THE BATTLE OFF TOULON.
What, then, had happened off Toulon?
The _Times_ of Wednesday morning was the first newspaper to give
anything like a full account of the affair. This it did in the
following painful telegram:--
“SAN REMO, Tuesday Night.--I have just been landed here, thanks to the
courtesy of the commander of the Italian dispatch vessel _Agostino
Barberigo_, and, with much grief, I telegraph to inform you of the
sudden and terrible disaster which early this morning overtook the
Mediterranean Fleet. That Fleet, as your readers will see on referring
to any of the service papers of last week, consisted of the battleships
_Camperdown_, _Nile_, _Collingwood_, _Colossus_, _Dreadnought_,
_Edinburgh_, _Benbow_, _Inflexible_, _Sanspareil_, _Trafalgar_--flag
of the Rear-Admiral--and _Victoria_--flag of the Commander-in-Chief.
On Sunday afternoon these vessels, together with the belted cruisers
_Australia_ and _Undaunted_, the armoured ram _Polyphemus_, and the
unarmoured craft _Fearless_, _Scout_, and _Surprise_, anchored off
Toulon, and found the French Mediterranean Fleet lying there also.
This squadron, which had come in earlier in the day after a cruise,
consisted of the battleships _Amiral Baudin_, _Courbet_, _Dévastation_,
_Formidable_, _Duguesclin_, _Hoche_, _Marceau_, _Vauban_, _Caïman_,
_Bayard_, _Neptune_, and _Indomptable_, with the cruisers _Cosmao_,
_Troude_, and _Lalande_, the torpedo dispatch vessels _Vautour_, and
_Condor_, and the torpedo gunboats _Dragonne_, _Dague_, _Aventurier_,
_Kabyle_, _Audacieux_, _Ouragan_, and _Téméraire_. Up the harbour,
in addition, lay the battleships _Trident_, _Colbert_, _Terrible_,
_Redoutable_, and five other ironclads, all belonging to the ‘Escadre
de Reserve,’ which has been newly constituted. There were also up
harbour several cruisers and torpedo vessels.
“We exchanged salutes in the usual way; the Admirals called on
one another; and yesterday after dinner about four hundred of our
bluejackets were allowed to go ashore. I was, at the time, on board
the _Benbow_, and can give, therefore, only a hearsay account of what
occurred in the town.
“It appears that at about four o’clock in the afternoon some of our
men, who were drinking in a wine-shop, got into an altercation over the
merits of the two navies with several French seamen belonging to the
_Colbert_. The Frenchmen boasted that their ships were in every way
superior to ours; Jack strongly objected; from words the disputants
went to blows; and, in less time than it takes to write it, our fellows
were retreating down the street, pursued by a mixed crowd of French
soldiers, sailors, and civilians. Reports vary as to the damage done,
but it is, unfortunately, certain that at least a dozen of our men lost
their lives, and that the French loss was nearly as severe.
“We, of course, lay too far out to be able to hear or see anything of
the hubbub on shore. The first hint of what occurred came to us from
the ship’s chaplain, who, returning on board in a shore boat, reported
that a row was going on in the town. I went up into the top, whence
through the glass I could see our men crowding into other shore boats
and pushing off in great haste. There was much struggling, and I saw
occasional puffs of smoke, which, I knew, could not proceed from our
fellows, all of whom were, of course, unarmed. Being closely followed
by boats full of Frenchmen, our men made for the _Surprise_, which lay
closer in than the rest of the squadron. By this time the pursuers
were using firearms freely, and we realised that the business was a
very serious one. We were therefore ordered to man and arm boats and
to cover the retreat. Our fellows pulled like demons, and, with oars
and boat-hooks, fairly sunk one craft which came too close. Those of
us who remained on board were all on the bridge or in the top; but
just as we were wondering whether we should not have to open fire
with our machine guns, we were disappointed by the Commander-in-Chief
semaphoring from the flagship that, bearing in mind the evident gravity
of the situation, nothing must be done that might complicate matters.
