The Jasper weekly courier., 1914-12-04
300 LIVES LOST;
BRITISH WARSH|P
SUNK BY BLAST
8attIeship BuIwark Is Blown Up
in the Thames.
CHURCHILL TELLS SITUATION
First Lord of the Admiralty Says
England Could Lose Twelve Dread
naughts and Retain Naval
Superiority.

London, Nov. 27.-The British bat
tleship Bulwark was blown up and
sunk in the estuary of the Midway
river. Between 700 and 500 men were
lost, including Capt. Guy Belater. her
commander, and all her officers. Only
IL of her crew were saved.
1t is announced officially that the ex-
plosion was interior and originated in
the ships magazine.
The disaster is the most appalling,
with the exception of the loss of the
Audacious, the British navy has suf-
fered In the war. 1t is even more of
a shock than the loss of the Aboukir,
Cressy and Hogue at the hands of
single submarine Ia the North sea, for
the Bulwark was destroyed from with
in-destroyed utterly and instantly.
The men aboard her had not a fight
ing chance for their lives.
Sinks in Three Minutes.
The band was playing aboard the
Bulwark. Near her were anchored
several other ships. Alongside the
Bulwark was lighter. From it were
being loaded over the side of the 49,
00O-ton battleship fresh ammunition
stores for her 12.inch and six-inch
guns.
Suddenly a terrific explosion oc-
CURED in the bowels of the ship A
great cloud OF smoke arose, envelop-
Ing the Bulwark and shutting her from
sight. great white flash of fire
streaked through the black veil; the
smoke cloud thickened and rolled out
ward and upward.
Practically every pane Of glass with
in three miles was shattered. Debris
was scattered six miles.
The Bulwark was built in 1899. She
was 400 feet long and 75 feet in the
beam. She was heavily constructed
with Krupp armor and carried the fol-
lowing armament. Four 12-inch guns,
IL six-inch guns, Is three-inch guns
and six three-pounders. In cddition
she carried two machine guns and four
Pinch torpedo tubes. She carried a
crew Of 500 men.
Three British Ships Sunk.
German submarines have sunk two
more British steamships and Ger
man mine has sent to the bottom a
British naval collier. according to ad-
mission of the British admiralty.
The submarine victims were the
merchantmen Malachite and Primo.
They were destroyed in the English
channel. Their crews were saved.
Tha ho
Grimsby on the south bank of the
Humber The collier's crew was land
ed at Grimsby.
Churchill Seeks to Allay Fear.
A supreme effort to allay tb E, grow
ing terror of the British people was
made in an extraordinary speech IN
the house Of commons by Winston
Churchill, first lord of the admiralty
He reviewed the operations of the Brit
ish fleet in the war and contrasted the
present and prospective strength of
the British fleet with that of the Ger
man feet, declaring new warships
were being finished rapidly in Eng
land now that Great Britain could lose
one dreadnaught every month for a
year and still retain her present su-
pericrity over the Germans.
Referring to criticisms of the ad-
miralty's failure to utilize its sub
marines as effectively as the Germans
had done. Churchill said the fact that
British submarines had been unable to
produce results on a large scale was
due to the seldom offered opportunity
to attack"