THE DOOM OF HULL.
In Hull forty-eight long weary hours of anxious suspense and breathless
excitement had passed. The night was dark, the sky overcast, and there
was in the air that oppressive sultry stillness precursory of a storm.
Church clocks had chimed ten, yet most of the shops were still open, and
the well-lighted streets of the drab old Yorkshire town were filled by a
pale-faced, terror-stricken crowd surging down the thoroughfares towards
the Victoria Pier. A panic had suddenly been created an hour before by
the issue of an extra-special edition of the Hull evening paper, the
_Daily News_, containing a brief telegram in large type, as follows:--
The Coastguard at Donna Nook report that a strong force of
Russian war vessels, including the turret-ship _Sevastopol_ and
the barbette-ships _Sinope_ and _Cizoi Veliky_, have just hove
in sight and are making for the Humber. Lloyd's signal station
on Spurn Point has also intimated that hostile ships coming from
the south are lying-to just beyond the Lightship.
The papers sold more quickly than they could be printed, a shilling each
being given for copies by the excited townspeople, who now, for the
first time, suddenly realised that the enemy was upon them. Men and boys
with bundles of limp papers, damp from the press, rushed along
Whitefriargate, away in every direction into the suburbs, shouting the
appalling intelligence in hoarse, strident tones that awoke the echoes
of the quieter thoroughfares.
Now, even as purchasers of papers read the few lines of print under the
dim uncertain light of street lamps, the dull booming of distant guns
fell upon their ears, and the populace, wildly excited, made their way
with one accord towards the Victoria Pier, to glean the latest news, and
ascertain the true significance of the repeated firing.
Was Hull in danger? Would the enemy advance up the river and bombard the
town? These all-important questions were on every one's tongue, and as
the thousands of all classes rushed hither and thither, wild rumours of
the enemy's intentions spread and increased the horror.
Within an hour of the publication of the first intimation of the
presence of the invaders the excitement had become intense, and the
narrow streets and narrower bridges had become congested by a
terror-stricken multitude. Time after time the thunder of heavy guns
shook the town, causing windows to clatter, and the people standing on
the pier and along the riverside strained their eyes into the cavernous
darkness towards the sea. But they could discern nothing. Across at New
Holland, two miles away, lamps twinkled, but the many lights--red,
white, and green--that stud the broad river for the guidance of the
mariner had, since the Declaration of War, been extinguished. The
familiar distant lights that had never failed to shine seaward at Salt
End and Thorngumbald no longer shed their radiance, and from the
revolving lights at Spurn no stream of brilliancy now flashed away upon
the rolling waters of the North Sea. The buoys had been cut adrift, the
Bull Lightship taken from her moorings, and the entrance to Grimsby
harbour was unillumined. Not a star appeared in the sky, for all was
dark, black, and threatening. Through the hot, heavy atmosphere the roar
of cannon came from the direction of Spurn Point, and as the sounds of
the shots fell upon the ears of the anxious watchers, they stood aghast,
wondering what would be their destiny.
The suspense was awful. Men, women, and children, with scared faces,
stood in groups in the market-place, in Queen Street, and in High
Street, discussing the situation. This question, however, was already
engaging the attention of the municipal and military authorities, for on
hearing the alarming news the Mayor, with shrewd promptitude, walked
quickly to the Town Hall, and held a hurried informal consultation with
Mr. Charles Wilson, Mr. Arthur Wilson, Mr. Richardson, Major Wellsted,
Alderman Woodhouse, and a number of aldermen and councillors. All knew
the town was in peril. The enemy could have but one object in entering
the Humber. Yet it was agreed that no steps could be taken at such brief
notice to defend the place. The guardship _Edinburgh_ had been withdrawn
to form part of the squadron upon which they would be compelled to rely,
with the batteries at Paull and the submarine mines.
It was evident by the firing that an attack upon the British Squadron
had commenced. The shadow of impending disaster had fallen.
Working men, hurrying towards the pier, stopped their leader, Mr.