This order did not, however, prevent our captain from directing the
magazines to be opened, and all preparations to be made that could
be made without too pronouncedly attracting the attention of the
French. Meanwhile our boats had gained the _Surprise_, and the men
were scrambling on board as fast as they could. A regular swarm of
French boats of all kinds was crowding round the ship, and the people
in them were screaming and gesticulating as if they were madmen. The
Commander-in-Chief went in his steam launch to the _Surprise_. Through
our glasses we watched his crew shoving the French boats aside, and
I doubt whether the shore people would have made room for the launch
to get alongside the dispatch vessel if a French officer had not
opportunely arrived on the spot in a torpedo boat from up the harbour.
When he appeared the French retired to a respectful distance, but
continued vociferating so loudly that we could quite plainly hear them.
The French officer followed our Admiral on board the _Surprise_, and
there had an interview with him. Not long afterwards they were joined
by a stout gold-laced, red-sashed dignitary from the shore; and the
two Frenchmen between them made out, or tried to make out, that our
bluejackets had begun the row, had deliberately murdered some men in
the wine-shop, and, in fine, that they only were to blame. Our Admiral,
of course, promised to institute the fullest inquiry; but the French
officers took a high-handed attitude from the first. They demanded that
all our men who had been ashore should be surrendered. Compliance with
this was out of the question. They then said that they had telegraphed
to Paris for instructions. Before the Commander-in-Chief got back
to the flagship, we saw that most of the French ships in harbour were
getting up steam.
“At a quarter to six all our captains were ordered on board the
Admiral. When our captain returned, he looked very serious, and sent
first for the commander, and then for the Fleet Engineer and all the
lieutenants, most of whom remained with him in his cabin for three
quarters of an hour. The French Admiral had promised to dine in the
evening on board our flagship, but he sent a somewhat awkward excuse.
If I may judge from what I saw in the wardroom in the _Benbow_, where
I was a guest, the business spoilt the dinners of every one in both
Fleets, for all our people had no end of work to do. We made as many
preparations for action as we could without actually going to quarters:
we got up steam for full speed; we kept unusually strict watch, and
allowed no boats to approach us; and most of us unshipped all the
pictures and breakables that we had in our cabins.
[Illustration: “CERTAIN CRAFT WERE ORDERED TO USE THEIR SEARCH-LIGHTS
IN COMBINATION.”]
“At seven, the _Surprise_, by order, shifted her berth, and took up
a fresh position outside our lines--we were anchored in two columns.
The _Scout_ and _Polyphemus_, under easy steam, went round the Fleet
and swept their search-lights shoreward continually. To guard against
sudden attack by torpedo boats, certain craft were ordered to use their
search-lights in combination in such a manner as to form a complete
path of brightness round the Fleet. The effect was very striking, but
it was also very puzzling, for the illumination not only intensified
the surrounding darkness, but also rendered it extremely difficult for
us to again ‘pick up’ any craft--and there were several about--after it
had once crossed the protected zone; and when half-an-hour’s experience
had thoroughly demonstrated this, the experiment was ordered to be
discontinued. The eyes of many of us had not, however, recovered from
the dazzling results of the trial when, some hours later, we needed our
best night sight; and I doubt whether we should not have been wiser had
we relied solely throughout upon such natural light as was vouchsafed
to us. At a quarter to nine a French steam launch went on board the
Commander-in-Chief, and half-an-hour later we all knew what it had come
out for. It brought a formal demand for the surrender by nine o’clock
this morning of every officer and man who had been ashore during the
day, and an imperious order that in the meantime no British vessel was
to leave the roadstead.
[Illustration: “A NUMBER OF FRENCH SHIPS WERE COMING OUT.”]
