A REGRETTABLE INCIDENT

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2532, 19 June 1909, Page 5

A REGRETTABLE INCIDENT

A MINOR DOGGERBANK AFFAIR. BRITISH STEAMER SHELLED BY RUSSIAN WARSHIP. United Puffs Association—Copyright (Received June 18, 11.5 p.m.) ST. PETERSBURG. June 18. The strict precautions to guard the Czar during his cruTEe led to an unfortunate incident on Wednesday' night in the vicinity of . Bjorko. A Russian torpedo vessel fired a blank cartridge on. the British Cargo steamer Woodburn, Captain Robertson, hound from Fredricksham for Helingsfors. Five seconds later two shells were , fired. Some, of the Woodburn’s steam pipes were damaged, and her bulwarks and stoke-hold casing pierced. A fireman named Boyne was badly wounded in the leg, and has been sent to Vibrog hospital. The. Woodburn had a ' pilot ■aboard. It is surmised in London official circles that the warships had been instructed to prevent vessels approaching too closely to the squadron. Til© newspapers are of opinion that the Russian sailors, owing to the strain of watching, were seized with an attack of nerves.

One telegram reports that besides Boyne, three men were slightly wounded.

[The “nerves” of Russian sailors were responsible for the Baltic fleet, while on its avay to destruction at the hands of the Japanese during the war of 1904-5, firing into a fleet ' of British trawlers on the Doggerbank, under the impression that they were torpedo boats. British lives were lost on that occasion, and at one time it seemed as if the two countries were near war, but the difficulty was settled by arbitration.]