THE LIBERTE DISASTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10435, 28 September 1911, Page 3

THE LIBERTE DISASTER.

(Received Sept. 27, 8.5 a.m.)

PARIS, September 26,

The Liberte's bugler was (hurled aboard the Republique, and still-held his bugle. Splinters of shell struck the Foudre, a' gunnery school "two miles distant, killing her cdmmander.. Mutilated bodies have been packed up throughout, the day. , - An officer declares that tie fire' spread so quickly that it was impossible to flood the- magaame. Rescuers were all day boring holes in the plates of tihe sunken in. the hope of rescuing any imprisoned there. i. All the powder in the ,Liberte's magazine was freshly Shipped, and is likely to remain good for forty months.

During the recent hot weather the temperature in the magazine was above 85, but this was not considered dangerous. The ammunition storage was subjected to special tests, and results were entirely satisfactory. It was ait first thought tlhat the fire was due to a short circuit, but it is now positively stated that it was due to the decomposition of the powder* l —a conrdition similar to the Jena explosion. ' Admirals who were returning from the funeral of victims of the recent explosion on the Gloire, viewed the Liberte's victims. .

The majority; were so dharred as to be unrecognisable. x Some were pierced through and though by fragments of shells.

M. Delcasse, Foreign .Minister, in an interview, said he believed that the fire originated outside the;magazines. The Times says that France's loss is not solely personal. It is a material loss of great moment and gravity, inasmuch as tie sudden extinction of so considerable and effective a unit as tfae Liberie is strategetic disaster not incapable, in certain contingencies, of appreciably affecting the balance of naval power in Europe, especially in' the Mediterranean.

• v (Received Sept. 27, 11.15 a.m.) PARIS, September 26.,-, . When. < the outbreak on tlie Liberte. was discovered the men were ordered to flood the magazines, but tlhey rush- ' fed, 0&: deck declaring it was- certain death to approach. tihe sluices,- owing; to poisonous fumes emanating from the magazines. . Then the men were ordered to their stations, and the panic immediately ceased,- and they went to thedr posts. supreme courage. • When the otjhfer explosions occurred;, .the command was given to leave the ship in good order, this operation beiiig effected with perfect discipline, un~ ' 'til-tihe onnihilatory explosion occurred. Many bodies and remains have been, ( recovered, but a Iheap of • 'about fifty corpses is visible, entangiled in masses 'of wreckage. . ' '5-.. . H : One man is alive in the turret and* food is being passed to him. ' i He states that he is surrounded -by fifteen bodies. Strenuous efforts are being made to release him.:- • , J Newspapers generally accept the , theory of spontaneuos combustion, but several allege that there is,. conneotiobV:] between the fires on the Liberte, Pat- ! rie, and the sabotage at Brest dock-; 1 yard, - I