HUN FLEET SCUTTLED.
ADMIRAL'S ORDER FOUND.
5,000 HUNS IN THE WATER.
UNDER-SEA EXPLOSIONS.
The Huns, by opening the sea-cocks or knocking out rivets from the
watertight compartments, scuttled and sank their interned fleet at Scapa Flow, the great
naval harbour in the Orkneys, on Saturday afternoon, after hoisting the red flag and the
German Ensign. Yesterday explosions followed; the bombs with time- fuses must have come
from Germany.
It is clear that the sinking of the ships was the result of a plot. Admiral von Reuter
may have acted on instructions from Berlin. Saturday was fixed as the day because the Huns
at Scapa Flow had not learned of the 48 hours extension of the signing-time limit of the
armistice.
When the Germans scuttled their ships and began to make for the shore in their boats
fire was opened by our small craft and 6 Germans were killed and 10 wounded. Others may
have been drowned in the confusion, and a certain number may have reached the islands of
the Orkneys. The main force of the British Fleet was absent, exercising at sea, when the
Huns sank the ships, but some drifters and small craft remained on patrol and a force of
British aircraft was also engaged in a night and day watch of the Germans.
By the terms of the armistice, which were settled by the Allied Naval Council and
approved by the Council of Four, the British were not allowed to place guards on board the
German ships or to remove the German crews. The German Fleet was left under the command of
Rear-Admiral von Reuter.
The Germans were allowed to communicate with each other once a day by means of one of
our drifters, and about once a month to communicate with Germany by means of the supply
ship. The mails were censored by us.
EX-KAISER'S ORDER.
A copy of Admiral von Reuter's detailed orders for sinking the ships has been found. He
says he issued them because at the beginning of the war the Kaiser gave instructions that
no warship was to fall into an enemy's hands, and he believed from what he read in a
newspaper that the armistice had terminated. He made a journey to Berlin some weeks ago on
the plea that he was ill, but he soon returned. He may have arranged then with the German
Admiralty for the destruction of the fleet.
He must have circulated his order to his ships by evading our censorship or making
unobserved signals. The German vessels lay so close together that it would be difficult to
prevent them from thus communicating.
A statement that the German crews were periodically relieved when the supply ship came
from Germany is officially denied by the British Admiralty, which announces that there has
been no change in the composition of the German crews. In the large ships there were about
150 or 200 men, and in the destroyers 12 to 20. There would, therefore be nearly 5,000
Germans in the water, or in boats, when the fleet was sunk.
Fourteen hundred of the Hun sailors were landed yesterday by two British vessels at
Nigg, on the Ross-shire coast, and placed in hutments guarded by 200 Seaforth Highlanders.
The sinking of the fleet is a grave crime against the laws of war, which forbid under
penalty of death the destruction of war material during an armistice.
SHIPS WORTH £70,000,000.
The value of the Hun fleet was over £70,000,000, and it was to have been surrendered
to the Allies by the Peace Treaty for their absolute disposal. Its internment took place
on November 21, when it met Admiral Beatty's magnificent fleet off Rosyth and was conveyed
into harbour. It was subsequently taken under convoy to Scapa and was to remain there till
its fate was decided. There were various proposals for its disposal, the Americans and the
British Admiralty favoured sinking it in the Atlantic, the French and Italians opposed
this.
The prospects of salvage depend on the amount of damage done to the ships by the Huns.
Where charges have been exploded inside them it may be difficult to raise them, but where
only the sea-cocks have been opened it may be possible to send down divers and close the
valves and pump the water out. The depth of water near where they were sunk was from 60 to
120 feet. They are not in the harbour channel or in the anchorage generally used by our
large ships. All warships are fitted with sea-cocks or valves for admitting water in case
it is necessary to alter their trim or flood them to put out fires. |
'STAGGERING SIGHT.'
BOASTFUL HUN OFFICERS.
By A NAVAL EYE-WITNESS.
