New-York tribune., 1915-03-20
NAVAL BATTLE
SEEN in PANORAMA
Eyewitness on Mount
Elias Sees Bouvet Steam
TO Her Doom.
rBy Gable 90 The Tribune. J

by cable 70 Tne IIlpuHt'l
Tenedos, March 1S.-Standing on the
summit of the hill of St. Elias ana
facing the mouth Of the Dsrdanelles
unforgettable sights are these days 70
be seen, on the left the white GINS
of the European shore, on the rlght
the low coast stretching up TO the
Narrows and the town of Chanak,
where the Turks have the strongest
of their forts.
: As watched it was about l0:3O
this morning. saw four British bat
/ tleships enter the strait, the lntieXlble
leading. Half an hour later the Queen
Elizabeth, with a torpedo boat on either
side of her. opened fire. Two giant
explosions rent the air, and the beich-
ing flame from the guns showed tina.
one she'll had been sent TO the Asiat'c
and one to the European shore.
The effect was instantaneously seen.
From Chanak dense column of smoke
rose up From the Kilid Bahr fort, on
the other side, there were flames as
well as smoke. Further firing was
then heard from the fleet little later
confiagration could be seen higher
up the narrows, responding TO the hash
and boom Of heavy guns:
At 1850 four of the French battle
ships entered the strait, the Sufren,
the Gaulois, the Bouvet and the
Charlemagne. Following them came
five other British warships. The French
ships were soon in action and engaged
the forts with a vigorous fire. This
tremendous bombardment, however, was
still incomplete, and at 12:45 the other
British warships which had been at
anchor below us>moved in stately pro
cession TO the strait in single line
ahead.
/ BY 12:45 the whole armament
seemed to be rocking under the tre-
mendous roar and crash Of cannonad-
/ ing from the warships and the an
swering fire from the forts, when
were now all in full outburst. Europe
seemed to be belching fame across at
Asia and Asia back again. and the usu-
ally placid waters of the Dardanelles
were now pitted and churned with
white splashes and erratic foam.
Two great columns of water followed
the explosions. probably from sub
merged mines. One warship near the
Asiatic coast (the distance was too far
TO enable its identity to be diStin-
guished) could be seen apparently on
fire. A volume of black smoke fol-
lowed and hid from view six of the
British warships, which a moment be-
fore could be seen heading up the
straits at a furious rate, with
their tunnels belching flames.
Gathered on our hilltop TO watch the
fight was an odd collection of races.
There were men of all climes. but
among them was a French able, in his
Cassock, from a hospital ship, who
found himself squatting close to a
Turkish hodja, who had remained
faithful to his mosque when TencdoS
became Greek. There were two or
three Englishmen, sprinkling of Eng
lish speaking Levantines. a French
correspondent, some French officers. a
score Of Turks and a crowd of Greeks.
/ discerned six immense spouts OF
water rise from both sides of one OF
cur ships, and a little later distinctly
saw one of the Turkish shells take eff
feet on one of the British ships. II
caused fire on board, but five min
utes afterward the fire ceased and
flashes from her guns in action were
again discerned.
At 1910 o'clock flames and smoke
arose from one OF the French ships.
The chaplain from the French hospital
ship Canada, who was sitting beside
me. thought it was the Bouvet. She
]
view hugging the shore of Erenkeui
Bay.
At 2:45 o. m. two ships appeared TO
have advanced further toward the
Narrows. This called forth another
spell of intense activity from Turkish
batteries. | saw two hits take effect
On these two ships, and smoke issued
from them for about ten minutes. Then
the smoke cleared.
Soon after 5 o'clock a French snip
came out from the strait conveyed by
two others. She had evidently sus-
tanned damage. and she grounded at
one of the Rabbit Islands. A fleet Of
small craft closed around her.
The fire from the ships and forts
had now become deafening, and new
| dull. deep note was entering into the
noise. probably from howitzers of a
heavy type brought into play from the
forts. A change in the operations took
place at 1880, four British battleships
moving so as to allow six others TO
/ approach the narrows. but the inces-
SAINT flashes and booming remained
constant, and the very sky seemed over
cast with the emanations of the guns.
/ There was "a brief lull about . o'clock
/ for an hour and then again at 3 o'clock
B a whole crescendo Of thunderous sound
/ broke out again. The scene was awe
/ inspiring, the last touch being given
/ by an aeroplane. which could be seen
| dimly through the smoke wreaths in tho
| sky, fitting like some supernatural OBJ
/ iect over the combat, and. as il moved,
/ one could see below, as If there were
some mysterious connection, vivid
! flames shooting up from West Chanak.