NAVAL BATTLE OFF DUNGENESS.
On sea England was now showing the world how she still could fight.
Following the desperate struggle off Sardinia, in which Italy had
rendered us such valuable help, our Mediterranean Squadron attacked the
French Fleet off Cape Tresforcas, on the coast of Morocco, and after a
terrific battle, extending over two days, defeated them with heavy loss,
several of the enemy's vessels being torpedoed and sunk, two of them
rammed, and one so badly damaged that her captain ran her ashore on
Alboran Island.
After this hard-earned victory, our Squadron passed out of the
Mediterranean, and, returning home, had joined hands with the battered
remnant of our Channel Fleet, now reinforced by several vessels recalled
from foreign stations. Therefore, while the enemy marched upon London,
we had collected our naval strength on the south coast, and at length
made a final descent upon the enemy in British waters. The British
vessels that passed Beachy Head coming up Channel on the night of the
bombardment of London included the _Empress of India_, _Inflexible_,
_Nile_, _Trafalgar_, _Magnificent_, _Hood_, _Warspite_, _Dreadnought_,
_Camperdown_, _Blenheim_, _Barham_, _Benbow_, _Monarch_, _Anson_,
_Immortalite_, and _Royal Sovereign_, with four of the new cruisers
built under the Spencer programme, viz. the _Terrible_, _Powerful_,
_Doris_, and _Isis_, and a number of smaller vessels, torpedo boats, and
"destroyers."
At the same hour that our vessels were passing Beachy Head, the
Coastguard at Sandwich Battery were suddenly alarmed by electric signals
being flashed from a number of warships that were slowly passing the
Gull Stream revolving light towards the Downs. The sensation these
lights caused among the Coastguard and Artillery was immediately
dispelled when it was discovered that the warships were not hostile, but
friendly; that the Kaiser had sent a German Squadron, in two divisions,
to assist us, and that these vessels were on their way to unite with our
own Fleet. The first division, it was ascertained, consisted of the
_Baden_, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Koester; the _Sachen_,
commanded by Prince Henry of Prussia; the _Wuertemberg_, and the
_Bayern_--all of 7400 tons, and each carrying 18 guns and nearly 400
men; while the despatch boat _Pfeil_, the new dynamite cruiser _Trier_,
and a number of torpedo boats, accompanied them. The second division,
under Rear-Admiral von Diederichs on board the _Koenig Wilhelm_,
consisted of the _Brandenburg_, _Kuerfurst Friedrich Wilhelm_, and
_Woerth_, each of 10,300 tons, and carrying 32 guns; the _Deutschland_
and the _Friedrich der Grosse_, with the despatch vessel _Wacht_, and
several torpedo gunboats and other craft.
Before dawn, the British and German Fleets united near South Sand Head
light, off the South Foreland, and it was decided to commence the attack
without delay. Turning west again, the British ships, accompanied by
those of the Emperor William, proceeded slowly down Channel in search of
the enemy, which they were informed by signal had been sighted by the
Coastguard at East Wear, near Folkestone, earlier in the night. Just as
day broke, however, when the defenders were opposite Dymchurch, about
eight miles from land, the enemy were discovered in force. Apparently
the French and Russian Fleets had combined, and were preparing for a
final descent upon Dover, or an assault upon the Thames defences; and it
could be seen that, with both forces so strong, the fight would
inevitably be one to the death.
Little time was occupied in preliminaries. Soon our ships were within
range in fighting formation in single column in line abreast, while the
French, under Admiral le Bourgeois, advanced in single column in line
ahead. The French flagship, leading, was within 2000 yards of the
British line, and had not disclosed the nature of her attack. The
enemy's Admiral had signalled to the ships astern of him to follow his
motions together, as nearly as possible to concentrate their guns at
point blank, right ahead, and to pour their shot on the instant of
passing our ships. He had but three minutes to decide upon the attack,
and as he apparently elected to pierce the centre of our line, the
British had no time to counteract him. The French Admiral therefore
continued his course, and as he passed between the _Camperdown_ and
_Blenheim_, he discharged his guns, receiving the British broadsides and
bow fire at the same time. In a few minutes, however, it was seen that
the French attack had been frustrated, and as dawn spread the fighting
increased, and the lines became broken. The ponderous guns of the
battleships thundered, and ere long the whole of the great naval force
was engaged in this final struggle for England's freedom. The three
powerful French battleships, _Jaureguiberry_, _Jemappes_, and
_Devastation_, and the submarine torpedo boat _Gustave Zede_, fiercely
attacked the _Brandenburg_ and the _Koenig Wilhelm_; while the
_Camperdown_, _Anson_, _Dreadnought_, and _Warspite_ fought desperately
with half a dozen of the enemy's battleships, all of which suffered
considerably. Our torpedo boats, darting swiftly hither and thither,
performed much effective service, and many smart manoeuvres were carried
out by astute officers in command of those wasps of the sea. In one
instance a torpedo boat, which had designs upon a Russian ironclad,
obtained cover by sending in front of her a gunboat which emitted an
immense quantity of dense smoke. This of course obscured from view the
torpedo boat under the gunboat's stern, and those on board the Tsar's
battleship pounded away at the gunboat, unconscious of the presence of
the dangerous little craft. Just as the gunboat got level with the
battleship, however, the torpedo boat emerged from the cloud of smoke,
and, darting along, ejected its Whitehead with such precision that five
minutes later the Russian leviathan sank beneath the dark green waters.
