THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6441, 4 October 1882, Page 3

THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA.

NOTES BY A NON-COMBATANT.

The following narrative of the personal experiences of a non-combatant officer on board H.M.S. Sultan during the bombardment of Alexandria has been written to a friend in this Colony (says the Melbourne Argus), and was received by the mail. As it contains a graphic account of the situation from a hovel point of view, it may prove of general interest: —

Alexandria, July 11th. On the morning of July 11th, at about 6 o'clock, I formed one of a small knot ot noncombatant officers who were standing on the gratings over tiie wardroom hatchway in H.M.S. Sultan. The ship was cleared for action, the guns loaded, the men by their guns, the battery doors closed, and everything ready for a fight. We were not alone. Eight British ironclads were disposed in various positions^ ready to attack the numerous forts round the town and harbour of Alexandria. Our division was told off to bombard the Lighthouse .Fort, and others to the eastward of it. There was no mistake about there being plenty of guns in them. Those we could see for ourselves. But where were the men ? One sanguine officer, after a long inspection through his glass, offers to bet two days' pay that not a shot would be fired in return to ours. Our division paraded up and down in front of the forts, a distance of about one mile and a-half, at a distance of about 1500 yards. No sign on shore but a sentry standing apparently in the same spot as he was in a week ago. The admiral hoists a signal to the Alexandra to fire one shell. Bang it goes, and bursts just to the right of the harem, immediately after the signal is " Engage," and the air is thick with smoke, and the noise deafening. We still remain on our grating, looking through our glasses, for a few minutes after the beginning of the firing. Suddenly a peculiar and very unpleasant whistling, shrieking noise passes over our heads. Someone says, "By jingo, they're returning our fire." So they are; there is the shot ricocheting away seawards. This causes a sudden and by no means dignified disappearance of nearly all our officers ait gratia. I see them dive down with an almost irresistible desire to

follow them. But lam kept from doing so by the fact that I had very foolishly volunteered a few days previously to act as No. 2 in a volunteer crew for the little seven-pounder. The marine officer who was " bossing" it had assured me that I should have nothing to do but leani a little routine, and put a peg in a hole. "No. 2 elevates screw, and puts the tube in tho vent." Very simple^ and sounds something like a piece of warlike poetry. But as I go over from the grating to the gun, it occurs to me that these horrible, shrieking shot seemed to be going: very fast, and that our bulwarks were, at this part of the ship, a very thin plate of iron. However, there is nothing for it but to harden one's heart and trust to Providence. I must say, as I put the first tube in the vent and hook it on, I am in a horrible funk, and I am very much afraid my hand is not quite steady. Everyone, however, is too busy to notice it, and presently the "boss" pulls the tube-lanyard. There is so much noise that we scarcely hear the report; but, for a small and neat-lookiug gun as ours is, it behaves in a most eccentric manner. It leaps high in the air, carriage and all, and falls over on its side close to my toes. It is immediately seized by the marines who form our crew, has its nose wiped, and is comforted with two pills, one of powder and the other of shot; I put on another tube, the lanyard is pulled, and so on, da capo. During these operations I am very glad to notice that our marines are fine, well-fed men, and also that my position places three of them between me and the enemy. Three fat men should serve in some measure

