subsequently was sunk by our own ships. Apart from the report issued by the Admiralty, and issued later than the official statement, are the despatches from the Ymniden correspondents of the Daily Chronicle and The Times. These contain statements made by Germans wounded in. the action and taken to Ymuiden, where the German destroyer V 69 now lies helpless. The messages of the correspondents, gathered independently, agree in regard to the destruction of len German destroyers, and from the account of the Chronicle’s representative the losses may have been inflicted in the first action reported by the Admiralty, in which our "light forces” were engaged, and in which darkness prevented the full result of the action from being observed. The wounded say they were surrounded by a number of British warships and had no hope of escaping. The probability of the enemy losses being considerable is strengthened by the fact that among the survivors are men belonging to several sections of the German fleet It will be cheering news to bear that these impudent raiders have been taught a severe lesson, but until the Admiralty supplies confirmation, it ie not wise to give full credence to statements gathered from wounded survivors who were probably not in a condition to give reliable information.