The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1907-07-24
A FLASH OF FLAME
And Then Struggle to Es-
cape Awful Death.
VIVID STORY OF EXPLOSION
In the Turret of Battle Ship
GeOrgia-Told by One
of the Victims.

the Naval Hospital at Chelsea Acting
Gunners Captain Charles H. Hansel
to-day was able to tell the story of
the accident on the United States
battle ship Georgia which cost eight
lives and caused injuries to IL other
men in Cape Cod Bay yesterday. Mr..
Hansel said:
"None of us knew much about 1t
till it was all over; it was so quick.
When / saw that first flash instinct
told me what was up, and kept pres
ence of mind enough to dodge back
from the sheet of flames that began
to envelop the turret. / got down to
the floor, crawled under the gun and
out to the portfolio as far as / could
get. Here / could get some air, and
was so low down that the fumes did
not hurt me seriously. Kimball was
with me, and he did not get burn.
MY hand was burned where / held
an iron rod, and 1 got burned around
the head, but guess it is not very
bad.
"The instant the flash came Lieu
tenant Goodrich, who was in charge of
the work in our turret, rushed to the
hatchway on top of the turret, think
ing to get out before the turret filled
with smoke and gas, but the powder
was too quick for him, and he was
horribly burned before he could get
to the air and safety Seaman Ma
leck was sitting on top of the turret,
where he was stationed to take mes
sages, with his legs hanging down
the hatchway. Influence probably by
Lieutenant Goodrich, who, maddened
by his suffering, plunged into the
sea, he, too, threw himself overheard.
"The first flash was followed quickly
by a second from the other bag of
100 pounds of smokeless powder. That
was a moment of terror to all who
were still conscious, but they were
few. Men were lying in heaps, mourn
ing, dying unconscious, burning and
suffocating.
The next minute seemed eternity.
But help from outside came quickly
and the men were lifted out and Ia
ken away to be cared for. But liv-
ing men could not enter the turret
until the heat had been overcome by
poured-in water, which also settled
the smoke and drove out the gases
10 some extent The poor fellows were
terribly burned; some so as to be un-
recognizable Eyes were burned out;
faces. bodies and arms and legs black
ened, and there were no features left
on some of the charred faces.
"NIidshipmau Cruise was pointing
the gun when the flash came, and |
was by his side. He did not move
away from the sheet of flame as quick
" as ! did, and was fearfully burned.
we were making a record all
right. Lieutenant Goodrich took great
pride in the work and had all the men
worked up to enthusiasm. We had
fired nine shots and made nine hits,
and still had time enough to fire
twice more, and that meant two more
hits the way we were shooting, and
still be within two minutes. Now,
when you fire IL shots with eight
inch guns in two minutes you're do
ing some shooting whether you hit
the mark or not. But we were hit
ting.
How those fellows suffered after
they were taken out! Captain Nc
Crea won the love of every man on
that ship yesterday. Time and again
he came down to the hospital and
would bend over some dying fellow
with his face close TO the lips that
were trying to speak and try to make
out the last words, and then turn
away with the feelings of his heart
written on his face. All the officers
and men behaved splendidly through
it all, and there was no confusion. 1t
is a fine ship and II ] go back !
want to go back to the Georgia"
Two great boxes, one addressed to
Midshipman Cruise and the other to
"The Sailors of the Georgia. were re-
ceived at the Naval Hospital to-day
They contained flowers and inside of
each box was the card Of Admiral
Yamamoto, the japanese naval officer
who visited Boston yesterday.
GAS Dir "a.