Item 02: Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett articles on the Gallipoli campaign, 1915 - Page 53
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[Page 53]
fifty you do not look forward with such indifference to the prospect of having your ship suddenly blown up and yourself forced to take a c cold bath at any hour of the night or day.
Events now developed fast. At eight o'clock on the morning of May 25th I was down below on the Swiftsure when l suddenly heard two fourteen pounders fired in rapid succession and the sound of men running to their stations. On going on deck I found the alarm had been caused by the periscope of a submarine which had appeared on our port bow only three houndred yards away. Our alert gunners did not loose a second but fired at her and she disappeared below the surface. Why she did not discharge a torpedo remains a mystery as she had our ship as a target only three houndred yards off and also the Majestic and Agememnon quite close. It is thought she was trying to make the entrance to the Dardanelles and came up blind amonsgt the ships and was scared by our guns and the small craft trawlers and destroyers all around before she could lay on any target. But we all knew we had escaped disastee by a hairsbreadth. Of course the alarm was immediately given and our destroyers were off after her like a flash.
A little later she was reported to be making towards Gaba Tepe. At ten thirty am the battleship Vengenace which was crusing up and down in that direction reported she had been fired at but missed - another most lucky escape. There were also remours of another submarine having been reported off Rabbit Island so it seemed there were two in the immediate neighbourhood.
I had occasion to go on shore that morning and did not return until lunch time.