Millington, and tried to learn what was being done, while many of the
leading townsfolk were thronged around for information, and were centres
of excited groups in Whitefriargate. The boatmen, sharply questioned on
every hand, were as ignorant of the state of affairs as those seeking
information, so nothing could be done except to wait.
Women and children of the middle and upper classes, regardless of their
destination, were being hurried away by anxious fathers. Every train
leaving Hull was filled to overflowing by those fleeing from the advance
of the Russians, and on the roads inland to Beverley, Selby, and Market
Weighton crowds of every class hurried away to seek some place of
safety.
Suddenly, just before eleven o'clock, the thousands anxiously peering
over the wide, dark waters saw away on the bank, three miles distant,
two beams of white light, which slowly swept both reaches of the river.
They were the search-lights of the battery at Paull. Scarcely had the
bright streaks shone out and disappeared when they were followed by a
terrific cannonade from the forts, and then, for the first time, those
standing on the Victoria Pier could discern the enemy's ships. How many
there were it was impossible at that moment to tell, but instantly their
guns flashed and thundered at the forts in reply. Far away seaward could
also be heard low booming. The enemy's vessels were creeping carefully
up the Humber, being compelled to take constant soundings on account of
the removal of the buoys, and evidently guided by foreign pilots who had
for years been permitted to take vessels up and down the river.
Moments dragged on like hours, each bringing the town of Hull nearer its
fate. The people knew it, but were powerless. They stood awaiting the
unknown.
The Russian force, besides the three vessels already mentioned, included
the armoured cruiser _Dimitri Donskoi_, the central-battery ship _Kniaz
Pojarski_, the cruiser _Pamyat Merkuriya_, two of the new armoured
cruisers, _Mezen_ and _Syzran_, of the _Rurik_ type, the corvette
_Razboynik_, the torpedo gunboats _Griden_ and _Gaidamak_, and the
armoured gunboat _Gremyastchy_, with several torpedo boats.
The manner in which they had manoeuvred to pass Spurn Point and ascend
the river was remarkable, and astounded the officers in the forts at
Paull. They, however, were not aware that each captain of those vessels
possessed a copy of the British secret code and other important
information compiled from the documents filched from the body of the
Admiralty messenger by the Count von Beilstein at the Mariners' Rest at
Deal!
The possession of this secret knowledge, which was, of course, unknown
to our Admiralty, enabled the captains of the Russian vessels to evade
sunken hulks and other obstructions, and take some of their ships slowly
up the river, bearing well on the Lincolnshire coast, so as to keep,
until the last moment, out of the range of the search-lights at Paull.
Then, on the first attack from the batteries, they suddenly replied
with such a hail of shell, that from the first moment it was clear that
the strength of the fort with its obsolete guns was totally inadequate.
The roar of the cannonade was incessant. Amid the deafening explosions
the townspeople of Hull rushed up and down the streets screaming and
terrified. Suddenly a great shell fell with a dull thud in Citadel
Street, close to a crowd of excited women, and exploding a second later,
blew a number of them to atoms, and wrecked the fronts of several
houses.
This served to increase the panic. The people were on the verge of
madness with fright and despair. Thousands seized their money and
jewellery and fled away upon the roads leading to the country. Others
hid away their valuables, and preferred to remain; the crisis had come,
and as Britons they determined to face it.
While the Russian ships, lying broadside-on in positions carefully
selected to avoid the electro-contact mines, poured their terrible fire
upon the land battery at Paull, their torpedo boats darted hither and
thither with extraordinary rapidity. Several were sunk by shots from the
battery, but four piquet boats in the darkness at last managed to creep
up, and after searching, seized the cable connecting the mines with the
Submarine Mining Station at Paull.
This was discovered just at the critical moment by means of one of the
British search-lights, and upon the hostile boats a frightful cascade of
projectiles was poured by the quick-firing guns of the battery.
But it was, alas, too late! The cable had been cut. To the whole of the
wires a small electric battery had in a moment been attached, and as the
guns of the fort crashed out there were a series of dull explosions
under the bed of the river across the channel from Foul Holme Sand to
Killingholme Haven, and from Paull Coastguard Station to the Skitter.
The dark water rose here and there. The whole of the mines had been
simultaneously fired!
