“One never saw such a scatter as when we sat down to lunch and
‘Action!’ was sounded! Feeling ran high that this time we were in
earnest; everyone was at his post in the twinkling of an eye. Ten
minutes afterwards the conflict started, at a range of about six miles,
both ships closing rapidly. The din that followed was unnatural and
terrifying, and men’s hearts leaped to their mouths, for here was
death amongst us. But the heat of work changed white faces to red.
Blood once seen revives savagery in the human breast, and all our
thoughts, after those first few moments, were concentrated in the grim
work at hand, which was to sink as speedily as possible the monster
that was vomiting red and steaming arrogantly towards us.
“By a clever maneuver our captain turned the ship round just as the
enemy was bringing his pom-poms into play as well as the big guns, and
brought our starboard battery, fresh and eager, to bear. Then we turned
into demons, in a scene that had turned diabolical. Screaming shrapnel,
returned by salvos of common shell, splinters everywhere, lumps of
iron, patches of paint, a hurricane of things flying, hoarse shouting,
and unintelligible sounds from dry throats, men discarding garments,
and laughing with delirium—over all a white pall hiding the ghastly
work.
“What matter that a shot cannoned down the after companion and laid low
three of the whip party? Volunteers were not wanting to close in the
breach and keep up a brisk supply of ammunition to the hungry guns.
Or that a shot glanced off the shield of No. 1 gun, past the officer
in charge, and blew away the neck of a corporal of Marines passing
projectiles along the deck, leaving him leaning over the magazine
hatchway, head dangling down, and dripping blood on to the madmen
working below? Or that a shell burst by the feet of a man carrying
another one in his hands?
“Word went round that we were on fire forward—the bridge, in fact,
was blazing. A shell had torn through the cabins below, setting them
alight, and the flames by this time reached and enveloped the bridge,
since water could not be turned on in the first instance, as the main
on the lower deck had been shot away. But the ill news was more than
compensated for by the frenzied announcement that the enemy was also on
fire and listing, moreover, on his side. So our main control was gone.
The captain, first lieutenant, and navigating party had to leave the
bridge to the flames—not before gaining us victory, however, by the
splendid way they handled the ship in heading off the enemy, preventing
him from turning round and bringing his idle guns on the port side to
bear, and by keeping him on our starboard quarter so we were able to
use five of our guns to his four.
[Illustration:
_Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._