Part 18

[Footnote 90: Wrote Collingwood to his wife on the 21st of August: 'I have very little time to write to you, but must tell you what a squeeze we were like to have got yesterday. While we were cruising off the town, down came the combined fleet of thirty-three sail of men-of-war: we were only three poor things, with a frigate and a bomb, and drew off towards the Straits, not very ambitious, as you may suppose, to try our strength against such odds. They followed us as we retired, with sixteen large ships; but on our approaching the Straits they left us, and joined their friends in Cadiz, where they are fitting and replenishing their provisions. We, in our turn, followed them back, and to-day have been looking into Cadiz, where their fleet is now as thick as a wood' (_Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Collingwood_, by G.L. Newnham Collingwood, p. 109).]

[Footnote 91: Rear-Admiral Hercules Robinson's _Sea Drift_, p. 209.]

[Footnote 92: Narrative by Lieut. P. Harris Nicolas, Royal Marines, of the _Belleisle_, quoted in the _Memoir of Admiral Sir William Hargood, G.C.B._, Appendix E, p. 279.]

[Footnote 93: The 'Combined Fleet' was the everyday term in the Navy for the fleets of France and Spain while acting together. It was used also by the French and Spaniards themselves.]

[Footnote 94: Admiral Duncan at Camperdown, eight years before, attacked in a double column formation, but the circumstances otherwise were totally different.]

[Footnote 95: _Memoirs and Services of General Sir S.B. Ellis, K.C.B., of the Royal Marines_, p. 4. General Ellis was a second lieutenant of Marines in the _Ajax_ at Trafalgar.]

[Footnote 96: Letter from Lieut. W. Price Cumby, first lieutenant of the _Bellerophon_.]

[Footnote 97: _Personal Narrative of Events_, Vice-Admiral Wm. Stanhope Lovell (formerly Badcock), p. 45.]

[Footnote 98: James's _Naval History_, vol. iii. p. 391.]

[Footnote 99: Lieut. P. Harris Nicolas, Royal Marines, in the _Memoir of Admiral Sir William Hargood, G.C.B._, Appendix E, p. 279.]

[Footnote 100: Episodios Nacionales, par B. Perez Galdos. _Trafalgar_, p. 157. Octava edicion. Madrid, 1893.]

[Footnote 101: _Combat de Trafalgar. Rapport fait au Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies_, par E. Lucas, commandant le _Redoutable_, etc. Published by H. Letuaire. Hyeres, 1891.]

[Footnote 102: There were nearly 4000 French soldiers distributed among Admiral Villeneuve's fleet, mostly embarked for the West Indies when it originally sailed from Toulon.]

[Footnote 103: _Personal Narrative of Events_, Vice-Admiral Wm. Stanhope Lovell (formerly Badcock), pp. 46, 47.]

[Footnote 104: 'Les grenades pleuvent des hunes du _Redoutable_.'--_Monumens des Victoires et Conquetes des Francais_, vol. xvi. p. 174.]

[Footnote 105: A terrible account of the awful carnage and destruction caused on board the _Fougueux_ by the _Temeraire's_ broadside is given in a letter by Captain Pierre Servaux of the Marine Artillery on board the French ship, which was published in Paris in the _Figaro_ on the 21st of October 1898.]

[Footnote 106: 6th May 1806. _Biographie Maritime, etc._, par M. Hennequin, Chef de Bureau au Ministere de la Marine. Paris, 1837; vol. iii. p. 85. Captain Lucas was born in 1764, and died in 1819. Two pictures of 'The _Redoutable_ at Trafalgar' have been exhibited at the Salon.]

[Footnote 107: _Histoire de la Marine Francaise sous le Consulat et L'Empire_, par E. Chevalier, p. 214. See also _Monumens des Victoires et Conquetes des Francais_, vol. xvi.]

[Footnote 108: See Rear-Admiral Hercules Robinson's _Sea-Drift_, p. 208.]

[Footnote 109: _Life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth_, by Edward Osler, Appendix A, p. 377.]

[Footnote 110: Vice-Admiral Alava in the _Santa Ana_, who had surrendered to Collingwood in the _Royal Sovereign_.]

[Footnote 111: Rear-Admiral Don B. Hidalgo Cisneros.]

