BATTLE OE SANTIAGO. 
333 
which Major Aston mentioned, the difficulty of recognising ships at sea. In the 
Autumn manoeuvres of 188(5, going down Channel a signalman came up and 
reported to me that there was a ship on the starboard bow, and he thought it was 
a paddle steamer. We were looking very hard for the 'Archer? Now the 
‘ Archer ’ is as like a paddle steamer as a crow is like a hedgehog. We all looked 
at her very carefully and saw two funnels, and a paddle box. The Admiral said: “ I 
know what that is, that is the Vivid taking the Commander-in-Chief to inspect 
the Britannia at Dartmouth.” And we all thought it must be. One thing puzzled 
me and I said to the signalman “ I can see no wash from the paddle boxes ” He 
said “ No more can I Sir.” We did not like to say anything as we could not be 
sure, but afterwards we heard it was the Archer . She had built up dummy 
paddle boxes, and got up a canvas windsail for a second funnel, and she passed 
the whole of the fleet six miles off without being recognised (laughter). The 
next time we met our friend, was on the surrender of the enemy’s fleet which was 
captured in the Thames. We saw, what we thought was a merchant ship leading 
the line, and we all said “ What an extraordinary thing that a merchant ship 
should be steaming at the head of the fleet: why she is signalling, there must be 
a signalman on board” but it was the Archer again{laughter). Now that is no 
exaggeration at all; therefore you see how very hard it is for people to dis¬ 
tinguish vessels at sea, even people who are always at it. At the night attack on 
Malta harbour I was standing on the top of the Palace with the Admiral and the 
General and their staffs. The forts were ordered to open fire on the Benbow or 
Phaeton when they were within 2000 yards. Well they turned the search lights 
on a merchant ship and and someone fired and then all the forts opened fire 
together on her which was exactly what might have been expected. Someone 
pulled the string and all the others chimed in. v Laughter). People who have 
been at it all their lives find it very hard to tell a ship until she is within two or 
three miles, and with a trifling disguise it is extremely difficult. There are certain 
matters, as for instance the way our ships carry their boats, the position of 
funnels which they cannot altar very well, and which after a good deal of 
experience you can distinguish through a disguise; but you have to have all 
these things not only at your finger ends but in your eye ; so that I think in any 
scheme for recognising ships it will be necessary to have the assistance of an 
expert ; that is to say a signalman who has left the service might be put in 
every fort to assist the officers in charge of the forts in recognising ships. 
Some of the remarks the American officers made afterwards may be of interest 
to some of you. First of all they deplored not having smokeless powder They 
were very full of that. They said if they had had smokeless powder they could 
have done a great deal more. Secondly, they said that the effect of the shell fire 
was so tremendous that they fired no armour-piercing projectiles. I do not think 
that more than two armour-piercing projectiles were fired at any ship except per¬ 
haps the Colon. There idea was, and all History bears it out, that all actions in 
the past have been won, not by sinking the platform, but by killing the men. 
There is not a single action on record, I believe,—I have not been able to find one— 
where the ship that was taken had not lost the greater number of men. The 
successful actions resulted from the greatest killing, and constantly it has happen¬ 
ed that the ship that was beaten was in a better state of preservation at the end 
of the action than the ship that had taken her. In our fights the enemy general¬ 
ly fired at our masts and rigging to try and disable our ships, while we used to 
fire at the hull and kill the men. It has been the same in the wars of all foreign 
countries. The victor has killed the vanquished. This points to the great value 
of shells. Of course in an action it is extremely difficult to distinguish one ship 
from another, but the rule that I always give men under me when I have charge 
