Norwich bulletin., 1914-11-27
Explosion Sinks
 British Warship
ONLY IA SAVED OF eATTLEsHIP
 BULWARKs CREW.
700 OR 800 MEN PERISH
Ship Was at sheerness, an Estuary of the Thames-catastrophe Is At- tributed to Explosion of Magazine Disappeared in Three Minutes.

London. Nov. 26( 3.51 D. mt was officially announced here today that the British battleship Bulwark had been blown up off Sheerness.
 The British battleship BuIwarl1. 15,- 0OO tons displacement, was laid down in 1899 and completed in 1902. She was All feet long. 75 feet wide and drew 29 feet of water. Her armament consisted of four 12-inch. F 6-inch guns, Is 12-pounders. six 3-pounders and four submerged torpedo tubes. She had a complement of 750 men.
 Sheerness is on the Thames, at the mouth of the estuary of the Medway. It is 36 miles down the river from London.
 Only 12 men out of the 700 or 800 on board the Bulwark were saved.
 According to the admiralty the eX- plosion which resulted in the destruc- ton of the Rulwark is believed to have originated in their own magazine.
 The loss of the Bulwark, according to 8 Central News despatch received to an accidental explosion while am- munition was being loaded on the war ship.
 No UpheavaI of Water.
 The explosion which destroyed the Bulwark occurred at 7.53 a. m. A vice admiral and rear admiral who were at Sheerness reported that they were convinced that the disaster was caused by magazine explosion. There was no upheaval of the water. When the smoke had cleared away the ship had entirely disappeared.
 An inquiry will be held tomorrow and the admiralty believes that it may throw some light upon the occurrence.
 MT. Churchill speaking in the house of commons concerning the disaster, said:
 Between 700 and 800 Men Perish.
 'The loss of the ship does not sen sibly affect our military position, but regret the loss of life, which was very heavy. Only twelve men were saved. All the officers and the rest of the crew, which I suppose amounted to between 700 and 500, perishe6."
 Disappeared in Three Minutes.
 The force of the explosion aboa; c the boat Wass so great that houses in Sheerness and even in South End, seven miles away and on the other side of the Medway, were violently shaken. The people fed into the streets in alarm. When the great ship blew up dense clouds of smoke and flame shot into the air. The vessel disappeared beneath the waves in three minutes.
 Impossible to Render Assistance.
 So terribly was the Bulwark rent that it was impossible to render her any assistance. Immediatel yafter the explosion the vessel was plotted out by smoke and as the veil slowly lift ed handful of men were seen strug- gling in the water. Small craft rush ed to their aid and picked them up. Some of the crew were badly mu- tilated.
 Band Playing When Explosion Game.
 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 off the naval the Thames, but the officers of the port scout the public impression that the vessel was the victim of a German submarine. This seems to be sup ported by the absence of an upheaval in the water as the first lord of the admiralty explained.
 Was a Useful Unit.
 Although only 15 years old and no longer on the first fighting line, the loss of the ship however, was nothing compared with the heavy loss in train ed officers and men with whose rel atives MT. Churchill expressed in the house of commons his deep sympathy and sorrow. The BulwarlS in her early career was quite a favored ship. For a long time she was the flagship of Admiral Charles Beresford in the Med iterranean.
 Statement of an Eye Witness
 An eye witness who was on a ship a short distance from the il1-fated Bull wark said:
 'I was at breakfast at about ten minutes to o'clock this morning when heard an explosion and went or deck. My first impression was that the report was produced by the firing of a salute by one of the ships, but the noise was quite exceptional.
 ''When I got on deck I soon saw that something awful had happened. The water and the sky were obscured by dense volumes of smoke. We at once were ordered to the scene of the dis aster to renred what assistance we could At first we could see nothing mortified to find that the battleshiI Bulwark had gone. She seemed to have entirely vanished from sight, but a little later we detected a portion of the huge battleship showing about four feet above the water.
 We kept a vigilant lookout for the unfortunate crew, but saw only two men. I don't know whether the other boats rescued anyone. One man we saw was dead. The disaster was the result of an accident"
 Seemed to Split Tn Two.
 Another eye witness said that when the explosion occurred a great volume of flame and smoke shot in the air The ship seemed to split in two and then heeled over and sank. She dis appeared in less than five minutes.