SINKING OF THE BLUCHER.

Colonist, Volume LVII, Issue 13731, 20 March 1915, Page 2

SINKING OF THE BLUCHER.

A NAVAL MAN'S STORY

A thrilling story of the fight in the North Sea is told by Ernest J. Kipling, of Sunderland. Kipling is serving on one of the largest destroyers. He states he was asleep when the bells called every man to action. "Well," he adds, "we all jumped and doubled to our respective places* half-dressed, and rubbing our eyes as we looked for the ships. They were too far away, and we could not see them, only the smoke over the horizon and occasionally the splashing of the shells that they were firing. All we could do was to chaso them, and we did do so till we got into firing range, and that was at about 9.20. When we did got at them we let up shell after shell. I was watching them through a pair of glasses. At about 9.30 I said to a shipmate, 'Look, there is a big explotsion,' and so there was, but we didn't know on what ship, but by all accounts it must have been the other German cruiser which was sunk, and I believe it was. We still kept up the chase until we got behind the German ship Blueher. We were about 300 I yards behind it, and shells were splashing all around us. We thought it was the Germans who were steaming up to ms, but instead it was our ships that were at the far side of the Blueher. As we got nearer to her we found she was out of action and that our ships were sinking her. This was about 10 o'clock. We got quite close to her, and we could see through the ship in Lsome places. She was on fire from end to end and riddled with big holes. Her funnels were down and her bridge knocked all to pieces, and on the deck from one end to the other at the starboard side all the crew that were left alive were standing shouting to us to go and save them, but we had to await orders. Then all at once they gave three cheers for the Kaiser and began to jump overboard. There seemed about 600 on the upper deck when they were cheering, and all at once, when not expected, the Bluecher gave a sharp turn upside down, and we watched them scramble on to the ship's side and then on to her back and keel.

There they stood until i^hey could stand no longer, and the Blueher gradually sank. She could only just be seen on the water level and only two figures were left standing on her, clasping hold of each other. Then they took a leap into the water together amongst the others."

During the scramble in the water one man had a line thrown hin^ but he was1 too helpless to grasp it, being numbed and frozen with the icy cold water. "The officer asked someone to go in for him, but as the water was so rough and freezing nobody., would. The officer then said he would go in, and while he was taking off his sea boots and tying a rope round his waist I jumped over, and they put another rope out to us. I tied it around my waist and kept the end of it in my teeth so that the knot would not slit>. Then I got hold of the German's jersey neck and put the other arm under his arm and they hauled us both on board." The German was carefully tended. He cried about his home, shook hands with his rescuer, and then told him they had come out to bombard Yarmouth.