EGYPT. 



247 



two gnns disabled. The Invincible 

 was pierced by six shots. The 

 Penelope had a gun disabled. The 

 casualties on the British side were 

 only six killed and twenty -eight 

 wounded. The loss of life on the 

 Egyptian side was very great. It 

 was only by killing all the gunners 

 that most of the pieces on the 

 earthworks were silenced. 



The bombardment of Alexandria 

 was an event of great technical im- 

 portance, and of practical interest 

 to the nations which have expend- 

 ed huge sums on monster iron- 

 clads. It proved that these float- 

 ing fortresses are able to cope with 

 shore-batteries, and will stand the 

 fire longer. The conditions of the 

 trial were, however, very favor- 

 able to the ships. The Egyptian 

 gunnery was too defective to show 

 the amount of damage which can 

 be inflicted upon the ships. Their 

 ammunition was not of the most 

 suitable kind. The British ships, 

 on the other hand, were favored 

 with an exceptionally still sea, 

 and their artillerists had complete 

 charts of the bay, so that the ele- 

 vations could be calculated at once, 

 without the necessity of experi- 

 mental cross-ranging. The engage- 

 ment at Alexandria taught one im- 

 portant lesson regarding the de- 

 fense against the heavy ordnance 

 of modern ironclad frigates. It is, 

 that earthworks afford an excellent 

 protection. Shells from the 81 -ton 

 guns, exploding among sand-bags, 

 inflicted no injury. They threw up 

 great clouds of dust, and it seemed 

 as though the whole structure was 

 leveled ; but when the air cleared 

 the guns were seen to be in the 

 same position. It was necessary 

 to hit the guns themselves to si- 

 lence these batteries. Masonry is 

 useless against such guns ; the 

 strongest granite walls were shiv- 

 ered with a single shot. The next 

 morning fire was opened upon Fort 

 Aida and Castle Pharos. After a 

 few shots a white flag was hoisted 

 off Ras-el-Tin. Lieutenant Lamb- 

 ton proceeded in the Bittern to 

 demand the surrender of Forts 

 Ajami, Meks, and Marabout. He 

 saw Toulba Pasha on board the 

 Khedive's yacht Mahroussa, who 

 stated his inability to conclude 

 terms without consulting the Khe- 

 dive and his ministers at Ramleh. 

 "When the time given for his an- 

 swer had gone by, the British fired 

 one shot, which was not returned. 

 Another white flag was seen flying 



