THE INVASION OF NEW ZEALAND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7889, 19 December 1903, Page 4

THE INVASION OF NEW ZEALAND.

+ ■ A GLANCE INTO FUTURITY. (Written for the " Star,'* in December, 1904.)

THE SEA DUEL. When Admiral Fanshawo sailed from Sydney for .Singapore, in the middle of January, H.M.S. Burracouta was in Auckland. A month later she left Wellington for the (Jhathams, and started on th c re- I turn trip on March 3. | At eight bells in the middle watch ■ (4 a.m.) on March 8, she picked up Pen- : carrow light, bearing N.N.W., distant some twelve miles. It was a clear night, i with a light easterly air, and no sea beyond the usual tidal swell rolling out of the strait. As the warship plunges along, let us look more closely at her, for her name will soon be historical. Built in 1887, she was of 2600 tons displacement. Her usual complement of 220 men had been increased by service-drafts from other vessels, to 300. She was armed with eight four-point-sevens of an early pattern, and a similar number of three- | pounder quick-firers, besides four fivebarrelled Nordenfeldts and a dozen torpedoes. Her principal protection was a steel deck of from lin to 2£in thickness, j below the water-line. The duplicate en- ' gines were of 4000 horse-power altogether, I but her maximum speed did not exceed fifteen and a half knots. She had two pole-masts jxad twin-screws. Soon after the change of watch, dawn begaji to break, and the lookout report- ! ed a steamer's red (port) light on the lee bow. The course of the stranger soon, brought her into full view, and she can now be introduced as the French cruiser La Vire, detached from the raiding fleet then lying under Kapiti. She had* cleared the stTsit on a scouting cruise, and was steaming S.S.E., at sixteen knots. Launched at Brest in 1902, she and others of her clas^ had been especially designed and fitted for some such work as the present. With slightly less beam and draft than the British ship, La Vire was 95ft longer, and her tonnage was 3000. The principal difference in armour was a 3in protection given to her conning-tower. She carried twelve four-inch guns of latest design, having a range greater by a mile than those of the Barracouta, also eight three-pound-ers and the usual maohine-guns and torpedoes. Her complement of 300 men included gun-crews specially trained to longdistanoe marksmanship by liberal sums expended on ammunition and prizes. But her most marked superiority lay in the fact that her magnificent engines oould drive her on forced draught nearly twenty-one knots. Her coal capacity was also unusually great. By the time the vessels -HJbe within three miles of each other full daylight had come. With great interest {Japtain Roberts and hia officers (although, of course, v ignorant of the invasion) watched the strange warship, which was of the same dirty drab colour as themselves. "Deuced like the Amethyst and Topaze class, sir," said the first lieutenant. " None of 'em on the station, Mr Pellew," was the reply. " From the look of her bridge and smoke-stacks, she's French. Mr flcoresby, make our number and the private signal, please." Little enough did Roberts think that, after nearly one hundred years, the Union Jack and tricolour were about to meet again in ocean battle, under totally new conditions. Scarcely were the flags broken, out than the French ensign rose to the stranger's gaff-end. Uncertain whether the Barracouta waß or was not caught napping, Capitaine de Vaisseau Bellars determined ' to keep for the present to long bowls. He knew the advantages of range and speed. A few minutes elapsed, and then La Vire swung slightly to starboard and a sheet of flame poured from her port forward four-inch gun. A heavy shell screamed orer the Englishman's stern, plunging beyond into a wave crest, to gen 4 up green torrents amid the boom of a muffled melinite explosion. -"■ Not ten seconds were wasted aboard the surprised British vessel. In an incredibly short time she had gone to quarters, whilst tons of coal were being rammed into her furnaces. When a second and third shell had diropped rather closer, she replied at intervals with three guns. She then shifted her helm, to close with La Vire, now passing abeam■Now%ffas shVwn the tremendous advan- ' tage of superior speed and range. La Vire, with only an occasional shot, steamed south, followed by the Barracouta. But whilst the sixteen knots of the former quickly became first eighteen and then twenty, it was only after considerable time that the latter attained her maximum, which was under sixteen. Therefore, when the Frenchman starboarded hia helm, circled eastward and slowed down, he was in a position to choose his own time and station for reopening fire. This he did at about 6000 yds, when six of his long four-inch cannon poured melinite at the approaching Britisher. After trying a couple of shots which fell short, the Barracouta headed silently for closer quarters. But science was not to be denied. In a few minutes a tearing smash shook the ship to her bottom plates. Amid the jar and .concussion, of the shock was heard the roar of the burstingcharge and th© crash of riven metal. A four-inch shell, with a dropping trajectory, had stnlck just aft of the for©mast t passed through the steel deck and burst in the i starboard engine-room. The force of the explosion (luckily) passed upwards, partially wrecking the bridge and deckhouses and destroying two boats on the starboard' skids. More than twenty men were killed and wounded and others scalded by the smashed feed-pipes. The starboard engine was hopelessly disabled. But all hands toiled like demons, and the vessel pounded on like a wounded bulldog striving to get to " grips." Another shell glanced from her bow.-platee with slight damugc ; a third hit the after funnel. At between 3000 yds and 4000 yds she ohanged her course to the east and opened with her starboard guns. After a while she hit La Vire ri^ht amidships, but the shell did not- -explode. Teen disaster came thick. A shell exploding on deck, dismounted two guns and killed Captaia Roberts and fourteen men. This was followed a little later by one that exploded in the men's quarters forward, llut right nobly did Pellew fight j his crippled* ship. Getting across two guns from tlie port battery, he- crawled east by south, blazing away undauntedly. Getting ~ the ran>»te at last, he smashed La Vine's port bow above the water-line. Then, after the Uarracouta- had again been hit, a lucky shot (testrovvU her opponent's bridge-steer-mg-L'tiar, ana another dnrnaged her conning- ; tower and did considerable execution. Thereupon, tin 1 Frenchman (swinging round witn her twin-screws) headed south out of range. So ended t.ho first act of this ocean-drama, buy. tho curtain quickly rose on the finale. THE. DEATH jGRIP. Pellew and bis gallant crew msed the breathing ajmce to partially stop some nasty le:;ks and to attend to the wounded. Next rt hearty metil and grog were served out, and the guns cleared as far as possible from wreckage. In tiirtje-quarrors of an hour La Viro regained control of her rudder and stood north. Had Eellairs been, content to continue playing at long bowls he could undoubtedly have sunk the British warship without mi.vh risk. But in these affairs the temperament of the individual (especially if ho be in co:nin:uir!) counts for much. The br;<vo Frenchman lest- his judgment and derided in try closer quarters, with everyihi - -n bis favour. He re-openod at a nii'c .:■!■' ;i half, i-ir'jliug at full svq-A. The British replied at- long intervals, ou,e