“As soon as the French launch had shoved off again, the
Commander-in-Chief signalled the Fleet to weigh. Almost at the same
moment the _Scout_ reported that a number of French ships were coming
out. They soon began to play their search-lights freely on us, but
we went on weighing as before, until one of their flagships, a great
ironclad as big as the _Trafalgar_, but much higher out of the water,
was abreast of the _Victoria_. It seems that the Frenchman hailed
the Commander-in-Chief, and with great politeness demanded whether
he intended to go to sea. Our lights showed us that all the French
ships were cleared for action, and were full of men. I suppose that
our Admiral said ‘Yes,’ and we half expected from the threatening
attitude of the enemy that fire would be opened at once. But the
French Fleet passed on, and went quietly out in single line ahead,
the battleships being between us and their own light craft, which,
naturally, kept off, and seemed to be in no regular formation. They
were all a mass of lights, and we could plainly see the officers in
full dress standing on the bridges and poops, and saluting us as they
passed, some of them at a distance of less than a couple of cables from
us. As far as I could count, there were sixteen battleships, eight or
nine cruisers, and over a dozen torpedo boats.[1] When they had got
well outside of us, they suddenly extinguished all their lights, as if
by preconcerted agreement, and ten minutes later another launch from
the shore went on board the Commander-in-Chief. One of our lieutenants
was in the flagship at the time for orders, and he told us on his
return that the French had sent to say that any further attempt on our
part to get away that night would, without hesitation, be prevented by
force. Of course we were at once sent to quarters--we had really been
at them all the evening, in the _Benbow_, at least. It was realised
that, right or wrong, it was impossible, in the circumstances, to
obey the dictation of any foreigner. At ten minutes past ten we got
under way, and formed in two columns of divisions line ahead, the
_Victoria_, _Camperdown_, _Edinburgh_, _Collingwood_, _Sanspareil_,
and _Inflexible_ constituting the starboard division in the order
named, and the _Trafalgar_, _Nile_, _Benbow_, _Colossus_, and
_Dreadnought_ the port. The _Polyphemus_ was a mile and a half ahead,
the _Undaunted_ an equal distance on the starboard bow, the _Australia_
an equal distance on the port bow, the _Scout_ on the starboard and the
_Fearless_ on the port quarter, and the _Surprise_ a mile and a half
astern. A rendezvous, which, for obvious reasons, I suppress, was given
us, and the course, so soon as we had made an offing, was south-west.
Although a guest on board, I, of course, volunteered to be of what use
I could.
[1] For the exact composition of the French Fleet, _vide_ the statement
at the end of this chapter.
“It was an intensely dark night, and there was a nasty sea from the
south-east, but very little wind; half a gale, which had been blowing
during the afternoon, having dropped at sundown.
“It is not my business--and, indeed, I am still far too fagged and
knocked up--to tell you much about our individual feelings and actions.
I believe that we were all determined to do our duty, and I venture to
think that, in what followed, most of us did it, although, for once,
the luck was against us. You at home must remember, ere you judge us,
that we were outnumbered, that several of our heaviest guns were very
defective even before the action began, that the speeds of our ships
were very unequal, and that, upon the whole, the French vessels were
better protected at the water-line than ours. I am bound to mention
these facts in justice to the hundreds of brave fellows who are gone.
It was not their fault that guns broke down, or that the Fleets were
un-equally matched. With anything like equal forces, the results of
this, the bloodiest naval fight that the world has yet seen, would,
I am confident, have been different. Surely the blame lies, not with
those who had to use the weapons, but rather with those who forged them
too weak and too few for the work required of them.
“For three hours we steamed at about ten knots, the slowness of the
older turret ships preventing our easily doing much more, save under
great pressure. We saw nothing of the French, and, as we showed no
lights, we had much difficulty in keeping station.
“At half-past one this morning, the _Polyphemus_ flashed a signal to
the effect that she had sighted the French Fleet about two miles ahead
of her, apparently lying to. We therefore altered course six points to
the eastward, so as to head south-south-east, and, if possible, avoid
the enemy; but I suspect the French must have seen the flashes by which
the order was signalled, for half-an-hour later, the _Scout_ reported
them a mile on her starboard quarter, steaming fast, and apparently
coming up with us. We then put on full steam to the utmost capacity of
our slowest ships, and again altered course two points to the eastward,
so as to bring our heads due south-east; but the Fleet, as a whole,
could not, it was soon found, do more than 10½ knots against the
sea which was running, the _Inflexible_ doing barely that, and lagging
behind in the most dangerous way. The Frenchmen, therefore, steadily
drew up with us, having altered course soon after we did, and being
able to steam fully 11½ knots, and perhaps more.