Almost at the same moment, the new German dynamite cruiser destroyed a
French cruiser, and a fierce and sanguinary encounter took place between
the _Immortalite_ and the _Trehouart_. The former's pair of 22-tonners,
in combination with her ten 6-inch guns, wrought awful havoc on board
the French vessel; nevertheless, from the turret of her opponent there
came a deadly fire which spread death and destruction through the ship.
Suddenly the Frenchman swung round, and with her quick-firing guns
shedding a deadly storm of projectiles, came full upon the British
vessel. The impact and the angle at which she was struck was not,
however, sufficient to ram her, consequently the two vessels became
entangled, and amid the rain of bullets the Frenchmen made a desperate
attempt to board our ship. A few who managed to spring upon the
_Immortalite's_ deck were cut down instantly, but a couple of hundred
fully armed men were preparing to make a rush to overpower our
bluejackets. On board the British cruiser, however, the enemy's
intentions had been divined, and certain precautions taken. The
_Fusiliers Marins_, armed with Lebels and cutlasses, suddenly made a
desperate, headlong rush upon the British cruiser's deck, but just as
fifty of them gained their goal, a great hose attached to one of the
boilers was brought into play, and scalding water poured upon the enemy.
This, in addition to some hand charges at that moment thrown, proved
successful in repelling the attack; but just as the survivors retreated
in disorder there was a dull explosion, and then it was evident, from
the confusion on board the French ship, that she had been torpedoed by a
German boat, and was sinking.
Humanely, our vessel, the _Immortalite_ rescued the whole of her
opponent's men ere she sank; but it was found that in the engagement her
captain and half her crew had been killed. On every hand the fight
continued with unabated fierceness; every gun was worked to its utmost
capacity, and amid the smoke and din every vessel was swept from stem
to stern. As morning wore on, the enemy met with one or two successes.
Our two new cruisers _Terrible_ and _Powerful_ had been sunk by French
torpedoes; the _Hood_ had been rammed by the _Amiral Baudin_, and gone
to the bottom with nearly every soul on board; while the German despatch
boat _Wacht_ had been captured, and seven of our torpedo boats had been
destroyed. During the progress of the fight, the vessels came gradually
nearer Dungeness, and at eleven o'clock they were still firing at each
other, with appalling results on either side. At such close quarters did
this great battle occur, that the loss of life was awful, and throughout
the ships the destruction was widespread and frightful. About noon the
enemy experienced two reverses. The French battleship _Formidable_ blew
up with a terrific report, filling the air with debris, her magazine
having exploded; while just at that moment the _Courbet_, whose
48-tonners had caused serious damage to the _Warspite_, was suddenly
rammed and sunk by the _Empress of India_.
This, the decisive battle, was the most vigorously contested naval fight
during the whole of the hostilities. The scene was terrible. The steel
leviathans of the sea were being rent asunder and pulverised by the
terribly destructive modern arms, and amid the roar and crashing of the
guns, shells were bursting everywhere, carrying away funnels, fighting
tops, and superstructures, and wrecking the crowded spaces between the
decks. Turrets and barbettes were torn away, guns dismounted by the
enormous shells from heavy guns; steel armour was torn up and thrown
aside like paper, and many shots entering broadsides, passed clean
through and out at the other side. Whitehead torpedoes, carrying heavy
charges of gun-cotton, exploded now and then under the enemy's ships;
while both British and French torpedo boat "destroyers," running at the
speed of an ordinary train, were sinking or capturing where they could.
