SHIPS AT CHATHAM USELESS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8665, 4 July 1906, Page 1

SHIPS AT CHATHAM USELESS.

' Excitement reigned everywhere. The

wildest rumours were hourly afloat. London was a seething stream of breathless mutitudes of every class. On Monday morning th© "Daily Mail," in common with other journals throughout the kingdom, devoted the greater, part of its space to t,he extraordinary intelligence from Norfolk and Suffolk and Essex and other places. Like the public, however, the Press had been taken entirely by surprise. The blow had been so> sudden and so staggering that half the alarming reporte were discredited. In addition to the complete details of the enemy's operations, as far as could as yet be ascertained, the "Daily Mail'"' contained an account of a mysterious occurrence at Oh.atha.rn, which read as follows: — CHATHAM. September 1 11.30 p.m. An extraordinary accident took plaoe on the Medway about eight o'clock this evening. The steamer Pole Star, 1200 tons i^egisfcer, with a cargo of cement from Frindsbury, was leaving for Hamburg, and came into collision with the Fraueovlcb, of Bremen, a somewhat larger boat, which was inward bound, ki a narrow part of the channel about half-way between Chatham and Sheernees. Various accounts of the mishap are current, but whichever of the vessels was responsible- for the bad steering or neglect of tho ordinary, rules of the road, it is certain that the Fraueoalob was 'out into by the stem of the Pole \ Star on her port bow, and 'sank almost across the channel. The Pol© Star swung alongside her after the collision, and very soon afterwards sank in an almost parallel position. Tugs and steamboats carrying a number of naval officers and tlhe port authorities .are about to proceed to the scene of the accident, and if, a© seems probable, there is no chance or raising the vessel®, steps will be at once taken to blow them up. In the present state .of our foreign relations such an obstruction directly across the entrance to one of cur principal war ports, is a national danger, and will not be allowed to remain a moment longer than can be helped. September 2. An amazing denouement has followed the collision in the Medway, reported in my telegram of last night, which renders it impossible to draw any other conclusion than that the affair is any-thing-but an accident. Everything now goes to prove that the whole business was premeditated, and was the result of an organised plot, with the object of " bottling- up " the numerous men-of-war that are now being hurriedly equipped for service iv Chatham Dockyard. As soon as the news of the- collision reached the dockyard the senior officer at Kitshole Reach was ordered by wire to take steps to prevent any vessel from going up the river, and he at once despatched several picket-boats to the entrance, to warn in-coming ships of the blocking of the channel, while a couple of other boats were sent up to within a short distance of the obstruction, to make assurance doubly sure. The harbour signals ordering "suspension of all movings " were also hoisted at Garrison Point. Among other ships which were stopped in consequence of these measures was the Van Gysezi, a big steamer, hailing rfroW'lfiftfcerclani, laden, it was stated, with steel rails for the London, Chatham and . Dover Railways, which were to be landed at Port Victoria. She was accordingly allowed to proceed and anchored, or appeared. to anchor, just off the railway pier at that piace. Ten minutes later the officer of the watch on board H.M.S. Medusa reported that he thought she was getting under way again. It was then pretty dark. An electric searchlight being switched on, the Van Gysen was discovered steaming up the river at a considerable epeed. The Medusa flashi ed the news to the flagship, which at ! once ..fired a gun., hoisted the recall, and the Van Gysen's number in the international code, and despatched her steam pinnace, with orders to over- ; haul the Dutchman and stop him at whatever cost. A portion of the marines on guard were 6ent in her with their rifles. The Van Gysen seemed well acquainted with the channel, and continually increased 'her speed as she went up the river, so that she was within half a mile of the ccene of the accident before the steamboat came up with her. The officer in charge called' to the skipper through his megaphone to stop his engines, and to throw him a rope, as lie wanted to come on board. After pretending for some time not to understand him, the skipper slowed his engines. As the pinnace hooked on at the gangway, a heavy iron cylinder cover was dropped into her from the height of the Van Gysen's deck. It knocked the bowman overboard and crashed into the forepart of the boat, knockiiig a ' big hole in the port side • forward. The lieutenant in charge ordered a rifle to be fired at the Van Gysen to bring her to, but she paid not the smallest attention, as might have been expected, and went ou her way with gathering speed. The report, however, served to attract the attention of the two picket-, boats which were patrolling up the river. As she turned a bend in the stream they both shot up alongside out of the darkness, and ordered her peremptorily to stop. But the only answer they received was the sudden extinction of all lights in the steamer. They kept alongside, or rather one of them did, but they were quite helpless to stay the progress of the big wall-sided steamer. Within a couple of hundred yard© of th-e two wrecks "she slowed down, for fear of running right over them. On she came, inevitable as fate. There was a crash as she came into collision with the central deck-houses of the Frauenlob, and as her bows scraped past the funnel of the Pole Star. Then followed no fewer than half-a-dozen muffled reports. Her engines went astern for a moment, and down she settled athwart the other two steamers, heeling over to port as she did so. As for the crew of the Van Gyeen, it

