The Irish standard., 1911-09-30
CREWS WORKING TO RESCUE VIC,
TINS BURIED IN WRECK.
AGE OF LlBERTE.
THREE OTHER SHIPS IN DRYD0Ck
As Result Of the Disastrous Explo,
sion on French Batteship in
the Roadstead of
TauIon.

Toulon, Sept. q. While the dry.
docks were being hastily put into
shape to receive the Verite, Republiquc
and Democratic, all badly damaged as
a result of the fire and explosion that
destroyed the warship Liberte, detach-
ments from every ship in the harbor
are working on the wreckage of the
Liberte, trying to rescue members of
the crew known to be alive in the
debris.
. A repair ship is anchored alongside
the mass of wreckage, only a small
portion of which is still above water
The chrome steel plates are being
burned through with acetylene jets,
but the work is necessarily very slow
because Of the danger Of dislodging
some Of the plates and crushing the
victims in their prison below the sur
face of the water in the roadsted.
An official statement giving the
casualties, places the dead at 235 and
the injured at SO, with one man miss
ing.
Fifty bodies were recovered and
eight wounded men were rescued from
that part of the vessel which remained
exposed when the hull sank. These
men had been pinned in the ruins from
sixteen to twenty-four hours. Most of
them were unconscious from pain. and
their rescuers lacked the assistance
that their cries otherwise would have
given in locating their exact position.
The official count of the dead and
injured is progressing, and it is now
certain the list will be nearly 400.
Minister of Marine Delcasse and Ad-
miral Germinet, after personal investi.
cation of the incidents in connection
with the explosion and talk with the
survivors, rejected the opinion of the
experts that deflagration of the "B''
powder in the magazines, caused the
explosion. They say they are con.
WINGED that the fire started in the oil
store room.
There is a disposition to blame the
higher officials of the Liberte for be-
ing absent The fact that the captain
and next two in command were away
and that the warship was in command
of senior lieutenant, injured disci
pline, it is asserted. 1t is also init
mated that the best means were no
employed in fighting the fire. Hac
experienced officials been on duty, II
is intimated, bunkers and magazines
would have been flooded simultaneous
| ly with the fire alarm and an explosion
would have been impossible.
The court of inquiry to determine
! the responsibility for the disaster will
| be named at once. 1t will consist OIL
officers of flag rank and they will be
/ ordered not only to fix responsibility
! but to recommend changes in construc
: ton to prevent such disasters in the
future.
| The Toulon water front has beer
transformed into a vast hospital anC
morgue. Many of the victims are sc
badly mangled that recognition is al
most impossible. In the temporary
! hospitals, hastily established, terribly
burned seamen are being cared for
! OF fifty injured sailors in the CHIEF
marine hospital, twenty-five have al
ready died and few of the others car
recover.
| The Liberte appeared as if her bow.
had doubled over on the stern. Mer
! burned in that part Of the wreckage
i above the water could be heard groan
ing and screaming for help, which
often the rescuers were unable to give
The lower deck was charnel house
One mans foot was held under a mass
of steel weighing tons. After three
hours vain efforts to lift the mass e
surgeon amputated the foot. Through
hole in the armor portion of bodies
contorted and piled together, could be
perceived, all of them charred by the
flames.
! Walsh Before Parole Board.