[Footnote 112: Admiral Dumanoir, writing from Tiverton in Devon, where he was interned as a prisoner of war, to the _Times_ on January 2, 1806, in reply to certain adverse comments on his conduct, pleads that he was 'handled very severely' in his attack. Dumanoir and his ships were intercepted off Cape Finisterre, ten days after Trafalgar, and captured bodily by Sir Richard Strachan's squadron. One of his ships is afloat to this day, our only existing Trafalgar prize, and with the _Victory_ the last left of all that fought at Trafalgar--the Devonport training-ship _Implacable_. The _Implacable_ fought at Trafalgar as the _Duguay Trouin_. On being taken into the British service in 1806, the Admiralty gave the ship her present name.]

[Footnote 113: Marshall's _Naval Biography_, vol. i. part i. p. 275.]

[Footnote 114: Collingwood sent off his first short despatch announcing the battle and Nelson's death, by the _Pickle_, a 4-gun schooner, on the 26th of October. The completed despatch gave full details of the battle and the casualty lists from most of the ships.]

[Footnote 115: Vice-Admiral Pierre Charles Jean Baptiste Sylvestre de Villeneuve-Flayosc was born on December 31, 1763, five years after Nelson. He became _garde de la Marine_ at fifteen. At the Revolution he dropped the _particle nobiliaire_ from his name, and was thenceforward known simply as Villeneuve. Napoleon took a fancy to him after Villeneuve's escape from the battle of the Nile, as a 'lucky man,' and to that fancy Villeneuve owed his command at Trafalgar.]

[Footnote 116: Grand Master Helion de Villeneuve, Grand Master of Rhodes; buried at Malta: Sainte Roseleyne de Villeneuve, Abbess of La Celle Roubaud.]

[Footnote 117: _Gentleman's Magazine_, 'Domestic Occurrences,' September 16, 1838.]

[Footnote 118: See _Notes and Queries_, 7th Series, vol. vi. p. 371.]

[Footnote 119: Messrs. H. Castle and Sons, of the Baltic Wharf, Millbank, S.W., to whose courtesy the author is indebted for the photographs of the two figures here reproduced.]

[Footnote 120: Ruskin, _Notes on the Turner Collection_, pp. 81-82.]

VI

'WELL DONE, CONDOR!'

ALEXANDRIA, 1882

But little recked they of doubts or fears that vexed the soul of the wise, They did as the world did round them, and they claimed their share of the prize.

Sir Rennell Rodd.

The modern story of what Lord Charles Beresford's _Condor_ did at the bombardment of Alexandria on the 11th of July 1882 closes our series. Everybody knows in a general way something about it, but the details of the fight deserve attention on their own account. It was no doubt only one incident of the day, but all the same it was a good piece of work.

* * * * *

This briefly is how the situation came into being at the outset.

The bombardment of Alexandria was brought about by the usurpation of power in Egypt by Arabi Pasha and the so-called National Party early in 1882, raising the cry of 'Egypt for the Egyptians.' Great Britain, alarmed at their avowed hostility towards her, was forced to intervene on behalf of her interests in Egypt, and to ensure the safety of the Suez Canal. Diplomacy, and all efforts to induce the Sultan, as suzerain of the Khedive, to take action, having failed, in June the British Mediterranean Fleet was ordered to the scene, at first by way of demonstration. A French squadron arrived at the same time, France being specially interested in Egypt under the Joint Control agreement, and other Great Powers sent representative ships. In reply Arabi and his partisans began throwing up works and mounting additional guns at Alexandria, and then riots broke out in the city and at Cairo leading to a massacre of Europeans. At the end of June the arming of the forts, which had been suspended under direct orders from Constantinople, was defiantly resumed, drawing strong remonstrances from the British Admiral, Sir Beauchamp Seymour, as the late Lord Alcester then was. The discovery of a plot to wreck part of the Suez Canal and to block Alexandria harbour, and the activity displayed on the fortifications, resulted in leave being telegraphed from England to the British Admiral to take action if necessary. Thereupon, on the 6th of July, Admiral Seymour demanded the immediate disarmament of the harbour forts on pain of bombardment. An evasive reply was given, while the mounting of heavy guns proceeded with increased vigour at night, as the searchlights of the fleet disclosed. On the 10th the British Admiral notified to the Governor of Alexandria that, unless in the course of that day certain of the harbour forts were evacuated and handed over to him to dismantle, he would open fire next morning. The foreign consuls were informed of Sir Beauchamp Seymour's intention, and during the day all the foreign men-of-war withdrew outside, the French squadron proceeding to Port Said.

