THE RUSSIAN NAVAL MUTINY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11635, 12 August 1905, Page 7

THE RUSSIAN NAVAL MUTINY.

Dramatic Sto»»y of the Prince

Potemkin.

How a. Warship HjbJcl up Odessa

(London Correspondent.) LONDON, June 30.

It wants another Marryat or W. H. G. .Kingston to do justice to the mutiny of the Russia battleship at Odessa and the extraordinary situation to which that event gave rise this week. Anything of its kind more widly romantic the present generation at any rate will find it difficult to recall. In its dramatic details the ep ; sod. of the Odessa mutiny is probably unique Apart from the horrible bloodshed that has accompanied the rising, it was undoubtedly a picturesque affair. The return of the battleship with the red flag of revolution at the masthead, the guii3 trained upon the mutineers' own port, the landing of the ringleaders' lifeless corpse, with the proclamation of revolt pinned to his b.east, the money-box placed on tb2 quay "for subscriptions to defray the funeral expenses," the chivalrous offer of the PortAdmiral to go on board as a hostage — those and other incidents of the situation have given to this black and fateful tragedy a strange glamour of romance. The latest news is - to the effect that the insurgent battleship has been sunk 1 -by the rest of the squadron, after a fierce fight; but even if this be so it has played its part in fanning the flame of revolution which threatens sooner or later to overwhelm: the Russian bureaucracy.

THE STORY OF THE MUTINY.

The battleship Kniaz Potemkin, the largest and newest vessel in the Black Sea squadron, arrived at Odessa from Sevastopol early on Wednesday. It soon transpired that the crew had mutinied on the voyage and murdered all the officers ex cept some half a dozen. Soon after their arrival at Odessa an armed pinnace from the Kniaz Potemkin landed the body of a sailor on the wharf. Pinned to th 3 body was a large and fairly-written statement that the man had been shot dead by hip superior officer for protesting, in the name of his shipmates, against the unsatisfactory quality of the food furnished to the crew. This statement went on to say that the crew immediately mutinied, killed all their officers, and, hoisting a red flag, called upon the citizens of Odessa to proclaim a revolution. The mutineers added that they would support the rising with their arms. The men further warned the authorities of the port that if the remains of the dead sailor were removed from the wharf, or if an armed force was used against the revolutionists, they would bombard the city.

Thousands of the people of Odessa visited the wharf and r^ad this proclamation, and the city was at the mercy of the revolutionaries. Some Cossacks were sent to remove the body for burial, whereupon a rod flag was hoisted on the Kniaz Potemkin Idvarichesky. The 12-inch guns of the battleship were trained on the town, and signals were run up to the effect that the body would b? brought back for burial at sea at sundown; and that if there were the slightest interference on the part of the authorities, the crew would bombard the city. The soldiers thereupon retreated, leaving the remains exposed to the public gaze. Scenes of intense excitement ensued. A thousand dockers, strikers, and others assembled on the new pier with bared heads, and passed in turn before the corpse, the lid of the coffin being removed. When the police attempted to disperse them they formed a ring round the coffin and defied both them and the Cossacks. It appears that some fighting ensued, but details are still lacking. The mutineers meanwhile sent delegates on board, the merchant steamers in the port and to the wharves, where they ordered that ail work should cease. Shops and warehouses were pillaged during the night, and conflagrations broke out. in various parts of the city, due to incendiarism, by which many valuable warehouses were destroyed, and the steamer Saratoff, of the volunteer fleet, was burned. Shortly after seven o'clock that morning the mutineers sent a torpedo-boat, with her guns cleared for action, into the harbour, and seized the Russian steamer Esperanza and her cargo of 2000 tons of coal. The fuel was theu transferred to the battleship with the help of'the stevedores who willingly joined the mutineers. It is said that the latter paid for the coal they commandeered.

Meanwhile thousands of spectators crowded the cliffs abovo the harbour to gaze upon this strange apparition of a mutineering warship. The Prince Potemkin is the most recent and the finest addition to the Black Sea fleet. The crew number 930, and the armoury contains 3000 rifles and a full complement of machine guns and ammunition. The3e guns wore trained directly on tlie defenceless city, and the more peaceable of the inhabitants were reduced to a feverish state of apprehension by the spectacle. The authorities were almost in a panic, distrusting the loyalty of the garrison, and knowing their own helplessness in the face of the Potemkin's guns. The Governor telegraphed to Sevastopol for the squadron. It was feared that if the battleship did not leave the port the other Black Sea vessels, whose crews were all more or less in a state of rebellion, might refuse to fire upon her, in which case the city would be at the mercy of the whole mutinous fleet. The Governor also ordered the stoppage of all work in the quarantine harbour at noon, and another order was issued at tEree o'clock closing all the shops and places of business.