“It must have been inexpressibly galling to our gallant
Commander-in-Chief thus to be obliged to show his heels even to an
enemy of obviously superior force. But it is clear that he could not
have remained at Toulon, where he could have accomplished nothing
against the forts and batteries; and would, moreover, have been exposed
to destruction from mines, submarine boats, and torpedoes worked from
the shore, besides having to reckon with the French Fleet. It is clear,
too, I think, that in the circumstances it was his duty, if possible,
to avoid action; though on this point, there will probably be great
differences of opinion. When once the French were outside of him, he
had to think of Malta and Gibraltar, his immediate bases. I must,
however, leave these questions for others to discuss.
“At this time I was sent for by the captain, who was on the bridge
intently watching the _Nile_, whose huge hull ploughed through the
water two cables ahead of us, leaving in her wake a broad strip of foam
on the broken waves. The _Benbow’s_ bows plunged ever and anon into the
seas, which dashed aft against the barbette, well-nigh hid the muzzle
of the great gun as they burst, and deluged us with spray. We must have
had hundreds of tons of water at a time upon the forecastle, but the
ship rising, shook them off with scarcely an effort, and then plunged
again, as the rolling seas lifted her by the stern.
“We had no torpedo boats with us, and, had we had any, they would have
been only so many encumbrances in such a sea as was running. Even our
biggest boats--the 135 ft. ones--do not steam well in circumstances
like those which environed us early this morning; and, unfortunately,
we had nothing between them and the regular torpedo cruisers, _Scout_
and _Fearless_, vessels of 1580 tons displacement. Very useful indeed
to the Commander-in-Chief would have been a few fast gun-vessels of
the _Grasshopper_ or _Sharpshooter_ class, not so big as to be easily
visible, yet big enough to stand the knocking about and still preserve
a decent speed of 15 or 16 knots. Alas! we had nothing of the kind,
the _Landrail_ and _Sandfly_ being detached. The French, on the other
hand, were well provided in this respect. They had with them several
large torpedo boats, or _avisos-torpilleurs_, of the _Bombe_ class,
which served them in particularly good stead as scouts, and which,
being craft of over 300 tons displacement, could breast the sea. With
these, as we speedily found, they were able to creep up and observe us,
without being sighted until they were close upon us. We, therefore,
had an uneasy feeling that we were all the time being watched by spies
which remained almost invisible.
“Finding, at last, that it was hopeless to think of getting rid of the
foe by out-steaming him, the Admiral--the French being now reported
broad-on the _Inflexible’s_ starboard quarter, at a distance of between
two and three miles--decided to attack. He, therefore, in accordance
with a previously concerted arrangement, led his division ahead of
the other one, so placing himself in the van of a long single column
disposed in line ahead; and having completed this change of formation,
ordered the battleships to alter course in succession ten points to
starboard, and the cruisers to obey previous instructions, which seem
to have run to the effect that they were to be as useful as possible,
and to be ready to tow the ironclads, but not to needlessly imperil
themselves.
“It looked at first as if we were going to engage the enemy in the
old-fashioned manner, for the French were steaming in a direction
nearly at right angles with our line, and in single column; but they
very speedily altered formation, so as to bring themselves into a line
abreast in groups of three. In this formation the two fleets neared
one another, the _Trafalgar_ leading, the _Nile_ coming next, and
after us in succession coming the _Benbow_, _Colossus_, _Dreadnought_,
_Victoria_, _Agamemnon_, _Edinburgh_, _Collingwood_, _Sanspareil_, and
_Inflexible_.
[Illustration: “SUDDENLY A SHIP NEAR THE CENTRE OF THE FRENCH LINE
BEGAN TO USE HER SEARCH-LIGHTS.”]
“It was about half-past two o’clock. Suddenly a ship near the centre
of the French line began to use her search-lights on us, and fired a
blank charge. Immediately all the other vessels did the same, and we
soon followed suit, not, however, firing. Both sides seemed to feel
that to engage in darkness would be doubly dangerous; but, in truth,
the electric lights served only to render the situation more puzzling.
