SUDDEN DISASTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 November 1941, Page 6

SUDDEN DISASTER

LOSS OF H.M.S. COSSACK OFFICER’S GRAPHIC NARRATIVE. EFFECT OF EXPLOSION. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.55 p.m.) LONDON, November 16. Captain E. L. Berthon, D.S.U., and other members of. the complement of H.M.S. Cossack, who were . killed, could have known and felt nothing of what happened,” said a Cossack officer, describing the explosion which resulted in the ship’s end. “I had gone down from the bridge to the charthouse. The next thing I knew was being helped back to the bridge by seamen. I had a dislocated shoulder and broken teeth. There was oil everywhere and the seamen-helping me were so black as to be unrecognisable. There were eight or nine officers on the bridge when I left. None were there when I returned. All had found themselves in other parts of the ship, or in the water, not knowing how they got there. The ship was heading into the wind and the fire spread rapidly, causing ammunition, ready for use on deck, to go off like fireworks.” The officer added that some of the ship’s company, included participants in all the Cossack’s exploits, including the Altmarck rescue, the Battle of Narvik and the Bismarck episode.