LIBERTE DISASTER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 70, 6 November 1911, Page 6

LIBERTE DISASTER.

BATTLESHIP BLOWN TO PIECES

FEARFUL LOSS OP LIFE

HEROISM OF DOOMED MEN

The following account of the loss of the Liberto is contributed by the London correspondent of the “Argus,” under date September 29: The destruction of the French battleship Liberte in Toulon Harbour on Monday was one of the inost appalling disasters in naval history, but, terrible as it was, the consequences were less awful than the earliest reports indicated. At first it was believed that between 450 and 500 men per-

ished. It is now certain that about ijoy were killed and 150 desperately wounded. The full complement of the ihberte was <l3 on Sunday. However, H 5 men were granted leave ol absence. They w-„re due back at oigut o’clock cm .uonctay morning, but wnen they reached the quayside it was to mut tneir vessel a piuuil wreck. From tue landing-stage Nicy could see the Xiiuerto hmg in about 40ft of water, a mass of budded plating, twisted piping, and broken armament. A huge grey cylinder (the remains of the big gun turret) lay broken and misshapen above tne wreckage. Iwo giant lain, guns lay near-by. Ine grotesque mass of ironwork was still glowing. T ureads of smoke rose from the blackened woodwork. Some of the fortunate survivors broke down and wept like children.

Less than a month ago the Liberte led the van of the second line in thehistoric review at Toulon when nine-ty-two warships paraded before the French President and Ministers. At daybreak on Monday she was anchored in the naval roadstead at Toulon, hard by her sister ships Democratic, Vorite, and Reptiblique. Each had cost about £I,UDU,(JUO. When the alarm was given the sailors on the Liiberto were called to quarters, and signals were hurriedly made to the otner war vessels in harbour. In a few minutes it was seen that the hull of bite Liberto was enveloped in smoke and masses of Ihuno were breaking from the stern. Scores of boats launched by the battleships were sent to tiio aid of the Liberto. The first intimation of immediate clanger came with a slight explosion at thirty-live minutes past five o’clock in the magazines. Every man on board the Liberto realised the danger now. He remembered that the “B” powder in the fore part of the ship l was similar to that which brought about the destruction of the Jena in 1907. A party of seamen ran to open fche sea sluices to flood the magazines. They had scarcely gone below, when they rushed hack, declaring that it was impossible to carry out the order. A magazine containing melinite had already exploded, filling the lower docks with smoke and poisonous fumes. Approaching the sluices meant certain death. Engineer Faces Death. In the attempt to flood the magazines, the chief mechanic, Ssstinc, met with an heroic death. When the first explosion had extinguished the electric lights, Lestine, who had been vainly endeavouring to open the sluice valves, returned to the deck half asphyxiated. He mot the lieutenant in command, who cried to him: “I have ordered ‘fire quarters’ to be sounded. Open the sluice valves and flood the powder magazine.” “I have tried the sluice valves, but they don’t work,” lie replied. “Attempt the impossible, man,” said the officer. “Do you understand that the powder magazines must be flooded?” “All right, captain,” replied Lestine, saluting. “1 will go down. Perhaps I shall be able to open the . valves, hut I shall not ■come back.” Flames were now shooting from the battleship’s sides, and many of her crew made a rush for safety. Three other explosions followed at intervals of one minute, whereupon the Liberte’s officers gave the order, “Abandon the ship!” It was too late. At six minutes to six the main magazine exploded, and the Liberte went in twain and slowly sank to the bottom of the roadstead. When the final explosion occurred the Liberte’s bows for a moment rose right out of the water, and the keel was seen to twist like a piece of rag. The battleship sank into the waves thrown up by the explosion, carrying the bulk of her crew with her. When the smoke cleared the horrified onlookers saw two huge grey masses burrowing slowly into the boiling sea. An eye-witness aboard the Patrio says:—“After the first two explosions an immense column of smoke rose slowly. The atmosphere became fearfully dark. Just before the fatal moment huge flames rose heavenward. It was dreadful. An awful explosion resounded. Debris of all kinds were hurled in every direction. Huge pieces of iron fell upon different ships of three squadrons, and the damage to the Republique was very serious.” Rowing into a Volcano.

After this formidable explosion all the boats around the Liberte, which had rowed to her rescue, were caught in the wash and disappeared. A gendarme and four sailors in a small boat were on their way to the shore when the explosion occurred. “It was like rowing into a volcano,” said one of them. “Immense pieces of iron, steel, burning wood and Hot metal rained over hundreds of yards round us. The water was hot and the air unbreathahle, and we sat for some minutes in the dark and waited for death. Than the steam pud smoke cleared away a little, and we saw what we knew must bo human beings. Their clothes were torn and burned. Most of them were bleeding. A few of them were clinging to bits of wreckage, and calling, in faint voices, for help. We picked up fourteen of them, pulled to the nearest ship, and then went back; I tried to pull one corpse out of the water as it floated past, but the hand I caught had been burned through, and came away.” Man Return to Quarters.