The British Fleet off Alexandria comprised eight battle-ships and five gun-vessels. When the British Admiral's ultimatum was sent off on the morning of the 10th two of the battle-ships, the _Invincible_, on board which Admiral Seymour had his flag, and the _Monarch_, with the gun-vessel _Condor_ commanded by Lord Charles Beresford, and the other gun-vessels, were inside the harbour. The rest of the fleet, the battle-ships _Alexandra_, _Sultan_, _Inflexible_, _Temeraire_, _Superb_, and _Penelope_, were lying outside.

At this point we take up the story of the _Condor_, and of the part she played in the events of the hour. As it happened, Mr. Frederic Villiers, the well-known artist and correspondent of the _Graphic_, was on board as the guest of Lord Charles Beresford. His vivid narrative of events gives a striking account of all that passed under his eyes.[121]

For the last day or two everything had been ready and all the ships were kept cleared for action. The Egyptians were expected to throw off the mask and try to take the British fleet by surprise. Special precautions were taken on board the _Condor_, which lay well up the harbour in proximity to the Ras-el-Tin battery. There an exceptionally dangerous piece, a breech-loading gun firing a 250-lb. shot, and mounted on the Moncrieff disappearing system, was known to be in position. The _Condor_ was a small second-class gun-boat of some 780 tons, and the thin iron sheeting on her sides was hardly stouter than a piece of cardboard. A rifle bullet could penetrate it, and there was not a scrap of armour about the ship. To protect his ship as far as possible against the big gun, Lord Charles, we are told, converted 'the shore side of the _Condor_ into a temporary ironclad by dressing her in chain armour. Every scrap of spare iron and chain on board was hung over her bulwarks, giving her a rakish list to starboard.' Also, as Mr. Villiers relates, 'all available canvas had been got out and draped round the inboard of the ship's bulwarks. Hammocks had been slung round the wheel to protect the steersmen from splinters. The main-topmast was lowered, the bowsprit run in and the Gatling in the main-top surrounded with canvas. Even the idlers, who constituted the engine-room artificers, stewards, and odd hands on board, were continually practised in drill.'

Shortly before sunset on the 10th Lord Charles Beresford, who had been for instructions on board the flagship, returned on board the _Condor_ and turned up all hands. 'He at once,' says Mr. Villiers, 'called the crew together and from the bridge addressed them to this effect.

'"My men, the Admiral's orders to the _Condor_ are to keep out of action, to transfer signals, and to more or less nurse her bigger sisters, if they get into trouble." Eloquent groans burst from the men. "But," continued Beresford, "if an opportunity should occur," and he (their commander) rather had an idea that it would, "the _Condor_ was to take advantage of it and to prove her guns." The crowd of upturned faces listening to these significant remarks now shone with satisfaction in the ruddy after-glow of the sunset, and then Lord Charles added: "No matter what happened, he was confident that they would give a good account of themselves and their smart little ship." To see the gleam in their eyes, who could doubt that within them beat hearts as stout as in those hearts of oak of the grand old days?'

The Admiral's instructions in writing, as issued to the commanders of the gun-vessels early next morning, ran thus. 'They are,' he said, 'to take up a position as far out of the line of fire or of forts, or of the _Inflexible_, as convenient, moving away immediately it is found that fire is being directed on them. They will take advantage of every opportunity of annoying the enemy, especially where camps are to be seen, or where infantry or other troops are seen; but they are to avoid as much as possible the fire of the enemy's heavy guns.'

'There was little sleep that night,' says Mr. Villiers. 'As I lay in my cot ... I could catch the familiar squeaking noise of the fiddle coming from the fo'c'sle, as the crew passed the feverish hours before the impending action with a horn-pipe or some popular ditty. Even the old gun-boat seemed to bestir herself long before dawn, for the hissing of steam and rattle of coal told me that the engineers were firing her for the eventful struggle with Arabi's forts. At the first peep of day the _Condor_ steamed off from her moorings, and followed the other vessels out of the harbour, as they took up their stations for bombarding.'

Even then, though, it seemed possible that there might be a slip 'twixt cup and lip.

