The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-02-17
DISASTROUS EXPLOSION
 ON BRITISH SUBMARINE
FOUR MEN KILLED AND FOUR-
 TEEN INJURED.
Only One Man of the Entire Volunteer Crew Escapes Unhurt-VesseI Suffers Little Damage-A New Craft and Cause of Accident is UnISnown--King Edward Sends Sympathy to Relatives of Victims.


 Queenstown, Ireland, Feb. 16.-Four men killed and fourteen injured, Of whom three are in a critical condition, was the result of two explosions on board the British submarine boat "A-5" in the harbor this morning. The killed included Engineer-Artificer Chaffe,. a leading stoker and a stroker. Lieuten- ant H. G. Good, commander of the yes sel, was blinded. His condition is crit ical. Lieutenant Skinner, an officer or the submarine boat, subsequently, died of his injuries. Only one man of the entire crew escaped uninjured.
 The first explosion is believed to have occurred while the crew was engaged in filling the gasolene tanks preparato- " to proceeding outside the harbor The 'A-55 caught fire after the first ex- plosion. When this explosion occurred number of the crew of the torpedo gunboat Hazard volunteered to go to the rescue of the submarine boats crew, but hardly had they got on board the 'A-5 when a second explosion took place, and all the rescuers were more or less injured
 The submarine boat was afterwards docked and an official statement issued this evening says the vessel has not suffered much damage. An inquiry in to the causes of the explosion will be held tomorrow.
 The .A-5 was new boat and only left her builders on Saturday. After extensive and satisfactory trials she was ordered to Queenstown for the purpose of familiarizing military off, cers with the appearance of a subma- rine boat. Sixty army officers were present to witness the diving experi- inent which led to such a tragic result. The crew were entirely volunteers. The explosion, which was of the violence of a big gun and was heard ten miles away, shook the submarines convoy, the Hazard. from stem to stern. Dense volumes of smoke were seen imme- diately pouring from the only outlet of the hapless submarine, The rescuers report that 1t was only by superhulnan efforts that they were able to force their way through the stifling fumes. They were repeatedly driven back and when, finally, they reached the lower part of the boat they encountered a ter rible spectacle. Of the wounded and dying crew only one was able to speak scoherently, and he was begging to be saved The rescuers were forcing up the second manhole forward when the second explosion occurred, blowing one of them twenty feet upwards. He fell in the water and was rescued, Others were slightly wounded. The Hazard sent fresh party to the rescue and one by one the dead and injured were brought up. the rescuers in each case returning prostrated and faint with the fumes of gasolene. Lieutenant Skinner was delirious and tried to tear himself away from his rescuers.
 As the submarine was one fire, she was lowed to the dockyard basin, where jackets made a gallant effort to get the only body remaining below, that of an engineer. They were almost asphyxiat- ed before they succeeded. Afterwards the fire was extinguished. The cause of the explosion is unknown.
 E King Edward sent a message express ing deep regret and heartfelt sympa- thy with the relatives of the victims.