Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-09-25

Scores of the seamen died In their
berths. A few dozen saved themselves
by jumping overheard Many in flames
leaped into the water and were drowned
before the boats from the other ships
in the roadstead could reach them.
Two hundred of the Grew escaped
death owing to the fact that they were
ashore on leave. Commander Jaures
brother of tho Socialist deputy, was
not on board.
The first crash came when the crew
was for the most part dispersed In
various sections of the vessel They
were without warning of danger
Scores of bodies were hurled high
into the air, accompanied by great frag-
ments of framework, armors, bursting
shells and the binding. suffocating
smoke of the powder.
There were many vessels in the har-
Dor at the time. including a number of
warships, which have been maneuver-
ing here since the first of the month.
The first explosion brought a quick
response from the nearby men, war
and from the shore. Dozens of boats
put off
Ot view Jersey type.
The battleship Liberte was the type
ship of the so-called Liberte class in
the French navy-a boat of IA, 900 tons
displacement and an overall length of
452 feet. She carried crew of 793 men
and bore four 12-inch guns and ten guns
of the French 76-inch type. She also
had twenty-three small guns and four
torpedo tubes. She was completed in
1907 at a cost of about s7,G000o0 The
type of the ship corresponded approxi-
mately to the five American battleships
of the New Jersey class, including the
Virginia. Georgia, Nebraska and Rhode
Island.
The recent history of the French navy
contains a series of disastrous acci-
dents, most of them caused by explo-
sions, and several occurring at Toulon,
the scene of today's catastrophe.
On March IL, 1907, the battieship Lena
was almost destroyed by the explosion
Of her magazine, and 107 officers and
men lost their lives. Until today the
lena disaster stood as the greatest re-
cent calamity suffered by the French
navy in times of peace Like the
Liberte the lena was blown up In the
harbor of Toulon, but the loss of life
mained af1oat
An investigation of the lena explosion
resulted in an official report that II
was due to spontaneous combustion of
powder in a magazine where the tenn
perature was too high on account of the
proximity of the dynamo compartment
From 300 to $50 of the crew of the
Liberte and about 100 men from the
M thA,4 e.I.f +,
help extinguish the fire, have disap-
peared The Democratic lost 20 dead
and so injured
the Liberte struck the cruiser Repub-
lique on the port side with great force,
damaging her plates.
The Liberte, with the battleship
Verfte and the flagship Justice, repre-
sented the French government at the
Hudson Fulton celebration at New
York two years ago.
Nearly every vessel of the squadron
lost some men from the parties sent
to the aid of the burning battleship.
The Verite was moored nearest being
about 225 yards from the Liberte Eight
of the Verite's men We're wounded by
flying fragments blown from the
Liberte or by pieces of bursting shells
The decks of the Verite were crowded
with men who were watching the
frightful spectacle and who were tar
gets for the falling debris.
The Liberte was broken in two by
the violence of the final exposion. she
sank in forty feet of water. Accord
ingly large portions of the upper struc-
ture remained above the surface. These
were swept by the flames and the
burning of black powder caused dense
smoke.