LIBERTE DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10298, 1 November 1911, Page 1

LIBERTE DISASTER.

BATTLESHIP BLOWN TO PIECES. FEARFUL LOSS OF LIFE. HEROISM OF DOOMED MEN. (From the London correspondent of tho " Argus," under date September 29; by mail, to Fremantle, thence by telegraph.) The destruction of the French battleship Liberie in Toulon Harbour on Monday was one of the most 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 botween 450 and 500 men perished. It is now certain that about 225 wero killed and 150 desperately wounded. The full complement of the Liberte was 743 ou Sunday. However, 175 men were granted leave of absence. They were due back at eight o'clock on Monday morning, but when tliey reached the quayside it was to find their vessel a pitiful wreck, i rom tho landing-stage thev could see the Liberte lying in about 40ft of water, a mass of buckled plating, twisted piping and broken armament. A huge grey cylinder (the remains of tiie big gun turret) lay broken and misshapen above the wreckage. Two giant 12in guns lay near-by, The grotesque mass of ironwork was still glowing. Threads of smoke rose from the blackened woodwork. Some of the fortute survivors broke down and wept like children.

Less than a- month ago the Liberie led the vau of the second line in the historic review at Toulon when ninetytwo 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 V'arite and liepuhliquc. Each had cosb about £1.,00U,000. When the alarm was given the sailors on the Liberte were called to quarters, and signals were hurriedly made to the other war vessels in harbour. In a few minutes it was sctfn that the hull of the Liborte was enveloped in smoke and masses of flamo were breaking from the stern. Scores of boate launched by the battleships were sent to the aid of the Liberte. The first iutimation of immediate danger came with a slight explosion at thirty-live minutes past live o'clock in the magazines. Every man 011 board the Liberte realised the danger now. Ho remembered that the " B " powder iu the fore part of the ship was similar to that which brought about tho destruction of the Jena in 1807. A party of seamen ran to open the sea sluices to flood tho magazines. They had scaroely gone below, when they rushed back., declaring that it was impossible to carry out the order. A magazine containing melinite had already exploded, filling the lower decks with smoke and poisonous fames. Approaching tho sluices meant certain death. ENGINEER FACES DEATH. In tho attempt to flood the magazines the chief mechanic, Leatine, met with an heroic death. When the first explosion had. extinguished the electric lights, Lostino, who had been vainly endeavouring to open tho sluice valves, returned to the deck half asphyxiated. Ho met the lieutenant in command, who cried to him, "I have ordered 1 lire quarters 'to be sounded. Open the sluice valves and -flood the powder magazine." "I have tried tho sluice valves but they don't work." he replied. " Attempt the impossible, man," said the oflicur. "Do you understand that the powder magazines must be flooded?" " All right, captain," replied Lestiue, saluting. " I will go down. Perhaps I shall be able to open tho valves, but I shall not come hack." 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'. 1 , officers gave the order, "Abandon the ship J" It was too lato. At six minutes to six the main magazine exploded, and the Liberte went in twain and slowly sank to tho bottom of tho roadstead. When the final explosion occurred tho Liberte's bows for a moment rose right out of the water, and tho 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 tho boiling sea. An eye-witness aboard the Patrie says:—" After the first two explosions an immense column of smoke rose slowly. Tht atmosphere became fearfully dark, 'Just before tho fatal moment huge flames rose heavenward. It was dreadful. An awful explosion reSounded. Debris of all kinds were hurled in every direction. Hugo pieces of iron fell upon different ship's of three squadrons, and the damage to the Republiqus was very serious." BOWING INTO A VOLCANO. After this formidable explosion all tho boats around the Liberte, which had rowed to her rescue, were caught in tho wash and disappeared. A gendarme and four sailors in a small boat were on their way to tli-e shore when the explosion occurred. "It was like rowing into a volcano," said one of them. " Immense pieoes of iron, steel burning wood and hot metal rained over hundreds of yards round us. Tho vvator wa3 hot and the air unbreathablo, and. we sat for some minutes in the dark and waited for death. Then tho steam and smoke cleared away a little, aoid wo saw what we knew must be human beings. Their clothes were torn and burned. Most of tliem were bleeding. A few of them were clinging to bits of wreckage, and calling, in faint voices, for help. Wo 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, hut the hand I caught, had been burned through, and came away." MEN RETURN TO.QUARTERS. Perhaps the most heroic episode recorded was tlie following After one of the successive explosions a number of the crew, thinking that the snip was done for, jumped overboard into boats, others striking out in the water. | A moment Inter a bugle sonnde-d "to quarters" in the doomed ship, with a special call for an alarm of fire. Seventy or eighty men, swimming or in boats, on hearing the order, instantly rowed or swam back to tho burning ship, climbed on board, and ran to their posts. Fifty of these men perished in the subsequent explosion. They had given up their chance of safety at the call of duty.