RIOTING IN THE TOWN.

The sinister menace of the day's events culminated in fierce rioting in the streets of Odessa after sundown. A huge mob, excited at the events of the day, broke through the military cordon which had been placed round the town to prevent disturbances, and looted two large Customs warehouses. The Post and Telegraph offices, the city banks, and all public buildings were strongly guarded by the military, and they were able to preserve them from the attacks of the rioters. The Kniaz Potemtin, which had been carefully watched by the military and the townspeople during the whole of the afternoon, moved closer to the breakwater in the evening, with her heavy guns still trained on the city. This aggressive movement caused great excitement throughout the city, and added fuel to the disturbances which, had already begun. The city was in a fever of apprehension and fear lest there should be a conspiracy between the naval mutineers and the social revolutionaries ashore, who are showing signs of great activity.

Later in the evening the quarantine station, the harbour warehouses, stores, offices, and some of the Russian shipping were fired by the revolutionary bands in the town, and the wliole of the buildings burst into flames, brilliantly illuminating the whole portion of the city towards the sea. All the foreign ships prepared to slip their moorings in case of need, but the Kniaz Potemkin kept playing its searchlight on every portion of the harbour.

Beyond the discharge of one shell frorA the Kniaz Potemkin, killing four Cossacks and wounding many others, the mutineers

on board that vessel took no part in tho burning of tho port. This incendiarism was the act of 12,000 rioters, who, armed with torches saturated in petroleum, broke through the cordon of military*, and firod all the buildings from the quarantine station to the Mole. Many of these men were armed with bombs or grenades, which they threw through windows and doorways. When the fire reached the elevated railway, a stout wooden structure running along' Primorskaia, and making a semicircle round the head of the three harbours, the flames spread right and left for the distance of a quarter of a milo. Above the roar of the flames could ever be heard the continuous firing of the. military. Happily the wind fell at dawn, otherwise nothing could have saved the greater part of Odessa from destruction.

DREADFUL EXECUTION.

Throughout' the long hours of the night the crack of the infantry and Cossacks' rifles and rattle of machine-guns, of which thirty were employed in the main thoroughfares, told the residents of the port that dire work" was proceeding in the sfcrest3 in tl)e vicinity of the harbour. Owing to the proclamation of a state of siege and the transfer of the civil governor's authority to the military commandant, it was extremely difficult to obtain trustworthy details of the casualties. But "it is generally computed that the killed numbered no fewer than one thousand ; nor can this terrible figure be wondered at when one bears in mind the dreadful execution wrought by quick-firing guns when trained on dense bodies of men. It is known that" the dead included three police officers, nine policemen, twenty-one Cossacks, and eleven infantrymen.

ADMIRAL AS HOSTAGE.

In the evening of the second day (Thursday) the city swarmed with angry mobs, threatening to burn down all the public buildings. The streets echoed with volleys of blank cartridges, fired over the heads of the moving crowds as a warning. Troops guarded every approach to the harbour.

With a chivalry worthy of ancient times, the Port Admiral offered himself as a hostage on board the Kniaz Potemkin for the safe return of the funeral escort, and the safety of the city. The danger of his position was increased by the declaration of the mutineers that any act of hostility towards the mob on the part of the authorities would be avenged on the town. For the time, therefore, the mutineers remained masters of the situation. The funeral took place that evening, the mutineers Bending an escort and the ship's band ashore. The soldiery refrained from all interference.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon the crow of the Kniaz Potemkin took the bold coxirse of holding up a transport, which arrived in port with a number of men on board who had fought at Port Arthur. They compelled the vessel to lie to in the roads in such a position that she was commanded by the guns of the battleship. Two hours later, to the unspeakable but short-lived relief of the thousands who were anxiously watching the transport and the battleship, the latter lifted her anchors and steamed two miles farther out in the bay, followed by the torpedo-boat. Then the battleship dropped anchor, and again hoisted the red flag.

SHELLING THE TOWN."

Twenty minutes later the warship three heavy shells, apparently directed against the Langorou suburb. The Kniaz Potemkin then swung round, and fired a blank shot, as if to. remind the terrified inhabitants that the threat to bombard the city could at any moment be translated into grim actuality. There was no further firing, however, that day. Since, the only news received has been a telegram from St. Petersburg published this (Friday) afternoon, and stating that the Kniaz PotSmkin had been sunk by the Black Sea squadron, with all hands on board. This statement has yet to be confirmed.