Shelling Papeete.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 122, 16 October 1914, Page 5

Shelling Papeete.

I '.TAILS OF BOMBARDMENT. ' "Wellington, Thursday. Passengers <by the Miataai, giving details of the bombardment of Papeete by (lie German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ow September 22, state that it, began at 7 a.m. Thirty shells were [fired at the waterfront, after which the ships wasted half an hour, presumably to see if there were any signs of surrendering. The commander of the French gunboat Zelee, the guns of which had been landed, prepared to sink her in the fairway, but beforo he was able to do so, the cruisers re-opened fire, sinking the Zelee and damaging the German steamer Walkure, which was lying alongside. The Walkure drifted to the beach in a sinking condition. Some of the shells landed in the business quarters, most of the premises being destroyed by fire. People fled to the hills, conveyed by motor-cars and other vehicles. The only casualties were one Chinaman and one Kanaka. Donald and Edenborougli's premises were among those damaged. ,

(The Walkure, which recently brought a load of basic slag to New Plymouth, had been captured, by the Zelee at Makatca Island, where she was loading phosphates for Denmark.) ~ 1