At daybreak on the 11th the despatch boat _Helicon_, which had been ordered to remain in harbour to the last, was seen standing out. She had signals flying that she had on board Egyptian officers with a letter from the Egyptian Government. The signal caused dismay for the moment among the men. They were already at quarters, braced up and eagerly awaiting the order to begin firing. Were the enemy going to back down at the last moment? But the suspense was not for long. The message, which purported to be a reply to the British Admiral's ultimatum, was on the face of it merely a subterfuge to gain time. The bearers of it were sent back again with a written statement that their proposals were inadmissible. The Egyptian gunners in the batteries on shore, indeed, could be seen ready for action at their guns. As soon as the officers had been returned to shore the day's work began.

* * * * *

The opening scene may perhaps be best described in the words of the correspondent of the _Standard_ newspaper, Mr. Cameron, afterwards killed in battle in the Soudan, who was on board the flagship _Invincible_. 'At half-past six,' he says, 'a quiet order was passed round the decks, "Load with common shell." A gleam of satisfaction shone on the men's faces. Half-an-hour later a signal was made to the _Alexandra_ to fire the challenging gun. That was done, and, the Egyptians continuing hostile preparations, the flags ran up at the _Invincible's_ mast-head for the fleet to commence action. The order was given on board the _Invincible_ to begin "independent firing." A deafening salvo from five 9-inch guns went from the side of the _Invincible_, while overhead the ten Nordenfelt guns in the tops swelled the din which burst forth from all the ships with a succession of drum-like tappings.

'The smoke from the very commencement of the engagement was so dense that we could see nothing of the effect which our fire was producing, nor of what the enemy were doing; but soon after we began, a sharp scream overhead, followed by the uplifting columns of spray to seaward as the shots struck the water, made it clear that the enemy were replying to our iron salute.... They appeared to have got our range pretty accurately, and round and conical shot whistled thickly through the masts. I went round the ship and found the men fighting the main-deck guns all stripped to the waist. Between each shot they had to sit down and wait until the smoke cleared a little.'

Meanwhile the _Condor_ and the other gun-vessels lay in the offing, behind the battle-ships that were engaging Fort Mex, looking on and awaiting their opportunity. The first thing that came the _Condor's_ way was to assist the _Temeraire_, which had got aground. The _Temeraire_ was got off about eight o'clock, and immediately after that the _Condor's_ chance offered.

Lord Charles Beresford, as he watched the battle, had observed that the westernmost of the forts, Fort Marabout, was firing at the British inshore-squadron opposite Mex, the _Invincible_, _Monarch_, and _Penelope_, and apparently annoying them. He sent for one of his officers and said, 'I shall stand down and make myself useful by engaging that fort.' 'You must be mad, sir,' was the reply. 'It is the second heaviest fort, and one shot from the heavy guns would knock us into smithereens.' But the commander of the _Condor_ was not to be put off that way. 'The apparently impossible,' he answered, 'is often the easiest. Anyway, nothing can be done unless we try.... If I can get on the angle of the fort, I believe we can hit their guns without their hitting us. The thing is to get there.'

Fort Marabout mounted three 9-inch Armstrongs, firing 250-lb. shells; one 7-inch Armstrong, firing 115-lb. shells; eight 10-inch muzzle-loaders, firing 84-lb. hollow shot, or 100-lb. solid shot; seventeen 32-pounders, smooth-bores; and seven mortars, two firing 13-inch shells and five 11-inch mortars. There were also in this fort--whether mounted or not was unknown--two 10-inch Armstrongs, firing 400-lb. shells; two more 9-inch Armstrongs, and one 7-inch. Against that the little _Condor_ set out to match herself, with one 7-inch gun, firing 12-lb. shells, and two 64-pounders, three 7-pounders, and one or two Gatlings. As has been said also, the little sloop had not an inch of armour on her sides or deck:--boilers, engines, magazines, all were open to the lightest of the enemy's shot. All the same they steamed off towards the grey ramparts of the big fort without a moment of doubt or hesitation.

Mr. Villiers carries on the story.

'The _Condor_ steamed ahead. Our men stripped off their jackets. The decks were sanded, and the racers, or rails, on which the guns run were oiled.