Perhaps the most heroic episode recorded was the following:—After one of the successive explosions a number of the crew, thinking- that the ship was done for, jumped overboard into boats, others striking out in the water. A moment later a bugle sounded “To quarters” in the doomed ship, with a special call for an alarm of lire. Seventy or eighty inen, swimming or in boats, on bearing the order, instantly rowed or swam back to the burning ship, climbed on board, and ran to their posts. Fifty of these men perished in the subsequent explosion. They had given up tlioir chance of safety at the call of duty. Reference has been made to the damage done to the Rcpuhlique. Every warship in harbour was more or less injured by the terrific explosion. The small boats, many of them heavily weighted with rescued sailors, wore caught in the wash cast up by the sinking Liberte. In one case an Association football team, representing the crew of the Snffren, werh rowing ashore for a match. Turning, they went to the assistance of the Liberte. With the last explosion the boat was sunk, and every member of the team was lost. Of the battleships, none suffered more than the Republique. A mass of armour, weighing close upon a ton, which was rent from the Liberte, was projected with immense force against the side of the Republique. About 500 ft from the stern the plates had been stove in or ripped off for a distance of 20ft. or 30ft., and about half-way down to the water-line. Several men in the Republique were killed by this

projcct.ilo, and hy part of the Liberto’s forebridgo, which landed on the deck of the licpublique. Thirty-seven tons of broken armour were removed from the deck of the llepublique after the explosion. Bugler at His Post. One of the most gruesome discoveries on that warship was the dead

body of the Libortc’s bugler, whose lingers still clasped the bugle with winch Irj had sounded the last alarm. The captain of a training ship which was at anchor two miles away was killed by a fragment of shell as ho stood watching the burning Liberte ■ from his snip. The roar of the final j explosion was heard thirty miles off. j | Many stories of wonderful escapes j j are told. Dr. Christian, surgeon of die i Vorite, was sent to the Liberte alien she signalled for help after the first explosion. Ho had' just clambered on to file Liberte’s decks when the magazine exploded. The doctor says tnat he was blown off the deck by a hurricane of fire. His uniform was ripped to shreds, his cap torn in halves, Ju's sword wrenched away and his hoard, eyelashes and eyebrows scorched off. lie himself was flung clear of the .battleship into the sea, a long distance away. Dr .Christian did not lose consciousness, but struck out, and eventually was picked up. One seaman was discovered on the Liberte crushed between two armour plates. Several tours -of work were required to rescue him. Injections of cocaine were given Hie became unconscious. Blowpipes were used to pierce the plates before he could be extricated. Another man could only lie rescued after his foot had been amputated owing to the limb being crushed between wreckage. Twenty-four hours after the explosion when the rescuers were at work on the wreck a wild-looking figure, naked and blackened by smoke, suddenly appeared and (lung himself into the sea. He was picked up and may recover. The strangest case of all was that of a seanan imprisoned in the; Liberie’s gun turret. For more than a day the rescuers worked frantically cutting through the heavy armour plating. The unfortunate creature in the turret was the last living man taken fretm the wreck. Horrors o' Rescue. Of the horrors attending the work if rescue only hints can be given. Many of the details are to terrible for publication. A doctor of the Saint Mandrier Hospital where the wounded were taken recalls that this was the first time that an examination of the explosive action of modern powder had been possible in France. Bones were ■ battered, muscles were reduced to pulp. The gases given off by the powder in many cases forced its way under die skin, tearing off large fragments. In one instance the skin was torn off from head to foot. The doctor showed ton feet which had been torn from legs the socks being still upon the feet. Throughout Monday boats reached die hospital with bodies wrapped in sheets. A few could be indentified. fn some cases a slip of paper hearing die dead mail’s name was attached. Every now and then a man nr woman In the crowd about the hospital gates would burst into tears. The watcher lad, heard his or her name whispered by those near enough to read the writing upon tlie paper. A brother or a child was among the dead. One wp■nan, hearing her husband’s name, (lung herself into the water and was drowned.

It is generally believed that “B powder,” which caused the loss of the Jena, also led to the Liberte disaster. Admiral Bellue, who commands the squadron at Toulon, holds this ipinion firmly. He points out that exactly eighteen minutes elapsed between the first explosion and the fin'd explosion, and recalls that the same interval was observed in the •ase of the Jena disaster. Admiral Bellue says it was a recognised fact that the gases given off by “B” powder in an unventilated space had. the. property of raising the temperature of the magazine to an extraordinary degree. It was further known that under these conditions eighteen or nineteeen minutes were required to bring the charge to the point of explosion.