[Illustration: MAP 1. (_To face page 16._)]
For a space the attempt to land was discontinued. When it was resumed
the lighters again drifted into deep water, with Brigadier-General
Napier, Captain Costeker, his Brigade-Major, and a number of men of the
Hampshire Regiment on board. There was nothing for them all but to lie
down on the lighters, and it was here that General Napier and Captain
Costeker were killed. At this time, between 10 and 11 a.m., about one
thousand men had left the collier, and of these nearly half had been
killed or wounded before they could reach the little cover afforded by
the steep, sandy bank at the top of the beach. Further attempts to
disembark were now given up. Had the troops all been in open boats but
few of them would have lived to tell the tale. But, most fortunately,
the collier was so constructed as to afford fairly efficient protection
to the men who were still on board, and, so long as they made no
attempt to land, they suffered comparatively little loss.
Throughout the remainder of the day there was practically no change
in the position of affairs. The situation was probably saved by the
machine-guns on the _River Clyde_, which did valuable service in
keeping down the enemy's fire and in preventing any attempt on their
part to launch a counter-attack. One half-company of the Dublin
Fusiliers, which had been landed at a camber just east of Sedd-el-Bahr
village, was unable to work its way across to V beach, and by midday
had only twenty-five men left. It was proposed to divert to Y beach
that part of the main body which had been intended to land on V beach;
but this would have involved considerable delay owing to the distance,
and the main body was diverted to W beach, where the Lancashire
Fusiliers had already effected a landing.
Late in the afternoon part of the Worcestershire Regiment and the
Lancashire Fusiliers worked across the high ground from W beach, and
seemed likely to relieve the situation by taking the defenders of V
beach in flank. The pressure on their own front, however, and the
numerous barbed-wire entanglements which intervened, checked this
advance, and at nightfall the Turkish garrison still held their
ground. Just before dark some small parties of our men made their way
along the shore to the outer walls of the Old Fort, and when night had
fallen the remainder of the infantry from the collier were landed. A
good force was now available for attack, but our troops were at such a
cruel disadvantage as to position, and the fire of the enemy was still
so accurate in the bright moonlight, that all attempts to clear the
fort and the outskirts of the village during the night failed one after
the other. The wounded who were able to do so without support returned
to the collier under cover of darkness; but otherwise the situation at
daybreak on the 26th was the same as it had been on the previous day,
except that the troops first landed were becoming very exhausted.
Twenty-four hours after the disembarkation began there were ashore
on V beach the survivors of the Dublin and Munster Fusiliers and
of two companies of the Hampshire Regiment. The Brigadier and
his Brigade-Major had been killed; Lieutenant-Colonel Carrington
Smith, commanding the Hampshire Regiment, had been killed and the
Adjutant had been wounded. The Adjutant of the Munster Fusiliers was
wounded, and the great majority of the senior officers were either
wounded or killed. The remnant of the landing-party still crouched
on the beach beneath the shelter of the sandy escarpment which had
saved so many lives. With them were two officers of my General
Staff--Lieutenant-Colonel Doughty-Wylie and Lieutenant-Colonel
Williams. These two officers, who had landed from the _River Clyde_,
had been striving, with conspicuous contempt for danger, to keep all
their comrades in good heart during this day and night of ceaseless
imminent peril.