246 



EGYPT. 



task of silencing the forts along the sea-front, 

 beginning with Ras-el-Tin and ending with Fort 

 Pharos. The Alexandra is of the box-battery 

 type with deeply recessed bows for the purpose 

 of securing end-on fire. The Sultan is of the 

 same type, but less heavily armed and plated. 

 The Superb, originally built for the Turkish 

 Government, is of the type of the Hercules. 

 The Inflexible and Te'me'raire steamed along the 



of men at once, dismount guns, and blow up 

 magazines in the earthworks. Two of the 

 broadside ships were at anchor from the first, 

 and after a while all the ships of both squad- 

 rons anchored to secure more accurate firing. 

 The gunboats remained in motion, and escaped 

 almost without a shot. 



The bombardment began at seven o'clock on 

 the morning of the llth of July. It lasted ten 



HER MAJESTY'S SHIP INFLEXIBLE, CAPTAIN JOHN A. FISHEB. 

 Tonnage, 11,400 ; armor, 16 to 24 inches ; men, 349 ; guns, four 81-ton, in two turrets. 



line out of range of the forts, pouring their 

 heavy shells into Fort Meks from Central Pass, 

 and into Forts Aida and Pharos, which they 

 succeeded in silencing. The Inflexible is one 

 of the most powerful turret-ships afloat. The 

 Te'me'raire is the only existing example of the 

 barbette type, which is coining in favor with 

 naval authorities. She ran aground in the be- 

 ginning of the action, and was only released 

 after several hours by the aid of two of the 

 gunboats ; but all the time her fire was par- 

 ticularly effective. The Invincible, the Mon- 

 arch, and the Penelope constituted the inside 

 squadron, attacking the forts at the western 

 end of the bay from within the outer harbor. 

 These are vessels of the old class. The Pe- 

 nelope, having the lightest draught of all, was 

 able to work effectively at close range. The 

 gunboats Condor and Cygnet could push up 

 into closer quarters, and aided materially in the 

 action. 



The plan of Admiral Seymour was to engage 

 the enemy all along the line, and harass him 

 with an incessant bombardment. The ships 

 moved at first in oblique lines, so that the 

 Egyptian gunners were unable to get their ex- 

 act distance, as they had to constantly vary the 

 range. The forts, on the other hand, presented 

 a fixed target, into which the eight ironclads 

 poured a ceaseless hail of shells weighing some 

 258, some 410, some 547, and those of the 81-ton 

 guns, 1,704 pounds. The firing was very inac- 

 curate ; but enough of it was effective to knock 

 the stone forts into ruins, kill whole squads 



and a half hours. Most of the forts attacked 

 were silenced. The fire from some of them 

 was heavy and sustained. The discipline and 

 fortitude displayed by the Egyptian cannoneers 

 were admirable. Their fire was extremely ac- 

 curate as regards direction, but in elevation they 

 generally failed. The round shot which hit the 

 vessels did little damage, while none of the coni- 

 cal shells struck the ships. 



The bombardment would have been con- 

 tinued longer if the commander had not landed 

 a force to disable Fort Meks. It landed 900 

 strong and found the fort abandoned. Its two 

 10-inch guns were blown up and the rest spiked. 

 The fortifications were destroyed by the shot, 

 and the barracks and houses around shattered 

 to pieces by the shells. Ras-el-Tin Fort was 

 in the same condition, the adjacent palace 

 greatly damaged and partly burned, and the 

 light-house nearly destroyed. Fort Pharos was 

 silenced, its magazine blown up, and guns dis- 

 mounted. Fort Marabout was badly battered 

 but not destroyed. A gallant incident of the 

 battle was the dash of the gunboat Condor, com- 

 manded by Commander Lord Charles Beres- 

 ford, close under the guns of this fort, which 

 was harassing the ships considerably, to si- 

 lence them. The buildings of the city suffered 

 much. Several shells from the Inflexible burst 

 directly over the town, and shells from all the 

 deep - draught vessels, which were obliged to 

 engage the forts at distances of 3,000 or 4,000 

 yards, occasionally fell in the town. The Al- 

 exandra was struck twenty-five times, and had 



