WHEN THE DARDANELLES WERE FORCED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2486, 12 June 1915, Page 7

WHEN THE DARDANELLES WERE FORCED

The forcing of a passage ."through the Dardanelles was accomplished by Admiral Sir John Duckworth in 1807. Turkey at that time had joined the coalition against Britain, and Sir John Duckworth was chosen, to fore© tie way up to the Golden Horn, though he haS, so far, but small claim to distinction as an Admiral. On February ID, with his flag on the Royal George, he appeared off the Dardanelles, where, joining hands with Admiral Louis, he found himself at the head =of eight line-of-battle ships, two frigates, and two bomb vessels. From the start of the enterprise things went wrong. On February 14, H.H.S. Ajax took fire and blew up with a loss of 250 officers and men. It was .tho 19th before a favourable breeze wafted our squadron into the straits. At 9.30 a.m. on that day cur ship, arrived abreast of the forts Kelid-Bahr and Sultanie-Kalessi, guard, ing the narrowest part of the straits. I,lie lurks officers were Frenchmen then, as they are Germans to-day and they utterly failed to keep their people working in tho batteries. These, indeed, wore quickly deserted, and'while Duckworth, with the main body of our fleet, sailed straight on for Constantinople, Sir Sidney Smith Duckworth's second in command, was deputed to deal with a Turkish squadron of one 64-gun ship, four frigates, four corvettes, two brigs, and two gunboats. In tho spaco of 60 minutes, a tho gallant Sir Sidney succeeded in disposing of the lot, destroying or driving on shore every ono of the enemy, save a corvette and a gunboat, which he captured. Not content with this, he then sent ashore some -marines under Lieutenant Mark Oates to destroy the nearest fort, a job which was performed so effectually that the 31 guns defending the work were spiked, and all at a total loss to us of 10 killed and 77 wounded! Tile Turkish commander, Feyzi Effendi, lost his head on a charge of treason for having failed to prevent something which the Sultan Selim and his sycophants had fondly regarded as impracticable.