The Miura, Commanded By Sub-Lieutenant Leslie Kersley, R.N.R., Ramming A German Torpedo-Boat.
The German torpedo boats, the A2 and the A6, immediately attacked the three remaining vessels, the Barbados, Miura and Chirsit, riddling their upper works with machine gun fire, though doing little real damage. Their attention was specially directed at first to the Barbados, and her skipper being badly wounded in the foot, Lieutenant-Commander Sir James Domville took the wheel and handled the ship with great dexterity. The Chirsit a vessel captured from the enemy and now commanded by Sub-Lieutenant Stapleford-drew away from the thick of the fight to draw the fire of the enemy upon hi vessel. These tactics were successful, and the A6, which engaged her, was so much occupied that she did not notice the Miura, commanded by Sub-Lieutenant Leslie Kersley, R.N.R., coming up on her quarter. Soon, however, the enemy fired a torpedo. It missed, and a few moments later the Miura crashed into her stern, knocking a hole in her below the water line, besides sending some of her crew overboard.
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British Torpedo Boat Destroyers In Pursuit Of The German Torpedo Boats A2 and A6.
With the A6 badly damaged and down by the stern, the Germans thought it wise to make for home. The Barbados had, however, got into touch by wireless with the destroyer Leonidas, who in turn summoned three of her sister craft. The two German torpedo boats soon saw four columns of smoke on the horizon, and they knew they were being pursued. Within an hour both vessels had met their fate, and were lying at the bottom of the sea. Forty-four of the total number of fifty-nine officers and men on board the Germans were picked up from the sea It then came to light that when the Columbia sank, one of her officers and two of her men were picked up and afterwards locked up by the Germans. Though the British saved forty-four of the Germans, the latter, utterly indifferent to the fate of the British sailors, left them to drown like rats in a trap.
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