The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-09-26
Liberte, the Pride of
Frances Navy, Is
Totally Destroyed.
VESSEL NOW But
TW D MASS
Frightful Scenes Enacted Before
Eyes of People of Toulon-Sea-
men in Rescuing Boats
Sunk by Debris or Sucked
Down in Mael-
strom.

destroyed By an explosion of her maKn-
Eines to-day. Nearly 400 officers and
men were killed. The battleship Re
publique was badly damaged, and thu.
be~:t1eshipS Democrgte and yerite also
suffered severely from the masses of
twisted iron and armor plnte TINT were
buried upon their decks.
This Is the greatest disaster thai has
ever fallen upon the French navy. and
in magnitude Ia almost without prcce.
dent in the ANIMALS of the worlds
fighting ships. The GRIEF which pros
tra,cs the Meet and nation is mad,
more Intense By the memory of the
recent review here. a notable dispia,
OF frances naval greatness. in which
the doomed ship was one of the fines,
figures.
Fire Causen Destruction.
The explosion which wiped out one
OF Frances newest and most powerful
battfeshiPs, occurred at 5:53 o'clock in
the morning. 1t was preceded by ans
was the result Of an outbreak of fire
The flames spread rapidly in spite Of
all Efforts to master them and reached
the magazines before there was tim"
to mood them. The magazines ex-
ploded with a tremendous violence.
sowing death n destruction in every
direction.
while the naval authorities esu-
mate the killed at 800, It is feared that
this figure will be exceeded. 1t will
be necessary to go through the ships
muster rolls, a task OF several days.
before a fun list OF the victims can Dc
prepared. A number of men already
have been e1tricated alive from the
dramatically torn and twisted mass OF
~reckage which once was the Liberte
and the hope is strong that there ars
others within the broken hulk Who car
be reached.
Exactly from what u or when
che IRE broke out has not been estab.
1tshed. but It Is believed that ~ had
emoldered for. several hours. OF the
vessels full OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Jeures. brother. of the Socialist leader.
and the second oficer in command.
were both ashore on leave. as well as
40 ofhcers and men. The command OF
the ship devolved on the senior lieu,
tenant, who perished. The fire was
hrst discovered at A M, and the bu-
giles Immediately sounded the alarm.
The crew rushed 10 quarters and fought
desperately the spreading flames. bu
IL soon was evident that the dire hao
obtained a Arm hold. Signals Of die
tress were flashed to the other ships
and these dispatched steam pinnaces
and launches at full speed to assist in
the work Of ~extinguishing the flames
and rescuing the men. But their ser
vices were Of little avail.
Ordered to Leap for Lives.
The position OF the Are made II i'm
possible to flood the magazines. Never
theless efforts to do SO were made. and
finally the commanding officer. realiz
ing that the ship was doomed. ordered
tho bugler to sound the "suave qui
peut' (Let him save himself who CAM
and shouted to the men to jump for
their lives.
AT. 5:S5 the hrst explosion occurred.
1t was followed by three others at
one-minute intervals. Then came the
fiHal terrific defamation, which shat
tered the windows OF the entire city.
and was heard for a radius of many
miles. The Liberte was rent asunder:
her bows were thrown high into the
air. and then the vessel slowly settled
down. and in nineteen minutes moth
ing was visible but the top works.
Those still on deck were hurled sky
ward amid a shower of Iron and steel
The boats of the rescuers were sunk.
and serious damage was done IL the
Republicans. which lay at anchor close
by. Two of her decks were stove 10
and one of the Liberties armor plates
was hurled against her port side and
demolished the cabin of an absent en-.
sign.
For a few minutes after the hnal ex-
plosion an intense black cloud of
smoke lowered over the harbor. When
It shifted a horrible spectacle met the
eyes of the people of Toulon. who.
awakened by THE first explosions. had
hurried to the shore. The twisted up
per works of the battleship were pro-
truding from a mass OF formless
wreckage. among which struggled the
seamen from rescuing boats that had
been sunk by the flying debris or suck.
ed down In the maelstrom.
May Reach 400.
Late tonight the naval authorities
declared that the number of victims
Is greater than at first appeared. The
ofhcial estimate Is now given as be
tween $50 and 400 dead or missing.
The work Of rescue was quickly be
gun. An ambulance station was In.
stalled in the arsenal and Admiral
Marin-Dasbel. maritime project, went
out to the wreck and superinten Ted
the work of extricating those impris-
oned under the shattered steel. The
Hrst body recovered was that of an
officer, which was hauled from under
an awning with a %boathook, Up to
this evening forty bodies have been
taken out and ninety-four injured have
been transferred to the hospital.
Electric shears. to cut through the
plates of the Llberte. and d powerful
boating crane TO lift the masses of
steel, were used in conjunction with
a,crew of divers who are at work ex-
ploring the interior of the hull. This
afternoon the Liberte appeared as IL
her bows had doubled over onto the
stern. Men buried in tina mart of the