was thought that all must have gone down in her, as no trace of them could b© dieoovered, despite a most diligent search, for it was considered that, in an' affair which had been so carefully planned as this certainly must have been, some provision must surely have been made for the escape of the crew. Those who* have been down at the scene of the disaster report that it will be impossible to clear the channel in less than a week or ten days, using every reeource of the dockyard. A little later, with our special correspondent at Chatham, I thought I would go down to the dockyard on tlhe offchance of picking 1 up any further' inform motion, when, by a great piece of good fortune, I ran up against Commander Shelley. I was on board his ship as correspondent during tibe manoeuvres of the year before last. I told him that I had been down in Chatham for a week past as special correepondenifc of the " Daily Mail," reporting on the half-lvea-rted preparations being made for the possible mobilisation, and took the opportunity of asking him if he oould give me any further information about the collision between the three stoaraer© in the Medway. " Well," said he, " the best taring you can do is to come right along witfi me. I Have just been called out of bed to superintend the diving operations which will begin the moment there is a gleam of daylight. But I shall have to make one small condition. You must let me ' censor ' your telegrams before you send tihjam." So away we marched down the echoing spaces of tihe almost deserted dockyard, till we arrived at the Thunderbolt pontoon. Here lay a pinnace with etea/m up and lighted by the- lantern of the policeman on duty, we stepped on boasrd and shot out into tShe centre of t|ie stream, W«- blew our whistles;, and the coxswain waved a - lantern., whereupon, a small tug that had a couple of dockyard lighters attached gave a hoarae "toot" in response, and followed us down tJhe river. "We sped along in tibe darkness against a. strong tide that was making up-stream, till we oame abreast of the medley of mud flats and glass-grown islets just beyond them. Here above the thud of t!he engines and the plash, of the water, a thin, long-drawn-iout cry wavered through the night. " Someone hailing the boat, sit," reported the lookout forward. We had all heard it. "Ease down," ordered Shelley, and, hardly moving against the rushing tideway, we listened for its repetition. Again the voice was raised in quavering supplication. "What the dickens does he say?" queried the commander. " It's German," I answered. I know that language well. " I think he's asking for help. May I answer him?" "By all means. Perhaps he belongs to one of those steamers." The same thought was in my own mind. I hailed i in return, asking where he was and what he wanted. The answer came back that he was a shipwrecked seaman, who was cold, wet and miserable, and h& implored ito be takem off from the islet where he found himself cut off from everywhere by water and darkness. We ran- the boat's nose into the bank, and presently succeeded in hauling on board a miserable object, wet through, and plastered from bead to foot with black Medway mud. The broken remains of a cork life-belt hung from- his shoulders. A dram of whisky somewhat relieved him. "And now," said Shelley, "you'd better cross-examine him. *We may get something out of the fellow." The foreigner, crouched down shivering in the stern-sheets, half-covered with a yellow oilskin that some charitable bluejacket had thrown over him, appeared to me, in the light of the lantern that stood on the deck before him, to be not only suffering fi\wn cold, but from terror. A few moments' conversation with him confirmed my suspicions. I turned to Shelley. ' "He says he'll tell us everytihwig," I explained. (To be continued on Saturday next.)