Reference has been made to the damage done to the Kepubiique. Every worship in harbour was more or less injured by the terrific explosion. The small boats, many of thorn heavily weighted with rescued sailors, were caught in the wash o!>st up by the sinking Liber to. In one. cose an Association football team, representing the crow of the Huffron. were rowing ashore for n match. Turning, they went to tile assistance of (he T i' erte. With the lust 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 Libert©, 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 a.bcut half-way down to the water-line. Several men in the Republique were killed by this prcpectile and by part of the Liberie s forebridge, which landed on the deck of the Republique. Thirty-seven tons oi broken armour were removed from the deck of the R-epublitine after the explosion. BUGLER AT HIS POST.

One of the most gruesome discoveries on that warship was the dead body of the Liberte's bugler, whose lingers still clasped tho bugle with which he 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 lie siood watching the burning Liberte from his ship. The roar of the final explosion was heard thirty miles off. Many stories of wonderful escapes are cold. Dr Christian, surgeon of the Verile, was sent to the Liberte when she signalled for help after the first explosion. He had just clambered on to the Liberty's decks when the magazine exploded. The doctor says that he was blown off tho deck by a hurricane of fire. His uniform was ripped to shreds, his cap torn in halves, his sword wrenched away, and his beard, 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. Que teaman was discovered on the Liberte crushed between two armour plates. Several hours of work were required to rescue him. Injections of cocaine were given. He became unconscious. Blowpipes wero used to pierce the plates before he could be extrioatea. Another man could only be rescued after his foot had been amputated owing to the limb being crushed between wreckage. Twenty-four hours after the explosion, when the resellers wero at work on the wreck, a wildlooking figure, naked and blackened by smoke, suddenly appeared and flung himself into the sea.. He was picked up, and may recover. The strangest case of all was that of a, seaman imprisoned in the Liberte's gun turret. Whcr. he attraoted the attention of his rescuers, the sailor said that he was only slightly hurt, but that ten dead bodies were with him in the narrow turret. For more than, a day the rescuers worked frantically, cutting through the heavy armour plating. Tho unfortunate creature in the turret was the last living man taken from the wreck. HORRORS OF RESCUE. Of the horrors attending the work of rescue only hints can bo given. Many of tho details are too torrible for A doctor of the Saint Man-drier Hospital, where tho wounded wore taken, recalls that this was the first timo that an examination of the explosive action of modern powder had been possible in France. Boms were shattered, muscles wero roduoed to pulp. Tho gases given off by the powder in many cases forced their way under tho' skin, tearing off largo fragments. In one instance the skin was torn off from head to foot. The doctor showed ten feet which had been torn from the legs, the socks being still upon the feet. Throughout Monday boats reached the hospital with bodies wrapped in sheets. A few could be identified. In some cases a slip of paper bearing the dead man's name was attached. Every now and then a man or woman in the crowd about the hospital gates would burst into tears. The watcher had heard his or her name whispered by those near enough to read tho writing upon the paper. A brother or a child was among the dead. One woman, hearing her husband's name, flung herself into the water and was drowned.

It is generally believed that "B powder," which caused the loss oi the Jena, also led to the Liberte disaster. Admiral Bellue, who commands the squadron at Toulon, holds this opinion firmly. He points out that exactly eighteen minutes elapsed between the first explosion and the final "/osic" and recalls that tho same interval was observed in the case of the Jena disaster. Admiral Bellue says that it was a recognised faot that the gases siiven oif by " B " powder in an unvenkilated space had tiie property of raising cue temperature of the magazine to an extraordinary degree. It was further known that under these conditions eighteen or nineteen minutes were required to bring tho charge to the point of explosion.