New-York tribune., 1922-08-27
AIT But 3 OF 900
On Lost French
W Warsllip Saved
sailors Strive for an Hour
so Salvage Pride of Navy
After 1t Strikes Rock i'm
Darkness and Goes Down
H,,lk Is IS Feet Under
d. .OOO-Ton Vessel of First
Line, With Three Others,
Was Backbone of Fleet

roRIENT. France, Aug. 26 (By The
.s..ciated Press. - The battleship
rance, 5000 tons, one Of the prides
4 line French navy, struck rock off
an,beron Bay In the darkness early
,..say and went to the bottom In
srsrsy-fve feet Of water.
all except three Of the 900 officers
md members Of the crew were rescued
ram rats and lifeboats.
TIE wrecked warship, one Of four
rrerch bsttleships Of the first line, was
returning from night maneuvers to her
,sesosage at Port Haligusn, when at
sdsrk it ran on hidden rock. A
srtss cash was torn in the steel hull
sfAsdreadnought. 1t remained afioat
IN hpar, giving the crew enough time
isrhurried escape in boats. Then the
,rss slowly settled, turned on it's side,
ssd went down. 1t Is considered total
laA
Boilers Are Flooded
The wreck occurred In the tortuous
ssters Of Quiberon Bay, twenty miles
scutheast Of here, on tho Brittany
cast. The swift currents abounding
there are supposed to have swept the
warsh!p slightly from its course. The
detection was sufficient to carry 1t
squarely and head-on over the pointed
rock, known and charted but danger
cusly concealed beneath the water.
The momentum Of the huge ship drove
II forward solidly on the rock, tearing
long cash in the hulk. 1t was hoped
1t frst to dislodge it, with the help of
aside current, but this soon proved to
be impossible, as the Vyarship was
yinned solidiy on the rock
The water rushed into the hold in
shick sheets, flooding the boilers and
short-circuiting the electricity. The
vessel was in darkness, but on deck the
night was bright and clear and the
surface Of the sea was smooth.
Life Rats Launched
The engine crew took every precau-
sion to avoid explosions. They closed
sll compartments and tried eyery
emergency measure to keep the ship
saoat. The officers we're unable to do
much maneuvering, with all power
gone. They managed, during the hour
before it sank, to steer driftingly to-
vard shallower water, hoping to
beach the ship.
Meanwhile, the crew began launch
ing boats while awaiting. help from a
sister dreadnought, the Paris. Many
torpedo boats and other small craft,
vhich had been asked by wireless for
help, stood by.
Most of the crew were kept at their
pasts until the France began settling.
Wien it was seen that there was no
asg Of the vessel remaining upright,
yfsess messages were sent out that
tn crew was about to abandon the
alp, and small boats and life RATS,
Faich had been made ready, were
lunched.
The crew got off safely before the
draadnought slumped over on it's side
ne nine hundred officers and men
iaoat in boats and RATS, were taken
lsaard by many searching vessels.
The rescue required several hours.
The France and the Paris were the
second pair of dreadnoughts of the
same type built in.1912. Their sister
ships, the Jean Bart, which success
fully resisted an Austrian torpedo
during the war, and the Courbet, were
eompleted year earlier These four
have been considered the backbone of
the French navy.