Through the dull, gloomy afternoon the battle continued. Time after time
our ships met with serious reverses, for the _Anson_ was sunk by the
Russian flagship _Alexander II._, assisted by two French cruisers, and
this catastrophe was followed almost immediately by the torpedoing of
the new British cruiser _Doris_, and the capture of the new German
dynamite cruiser _Trier_.
[Illustration:
_H.M.S. Royal Sovereign._ _H.M.S. Camperdown._ _Amiral Baudin._
_Russian flagship blown up._
_H.M.S. Warspite._ _Cecille._
FINAL BATTLE OFF DUNGENESS: "THE SCENE OF DESTRUCTION WAS APPALLING."]
By this time, however, the vessels had approached within three miles of
Dungeness, and the _Camperdown_, _Empress of India_, _Royal Sovereign_,
_Inflexible_, and _Warspite_, lying near one another, fought nine of the
enemy's vessels, inflicting upon them terrible punishment. Shots from
the 67-tonners of the _Empress of India_, _Royal Sovereign_, and
_Camperdown_, combined with those from the 22-tonners of the _Warspite_,
swept the enemy's vessels with devastating effect, and during the
three-quarters of an hour that the fight between these vessels lasted,
the scene of destruction was appalling. Suddenly, with a brilliant flash
and deafening detonation, the Russian flagship _Alexander II._, one of
the vessels now engaging the five British ships, blew up and sank, and
ere the enemy could recover from the surprise this disaster caused them,
the _Camperdown_ rammed the _Amiral Baudin_, while the _Warspite_ sank
the French cruiser _Cecille_, the submarine boat _Gustave Zede_, and
afterwards captured the torpedo gunboat _Bombe_.
This rapid series of terrible disasters apparently demoralised the
enemy. They fought recklessly, and amid the din and confusion two
Russian vessels collided, and were so seriously damaged that both
settled down, their crews being rescued by British torpedo boats.
Immediately afterwards, however, a frightful explosion rent the air with
a deafening sound that dwarfed into insignificance the roar of the heavy
guns, and the French battleship _Jaureguiberry_ was completely broken
into fragments, scarcely any of her hull remaining. The enemy were
amazed. A few moments later another explosion occurred, even louder than
the first. For a second the French battleship _Devastation_, which had
been engaging the _Royal Sovereign_, was obscured by a brilliant flash,
then, as fragments of steel and human limbs were precipitated on every
side, it was seen that that vessel also had been completely blown out of
the water!
The enemy stood appalled. The defenders themselves were at first
dumfounded. A few moments later, however, it became known throughout the
British ships that the battery at Dungeness, two miles and a half
distant, were rendering assistance with the new pneumatic gun, the
secret of which the Government had guarded so long and so well. Five
years before, this frightfully deadly weapon had been tested, and proved
so successful that the one gun made was broken up and the plans
preserved with the utmost secrecy in a safe at the War Office. Now,
however, several of the weapons had been constructed, and one of them
had been placed in the battery at Dungeness. The British vessels drew
off to watch the awful effect of the fire from these marvellous and
terribly destructive engines of modern warfare. The enemy would not
surrender, so time after time the deafening explosions sounded, and time
after time the hostile ships were shattered into fragments.
Each shot fired by this new pneumatic gun contained 900 lbs. of
dynamite, which could strike effectively at four miles! The result of
such a charge exploding on a ship was appalling; the force was terrific,
and could not be withstood by the strongest vessel ever constructed.
Indeed, the great armoured vessels were being pulverised as easily as
glass balls struck by bullets, and every moment hundreds of poor fellows
were being hurled into eternity. At last the enemy discovered the
distant source of the fire, and prepared to escape beyond range; but in
this they were unsuccessful, for, after a renewed and terrific fight, in
which three French ironclads were sunk and two of our cruisers were
torpedoed, our force and our allies the Germans succeeded in capturing
the remainder of the hostile ships and torpedo boats.
The struggle had been frightful, but the victory was magnificent.
That same night the British ships steamed along the Sussex coast and
captured the whole of the French and Russian transports, the majority of
which were British vessels that had been seized while lying in French
and Russian ports at the time war was declared. The vessels were lying
between Beachy Head and Selsey Bill, and by their capture the enemy's
means of retreat were at once totally cut off.
Thus, at the eleventh hour, the British Navy had shown itself worthy of
its reputation, and England regained the supremacy of the seas.