Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-11-27

British Warship Went Down Within
Few Minutes After Explosion Among
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Than 700 Mem.
bers Of Crew Believed to Have Been
Lost.

London, Nov. 27.-An eye witness
who was on ship short distance
from the battleship Bulwark which was
blown UP Off Sheerness Thursday with
loss Of more than 700 men, gives this
account of the disaster.
II was at breakfast at about ten
minutes to 8 o'clock in the morning
when I heard an explosion and went on
deck. My first impression was that the
report was produced by the firing of
salute by one Of the ships but the
noise was quite exceptional.
When got on deck / soon saw
that something awful had happened.
The water and the sky were obscured
ordered at once Ito the, scene of the
disaster to render what assistance we
could. At first we could see nothing
but when thsI 81 aaaarsd We were
h6rrified to find that. the. } battIeship
have vanished from sight, but little
later we detected portion of the
huge battleship showing about four
feet above the water.
I'VE kept lookout for the unfor-
tunate ship. I don't know whether the
other boats rescued any One man we
saw was dead The disaster was the
result of an accident ~
Another eye witness said that when
the explosion occurred a great volume
Of flame and smoke shot into the air.
The ship seemed to split in two and
then heeled over and sank. She dis
appeared in less than five minutes.
Chief Loss Is in Men. .
The British battleship Bulwark,
which was destroyed Off Sheerness
yesterday was of $4,000 tons displace-
ment. 1t was laid down in 1899 and
completed in 1902. 1t was All feet
long, rs feet wide, and drew 20 feet Of
water. Its armament consisted of four
12-inch guns, twelve 6-inch guns. six
teen 12-pounde ders, six 3-pounders. and
four submerged torpedo tubes. It had
a complement of $50 men. 1t cost $5.-
900. 600.
Altho too old to be any longer In
the first fighting line. the Bulwark
still was useful unit. The loss Of the
ship, however, was nothing compared
Wllu Tie lCdty 1OSo AAt ~ oAAAC0 OAAASCA .
and men, The Bulwark in Its early
career was quite favored ship. For a
long time it was the flagship Of Ad-
miral Charles Beresford In the Medi-
teranean.
Accident Causes Blast.
A Central News dispatch received
from Chatham says the loss of the
Bulwark was due to an accidental ex-
plosion while ammunition was being
loaded on the warship.
The forco of the explosion aboard
the boat was so great that houses in
SheernesS, and even in Southend
seven miles away. and on the other
side of the Medway were violently
shaken. The people fled into the streets
in alarm. When the great ship blew
shot into the air.
So terribly was the Bulwark rent
that it was impossible to render her
any assistance. Immediately after the
explosion the vessel was blotted out by
smoke, and as the veil slowly lifted a
handful Of men were seen struggling
In the water. Small craft rushed to
their aid and picked them up. Some of
the crew were badly mutilated.
A touch Of the dramatic was added
to the catastrophe by the fact that the
band Of the Bulwark was playing
when the explosion came
The disaster occurred while the Bull
wark was lying at anchor of the naval
port Of Sheerness. near the mouth of
the Thames, but the officers Of the
port scout the public impression that
the vessel was the victim Of q German
submarine. These seem to be sup
ported by the absence Of an upheaval
in the water as the first lord Of the
admiralty explained.