Iles war diary, 1914-1919 / G. H. Iles - Page 209
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[Page 209]
peculiar heavy thud which accompanies a great explosion, - the night was a very black one, but was nevertheless very peaceful, - rumours quickly began to circulate around our ship, such as the HMS. Emperor of India, (a giant dreadnought) had struck a mine outside the entrance, - another was to the effect that HMS Royal Oak another great Dreadnought, had been sunk by submarine that had by some means gained access to our anchorage, -
bad news travel fast and in a few minutes a report was received that the Dreadnought Battleship HMS "Vanguard" had sunk whilst laying at anchor caused by presumably, internal explosion, - we gazed across in the direction of the fleet for altho we were in the same harbour we were about 4 to 5 miles away, and no lights were visible from ships after dark, - but far away in that direction could be seen on the surface of the water, a long narrow irregular red glow, - by using a pair of glasses one could observe the slow irregular burning flare, which was afterwards discovered to be the burning oil on then water