Cheers rang out from the Russian vessels, sounding above the heavy
cannonade. The destruction of this most important portion of the
defences of the Humber had been accomplished by the boats just at the
very instant when they were shattered by British shells, and ere the
waters grew calm again the last vestige of the boats had disappeared.
The officers at Paull worked on with undaunted courage, striving by
every means in their power to combat with the superior forces. In a
measure, too, they were successful, for such havoc did the shells play
with the gunboat _Gremyastchy_ that she slowly foundered, and her crew
were compelled to abandon her. A portion of the men were rescued by the
_Syzran_, but two boatloads were precipitated into the water, and nearly
all were drowned. Two of the big guns of the _Dimitri Donskoi_ were
disabled, and the loss of life on several of the ships was considerable.
Nevertheless the firing was still incessant. Time after time the 9-ton
guns of the _Kniaz Pojarski_ and the four 131/2-tonners of the _Mezen_
threw their terrible missiles upon the defences at Paull with frightful
effect, until at length, after a most desperate, stubborn resistance on
the part of the British commander of the battery, and after half the
defending force had been killed, the guns suddenly ceased.
Both land and sea defences had been broken down! The Russians were now
free to advance upon Hull!
Not a moment was lost. Ten minutes after the guns of Paull had been
silenced, the enemy's ships, moving very cautiously forward, opened a
withering fire upon the town.
The horrors of that bombardment were frightful. At the moment of the
first shots, fired almost simultaneously from the two big guns of the
_Syzran_, the panic became indescribable. Both shells burst with loud
detonations and frightfully devastating effect. The first, striking one
of the domes of the Dock Office, carried it bodily away, at the same
time killing several persons; while the other, crashing upon the
Exchange, unroofed it, and blew away the colossal statue of Britannia
which surmounted the parapet on the corner. Surely this was an omen of
impending disaster!
Ere the horrified inhabitants could again draw breath, the air was rent
by a terrific crash, as simultaneously flame rushed from the guns of
the _Kniaz Pojarski_, the _Pamyat Merkuriya_, and the _Mezen_, and great
shells were hurled into the town in every direction. The place trembled
and shook as if struck by an earthquake, and everywhere walls fell and
buildings collapsed.
[Illustration: MAP OF HULL AND THE HUMBER.]
Long bright beams of the search-lights swept the town and neighbouring
country, lighting up the turbulent streets like day, and as the crowds
rushed headlong from the river, shot and shell struck in their midst,
killing hundreds of starving toilers and unoffending men, women, and
children.
Lying off Salt End, the _Cizoi Veliky_, which had now come up the river
in company with two torpedo boats, poured from her barbette a heavy fire
upon the Alexandra Dock and Earle's shipbuilding yard, while the other
vessels, approaching nearer, wrought terrible destruction with every
shot in various other parts of the town. In the course of a quarter of
an hour many streets were impassable, owing to the fallen buildings, and
in dozens of places the explosion of the melinite shells had set on fire
the ruined houses.
Missiles hurled from such close quarters by such heavy guns wrought the
most fearful havoc. Naturally, the Russian gunners, discovering the most
prominent buildings with their search-lights, aimed at them and
destroyed many of the public edifices.
Among the first prominent structures to topple and fall was the
Wilberforce Monument, and then, in rapid succession, shots carried away
another dome of the Dock Office, and the great square towers of St.
John's and Holy Trinity Churches. The gaudily gilded equestrian statue
of King William III. was flung from its pedestal and smashed by a heavy
shot, which entered a shop opposite, completely wrecking it; and two
shells, striking the handsome offices of the Hull Banking Company at the
corner of Silver Street, reduced the building to a heap of ruins. Deadly
shells fell in quick succession in Paragon Street, and at the
North-Eastern Railway Station, where the lines and platforms were torn
up, and the Station Hotel, being set on fire, was soon burning fiercely,
for the flames spread unchecked here, as in every other quarter. Church
spires fell crashing into neighbouring houses, whole rows of shops were
demolished in Whitefriargate, High Street, and Saville Street, and roads
were everywhere torn up by the enemy's exploding missiles.
