Imperial Valley press., 1914-11-28

sent to the bottom British naval
collier, according to official admission
Of the British admiralty.
The submarines victims were the
merchantmen Malachite and Primo,
They were destroyed in the English
channel. Their crews were saved,
tl-st CT the Malachite being landed at
Southampton and the officers and
men of tne Primo reaching Facamp,
35 miles ON Dieppe, in France.
The Khartoum struck mine off
Grimsby. on the south bank of the
Humber, Is miles southeast of Hull.
The Golfers crew was landed at
Grimsby.
Submarines which escaped the Brit
ish naval bombardmcnt of Zeebrugge,
the newly established German subma-
rine base on the Belgian coast, early
in the week, are believed to have sent
the two steams' ps to the bottom.
Coming on the heels of the appall-
ing disaster which befell the British
battleship Bulwark when it was blown
up with the loss of more than $50
officers and men, these new evidences
of hostile naval menace at the very
gates of London have served to spread
CONSERVATION over England.
Despite official assurances that the
military situation of England is not
materially affected by the monoto-
nous destruction of British fighting
ships and merchant vessels by the
German undersea terrors, public con-
fdcnce has been given another severe
shock and the British press is insist
ing upon further measures of protec-
ton in British waters.
According to a report by Lloyds,
the Malachite was torpedoed while off
Havre while the steamer, which is out
of Glasgow and is of 718 tons, was
bound from Liverpool to Havre laden
with a general cargo. The Lloyds re-
port on the sinking of the Primo, &.
vessel of 1866 tons, says she was
struck off Cape D'Antifer, France, in
the channel. Lloyds says German
submarine sank each of these yes
sells.
While the sinking of the collier Khar-
toum represents an insignificant loss
as far as its value as naval unit is
concerned, the fact that it struck a
mine so close to the English coast on
the day after the sinking of the Bull
wark, a mysterious disaster, caused
considerable alarm.
! Eight bodies of the victims of the
Bulwark have been identified among
the thirty already recovered. Those
identified include that of Captain Guy
L. Sclater, commander of the battle
ship. Most of the bodies were so hor-
ribly mutilated, however, that recog-
milton was out of the question.
Great throngs of men, women and
children, relatives and friends of the
officers and men of the Bulwark wait
ed all day on the docks of the harbor
at Sheerness while the bodies were
being brought in. Many pitiful
scenes were enacted. Hundreds of the
bodies probably never will be recov-
cred unless divers go beneath the
water to disentangle them from the
twisted and warped frame of what
was once the flagship of the Medi-
terranean fleet.
An official secret inquiry has been
started to learn the cause of the dis
aster. The task is battling one, as
of those who were aboard the ship or
rear 1t at the time of the explosion
there l. not a soul alive to tell the
story. So far all is theories. The
official simiralty circle still adheres
to the evplanation that the explosion
was internal and accidental. The pub
lie is torn with doubt and there is
heard on every side stories Of 81 ron-
taneous combustion of cordite or ID
dite; of German spies ut work aboard
the ship; of treachery among the
crew; of the secret visit of stealthy
submarine-all are theories. There
is none to tell how the Bulwark was
sunk. The m stery will outlivo, it is
believed, the mystery of the sinking of
the Maine.