'As we neared Fort Marabout, its terraces and embrasures bristling with Armstrong guns, not a man aboard but knew the peril of our audacity,--for a little gun-boat, one of the smallest in Her Majesty's service, to dare to attack the second most powerful fortress in Alexandria,--but the shout of enthusiasm from the crew when the order was given to "open fire!" readily showed their confidence in their beloved leader. The guns, run out "all a-port," blazed away. The smoke hung heavily about the decks. The flash of the cannonade lit up for a moment the faces of the men, already begrimed with powder, and steaming with exertion, for the morning was hot and sultry. The captain from the bridge, glass in hand, watching anxiously the aim of her gunners, would shout from time to time: "What was that, my men?" 'Sixteen hundred yards. Sir!' "Then give them eighteen this time, and drop it in." "Aye, aye, Sir!"

'Then a shout from the men on the main-mast told us on deck that the shot had made its mark. The little ship quaked again with the blast of her guns. The men were now almost black with powder, and continually dipped their heads in the sponge buckets to keep the grit from their eyes. One of our shots had fallen well within the enemy's works; another had taken a yard of scarp off--for a slight breeze had lifted the fog of smoke, and all on board could plainly see the enemy working in their embrasures. The Arab gunners now trained one of their Armstrongs in our direction. Our engine-bell sounded, and the _Condor_ at once steamed ahead. A puff of smoke from the fort, a dull boom, a rush of shell through the air, and a jet of water shot up far astern, followed by a shout from our men. The enemy had missed us. When the Arabs reloaded and brought to bear, the _Condor_ steamed back again, and the shell whistled across her bows.

'The enemy's fire on the ships attacking Fort Mex slackened, and soon ceased altogether. Irritated by the constant fire of the little _Condor_, the Egyptian gunners now devoted their entire attention to us. They set about slewing their other Armstrongs in our direction. Their long black muzzles slowly turned their gaping mouths towards us. We looked at each other, then some of us looked at the captain, for the situation was becoming critical.... In an instant he decided,' proceeds Mr. Villiers, 'and gave the order for the _Condor_ to run in closer, and we came within 1200 yards. We all saw in a moment the wisdom of the seeming audacity. We were well within their guard; though the Gyppies blazed at us, they could only practise at our masts; they could not depress their guns sufficiently to hull us. We cheered again and again as their abortive attempts to get at us failed, for a shot below water-mark, with the lurch the _Condor_ was already making with all her guns abroadside, would have sent her down to Davy Jones's locker in less than ten minutes.

'The Egyptians, in their rage, opened fire with their smooth-bores from the lower parapet. The round-shot would whistle through our rigging, making us lie low awhile; but we would scramble to our feet again, dropping another 9-inch shell well within their works, scattering their gunners, and making things quite unpleasant for them. Only once did the enemy touch us, when a deep thud started the little ship trembling from stem to stern. The carpenter was ordered below. There was an anxious moment or two, when at last he returned, reporting the glad news that "all was well"; we had only been grazed.'

It may be noted, by the way, that at twelve hundred yards a gun like the 9-inch guns on Fort Marabout has a velocity of 1233 feet a second, and a penetrative power equal to carrying their 250-lb. shot clean through a target of wrought iron nine and a half inches thick. Had only one of these projectiles hit fairly, there would have been an end of the _Condor_, there and then. That is certain. At the same time, at twelve hundred yards the time of flight of a shot from muzzle to mark would be 2.72 seconds, and the shot in that period would drop 75-1/2 feet. It was not an impossible task for the Egyptian gunners on the ramparts to hit the _Condor_. That they failed utterly was the _Condor's_ luck--the fortune of war, pure and simple. The _Condor's_ crew through it all seemed to bear charmed lives. Shots fell thick in the water all round, as other ships observed, or cut the rigging overhead. One big shot tore the awning over the quarter-deck. A 10-inch shell struck the water close underneath the ship's bows, and the column of water sent up by the splash knocked an officer and two men off the forecastle.

To resume with Mr. Villiers.

'It was a scorching, thirsty time on deck. The particles of carbon from the powder floating in the air dried our throats till we almost choked. The captain's steward was always ready to quench the thirst of the guests, Mr. Moberly Bell, the now famous manager of the _Times_, and myself, with cool drinks whenever we found time between the shots to rush below; but just as the tumbler reached our lips the blast of the guns would almost shatter the glass against one's teeth, and we would rush on deck to see how the shot had told.