SCAPA FLOW, Saturday Evening.
Scapa Flow, which during the past four and a half years formed the chief
base of the British Command Fleet, and in the water of which the German High Sea Fleet has
been interned since November last, was to-day the scene of one of the greatest dramas in
the world's history. To one who has had the privilege of witnessing the activities of this
northern base during the past four years impressive sights have not been uncommon, but the
most imposing of these were tame compared with to-day's staggering spectacle.
The morning passed uneventfully. The sun shone beautifully, and there were no visible
indications that a few hours hence the peace of the base would be disturbed by the
sensational denouement which began to manifest itself towards noon. At that hour one of
the German battleships was reported to be in a sinking condition, and almost
simultaneously each German ship hoisted the German ensign on the mainmast, most of them
showing also the red flag on the foremast. The crews immediately commenced to leave their
ships in small boats, and it was soon evident that a concerted plan of action was being
acted upon.
From the behaviour of the ships it was evident that the sea valves had been opened, and
in a surprisingly short time the vessels, big and small, began to settle down. Every
effort was made by our naval authorities to beach the sinking ships, and in the case of
the destroyers considerable success was achieved.
REELING AND ROCKING.
By 1 p.m. the scene beggared description. What an hour before had been a stately fleet
riding calmly at anchor was now an array of reeling and rocking battleships whose doom was
written in their movements. Here a destroyer would disappear amid a cloud of steam; there
a battleship would take her last plunge and disappear in a tumult of spray. One would
settle down by the stern, another would heel over until only her keel showed above the
water. The Derfflinger, Hindenburg, von der Tann, Moltke, and Seydlitz, the pride of the
German Navy, settled down beside each other; the last-mentioned turned turtle, and her
keel is still showing above the water.
Scapa Flow was dotted with small boats full of the men who had with such dramatic
suddenness settled the interned ships question. As the first boatload was towed alongside
H.M.S. Victorious by a drifter, the German officer in the boat ordered his men to cheer,
and they responded with three vigorous "Hochs!" Craft of every description
followed fast, each towing boatloads of Germans. They were taken aboard H.M.S. Victorious,
the deck of which soon became crowded with men and bundles.
HUN MANNERS.
One German officer came aboard wearing his sword and seemed to wish to make an
impressive ceremony of handing it over. Another officer who had been in command of a
division of the interned destroyers said, "We are not Bolsheviks. Peace was signed
to-day. We had our orders and have carried them out." They were unaware that the
armistice had been extended by 48 hours till Monday at 7 p.m. There was an almost
continuous heel-clicking and saluting as the officers of the various ships greeted each
other on coming aboard.
That the Germans had been ready for to-day's event was apparent from the amount and
variety of the gear they had with them. Some of the seamen were staggering under the
weight of bundles bigger than themselves, and the salvage represented everything, from
banjoes to pet dogs. Both officers and men seemed very anxious that none of their ships
should be saved.
One German officer wearing the Iron Cross pointed to the sinking ships and said,
"See how the German Navy goes down with flags flying." But that was not the
case, as our men had boarded most of the German ships and hauled down their flags before
they sank.
The prospects of salvage as regards a few of the ships are fairly hopeful. None of them
has gone down in really deep water. The beaching of the sinking ships proved a difficult
and at times a dangerous matter. One destroyer sank as she was being towed ashore, our men
aboard scarcely having time to jump clear before she went down. About 20 destroyers out of
the 50 interned have been beached. Of the German battleships, battle cruisers, and
cruisers, not more than three are afloat so far as is known at present.
During the afternoon the German crews were transferred from H.M.S. Victorious to our
warships in the Flow. What was a crowded anchorage this morning is a desolate expanse of
water to-night, with here and there the masts of a sunken German ship marking the final
resting-place of a unit of the once proud and mighty High Sea Fleet.
A good number of Germans are believed to have been either drowned, killed, or wounded.
Altogether 4,000 Germans are said to be involved. |