shell carrying away the Frenchman's foremast and killing some marines. Bub what of the V,. .M-ooutaV klio was hulled six times, and then an explosion, directly under hf>r stern disabled! nor remaining propeller and increased tho I leakage, at the sdme time st-ort-i ing the water-tighb bulkheads. Siie ! lay unmanageable, with her upper structures -wrecked and her decks a shambles. At l««?t only one big gun ; was available. But Pellew had resolved on a desperate gaane, and the Jack still flew from the main peak. Nearer and nearer , swooped La Vire, and three-pounders, machine guns and small arms cauno into- play. The fire of the Baxracouta was soon practically silenced by torrents of projectiles and ! splinters. Apart -from the roar of guns the vessel clanged and screeched like an iron foundry. The calm sea spouted in foomI tains. Soon nearly all the survivors were needed at the hand-brakes, whioh, with one steama pump, alone kept her afloat. Nob a boat could swim. j Finally La Vire prepared to bring this ' hammering match to a finish. Taking up | a position at four hundtoed yards across the Barracouta'6 stenii she temporarily ceased firing in order to carefully train 6ix fourinoh' guns on the mangled Briton. Now came Pellew's last chance. He hadi foreseen this manoeuvre, and met it by one 1 desperate effort. Though badly 'hit, hs, with the aid of the second lieutenant (J. A. Johnston), the chief gunner (William M'Donald) and a dozen bluejackets, had contrived} to get aft their only remaining big gun, to where it could be trained oleaff of wreckage. Half the party dropped, but the rest toiled like giants. Now, when the lull came, the four-point-seven — carefully laid by desperate and ibloody mien — let drive three lyddite shells in rapid succession just before the French gunners completed! their deliberate sighting. The broadside that, thirty minutes later, would have sunk tho Barracouta like a stone, never came. The third sharp bang of the cannon, was drowned/ by a fearful roar] A shell had passed into La Vire'e forward magazine, and a frightful explosion followed. The whole of that ship's upper works t together . with hundreds of human bodies, were burled into the air, amid volumes of steam and smoke. 'Immediately tons of water rushedi through a big gap in her side. Then followed the bursting oi the boilers and th© collapse of the wrecked hull. She sank like a ibullet 1 • With three franrio cheers the Englishmen plied their pumps, for already the water was a foot on the engine-roam floors. Fortunately rescue was at hand. At eight a.m. the Botomahana from Lyttolton, hearing guns to the east, altered her course. Sighting the sinking warship, she arrived ju*t> in time. Ten minutes after the last living" man had been transferred, the blood-stained Barracouta, with the old flag proudly flying, followed her gallant foe "To the cod and 1 <tiaa corpse-fad conger-eel, And ithe «cour of 'tha ofi-shore tide." Three French' sailors and a petty officer, saved from a floating spar, w«re the only sarvivors of La Vire. From the Barra? coutai were taken Pellew, Johnston, M'Donald, Scoresby and 116 others, of whom' twerity-one died 1 of their wounds. The Rotomahana, keeping a sharp' lookout, dashed across the mouth of the strait into Wellington. As the cables were intact, Special editions all over the colony speedily roused intense excitement. Christchurch waa again thrilled at seven o'clock by the following Wellington wire: — "Warship, supposed i;o be L'Aigle, passed through strait, bound south, at 6.30." Then came news from Kapiti that the Moerafei, from Sydney, and 'the Platonic, from London, via Hobart, had been captured. All that night the' Tutanekai (returned from east coasb ports), with the Rotoiti and Oorinna (lent by the Union Company), patrolled Wellington Harbour. They were provided with machine guns and searchlights, their object being to guard against launchattacks, (To be continued.)