Not for a moment was there a pause in this awful work of destruction;
not for a moment was the frightful massacre of the inhabitants
suspended. The enemy's sole object was apparently to weaken the northern
defences of London by drawing back the Volunteer battalions to the
north. There was no reason to bombard after the fort had been silenced,
yet they had decided to destroy the town and cause the most widespread
desolation possible.
Flame flashed from the muzzles of those great desolating guns so quickly
as to appear like one brilliant, incessant light. Shells from the _Cizoi
Veliky_ fell into the warehouses around the Alexandra Dock, and these,
with the fine new grain warehouses on each side of the river Hull, were
blazing furiously with a terrible roar. High into the air great tongues
of flame leaped, their volume increased by the crowd of ships in the
dock also igniting in rapid succession, shedding a lurid glare over the
terrible scene, and lighting up the red, angry sky. The long range of
warehouses, filled with inflammable goods, at the edge of the Albert and
William Wright Docks, were on fire, while the warehouses of the Railway
Dock, together with a large number of Messrs. Thomas Wilson's fine
steamers, were also in flames. Such a hold had the flames obtained that
no power could arrest them, and as the glare increased it was seen by
those flying for their lives that the whole of the port was now
involved.
The great petroleum stores of the Anglo-American Company, struck by a
shell, exploded a few moments later with a most terrific and frightful
detonation which shook the town. For a moment it seemed as if both town
and river were enveloped in one great sheet of flame, then, as blazing
oil ran down the gutters on every side, fierce fires showed, and whole
streets were alight from end to end.
Hundreds of persons perished in the flames, hundreds were shot down by
the fragments of flying missiles, and hundreds more were buried under
falling ruins. Everywhere the roar of flames mingled with the shrieks of
the dying. Shells striking the Royal Infirmary burst in the wards,
killing many patients in their beds, and setting fire to the building,
while others, crashing through the roof of the Theatre Royal, carried
away one of the walls and caused the place to ignite. One shot from the
13-ton gun of the _Syzran_ tore its way into the nave of Holy Trinity
Church, and, exploding, blew out the three beautiful windows and wrecked
the interior, while another from the same gun demolished one of the
corner buildings of the new Market Hall. The handsome tower of the Town
Hall, struck by a shell just under the dial, came down with a frightful
crash, completely blocking Lowgate with its debris, and almost at the
same instant a shot came through the dome of the Council Chamber,
totally destroying the apartment.
The Mariners' Hospital and Trinity House suffered terribly, many of the
inmates of the former being blown to pieces. One shot completely
demolished the Savings Bank at the corner of George Street, and a shell
exploding under the portico of the Great Thornton Street Chapel blew out
the whole of its dark facade. Another, striking the extensive premises
of a firm of lead merchants at the corner of Brook and Paragon Streets,
swept away the range of buildings like grass before the scythe.
In the Queen's, Humber, Victoria, and Prince's Docks the congested crowd
of idle merchant ships were enveloped in flames that wrapped themselves
about the rigging, and, crackling, leaped skyward. The Orphanage at
Spring Bank, the Artillery Barracks, and Wilberforce House were all
burning; in fact, in the course of the two hours during which the
bombardment lasted hardly a building of note escaped.
The houses of the wealthy residents far away up Spring Bank, Anlaby and
Beverley Roads, and around Pearson's Park, had been shattered and
demolished; the shops in Saville Street had without exception been
destroyed, and both the Cannon Street and Pier Stations had been
completely wrecked and unroofed.
Soon after two o'clock in the morning, when the Russian war vessels
ceased their thunder, the whole town was as one huge furnace, the
intense heat and suffocating smoke from which caused the Russian Admiral
to move his vessels towards the sea as quickly as the necessary
soundings allowed.
The glare lit the sky for many miles around. The immense area of great
burning buildings presented a magnificent, appalling spectacle.
It was a terrible national disaster--a frightful holocaust, in which
thousands of lives, with property worth millions, had been wantonly
destroyed by a ruthless enemy which Britain's defective and obsolete
defences were too weak to keep at bay--a devastating catastrophe, swift,
complete, awful.