to temper the results of a shot in our neighbourhood. Meanwhile every ship is banging away as hard as it can, and the enemy, by the number of "shriekers" passing over and near us, must be replying pretty briskly. Now and then we notice a dull thud, w.hich one of the marines says is a shot hitting us. One certainly does do so just a few yards astern of us, and sends some water on to the deck. I don't feel comfortable at this,, but oddly enough it is the " shriekers " which make nearly every one of us duck his head. Really they are past us when we hear their sweet note. Our ship having reached the end of her beat, turns, and our little gun is out of action. I take the opportunity to go below " to get a drink." df course it makes no difference, but I feel safer when I' arrive on the lower deck, and have 6in or Sin of iron between me and the shot. The scene below is not pleasant. Our wardroom mess is full of the sick men in the ship, and I should say they had just turned out of their hammocks, and had omitted to wash for several days. The temperature is 90 deg., the atmosphere is full of sulphurous fumes, and all along the lower deck before us are half-naked and perspiring men, hauling about and hoisting shot and shell. Shortly after I get down, two shots strike the ship in quick succession, plump on to my cabin, but luckily do not penetrate tho iron, only making everything jump about. The ship going round again, I go up to elevate the screw, and put the tube in the vent. This time I like it less than ever. The " shriekers " seem nearer and more numerous. One of the marines looks out of the port and says a shot is coming straight at us. We all goovel on the deck, and it goes howling on its way. Our practice not being particularly good while steaming we anchor, each opposite a fort, and settle down for a good steady duel. lam glad to find the distance is so great that our little gun is useless, and so I disappear down the hatchway for a full one to go and attend the sick and wounded, my proper station. I cannot help admiring, before I leave, the bearing of a young lieutenant who has just been promoted. When we were all ducking and bobbing he remained perfectly still, with his smooth young face calm and serious, as usual. The midshipmen on the tops, too, seem to be having great fun with the Gatling guns. The marine officers left on deck, however, have nothing to do but walk about and listen to the sweet music. I am glad I am not a marine. Just after I got down to the wardroom again a shell strikes the ship, enters the sick bay just over our heads, and explodes there. It is lucky all the sick have been removed below. Two of them, however, who have gone up to look out of the port pay dearly for their curiosity, and are brought groaning below, and laid on the beds. The doctors busy themselves, and there is no lack of assistance. Some of the volunteer nurses turn very pale and sick at the sight of the wounds and blood. Presently more are brought in, and all are busy. A shell has exploded in the fore part of the ship, killed two men, and wounded three more. Another man has his eyesight injured by looking out of the port when the next gun was fired. A great strong man is brought down knocked all of a heap by a blow from some splinters, but after a rest and. a drink,

lie says he is all right, and returns to his duty. He is made of strong stuff. Now and then cheers and clapping are .heard. It is because some gun in the forts has been dismounted, or some magazine blown up. We begin to grow callous to the "shriekers," and have a sense of security. This increases to such an extent that the parson and I go to sleep in my cabin for about half, an hour. When I wake, it seems to ir.e that the enemy's fire is almost nil. I gs on deck just in time to see the magazine in Port Ada blown up with a tremendous explosion, and columns of smoke. We hear afterwards that a whole regiment was destroyed with it. One fort is evidently silenced. Most of the guns are dismounted, and no one is visible. Now and then a stray gun opens fire from a battery to the left, but presently all ceare but the hospital batteiy and Fort Pharos. The Inflexible, with hor huge SO-icn guns, assists, having finished har fort off elsewhere, and we all sit on the nettings and watch the shooting. It does not take long now to silence the rest, and a signal goes up to cease firs. Then we get our anchors up, and slowly steam back to our old anchorage. There is a great confabulation of captains, a great comparing of notes, and the list of disasters is compiled. Total killed, 5; total wounded, 15. We hear after that the enemy is supposed to have lost 2000. This sounds too big to my mind. But they must have lost largely, for they stuck to their guns gamely under what must have been close shooting from us. Certainly they were well under cover, but shells bursting in their embrasures, as I saw, on several occasions, must have made it very hot for them. Inspection of the other ships shows plenty of shot-holes in the hulls, and the rigging a good deal cut about. A neat hole is drilled right through our mainmast and the Superb's foremast. The latter ship has also had a plate shot clean away, and we can see her ribs and framework. The carpenter reports that our hull has been struck 27 times. Byrthe-way, the carpenter himself did yeoman service by picking up and throwing overboard two shells, which he could just stagger under, which had penetrated our side. One of the boatswains congratulates me on the escape of my cabin. I remark that I think the shot must have been ricochets. But he says, with the air of one who knows what Jyts calking of, that they were rack-o-sheets— that's what they were. So we all go below, and listen to the hairbreadth escapes, and the stories of the wonderful shooting. Something to eat is the next thing, for we have been at it since 7 a.m. till 6 p.m., with a very insufficient breakfast to start with. A long smoke, a glass of grog, and so to bed. Next morning we are unaffectedly glad to find we are not going to repeat our performance. Signs of the times : — A sodawater-bottle is opened, and at the sound of the pop nearly all heads are ducked.