The effect of the light when it shines into the eyes of the spectator
is confusing in the extreme. It is absolutely impossible to decide, or
even to guess, how far off the projector, whence the beam comes, is;
and when the glare permits of surrounding objects being seen at all,
it seems generally to show them distorted or misplaced. Moreover, in
certain conditions of atmosphere, dependent, no doubt, upon the amount
of moisture in the air, the beam, instead of being translucent, has the
effect of a dazzling and semi-opaque white screen. Upon it, in these
circumstances, shadows can even be cast, and phenomena resembling the
mirage or the ‘Brocken spectre’ may be produced. I remember hearing Sir
Nowell Salmon, years ago, tell how once in his steam launch he actually
went in chase of one of these apparitions, and how he only discovered
that he was pursuing his own shadow when he had occasion to shake his
fist at the artificer in charge for not getting more speed out of the
boat. I mention this solely because I am sure that more harm than good
is, as a general rule, likely to be done during night actions by the
use of the search-light.
[Illustration: “THE EFFECT OF THE LIGHT WHEN IT SHINES IN THE EYES OF
THE SPECTATOR IS CONFUSING.”]
[Illustration: “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GUESS HOW FAR OFF THE PROJECTOR
IS.”]
A moment later the French opened a perfectly awful fire on us,
apparently from every gun that would bear. It seemed as if the whole
horizon had become a mass of ragged smoke and belching flame. Only a
very few of our men happened to be on deck, but nearly all these were
killed or wounded. The captain himself, who was still on the bridge,
was wounded in the right leg, but he refused to go below. We got him
into the conning tower, however, without further injury, and I remained
at his side until the end, the enemy’s fire continuing, without
intermission, from the moment when it first began until the action was
over.
“The wind being so light as to scarcely stir the air, and that little
coming now from the north-west, such smoke as did not hang rolled
gently down the French line, and shrouded from us the greater part
of it. Almost ahead of us was a group of ships, which I took to be
the _Formidable_, _Hoche_, and _Marceau_. As the Admiral neared them
he swerved to port and went straight for the _Formidable_, while we
swerved to starboard and headed for what I believe was the _Marceau_.
The _Nile_ went for the remaining one. We thus put ourselves to
windward of the flagship, and the smoke of her guns, as she opened
fire, hid her from us. But I could see our immediate opponent quite
plainly, a great towering single-funnelled three-masted ironclad, with
a central battery, lofty sponsons, and a high forecastle. At less than
a cable’s distance we got one shell from our fore barbette gun fairly
into her starboard bow, where it burst, wrecking all the fore part of
her. At almost the same instant, however, something struck our conning
tower and caused nearly everything in it to fly, so depriving us of
our communication with the people at the guns, except by means of
the voice tubes which still held, but which were, in the din, nearly
useless. There were only the captain, the staff-commander, myself, and
two signalmen in the confined little box, from which, of course, no one
could be spared, and which, for the moment, was practically cut off
from the rest of the ship. The 6-inch guns in our starboard battery
fired once; but in vain did we shout down the voice tubes for them to
continue, although we were now almost brushing the paint off the
Frenchman’s side as she just managed to escape our ram, and although we
might, had we given her a broadside from our guns well depressed, have
blown her bottom out. In the meantime she was treating us terribly; and
it was not until we had passed through the enemy and well beyond him
that it was possible for us to send a man below to convey orders and to
report upon what had happened.
“The news that came up soon afterwards was even worse than I had feared
to learn. The whole starboard side of the box battery was beaten in,
two of the guns in it were dismounted, and every man in the battery had
been killed or wounded. Part of the hydraulic loading apparatus of the
gun in the fore barbette had broken down, and the gun was useless; the
funnels were so knocked to pieces as to seriously reduce our steaming
power, two 5½ inch projectiles had hit us and pierced us below the
water-line, and two of our compartments were flooded. There were many
other damages, the details of which were not reported, and there was no
time, of course, for full inquiry.
[Illustration: “A TORPEDO HIT US ON THE PORT BOW.”]
“The captain, in spite of his injuries, was still able to retain
command, and he had, after clearing the French line, brought the ship
round sixteen points to port, in order to renew the action with the
_Marceau_; or, in case we could not discover her, to engage some other
ship. But scarcely had we turned ere we were attacked by two of the
_avisos-torpilleurs_, to which I have already alluded, as well as by
several torpedo boats of a smaller type. Ahead of us the battle was
raging, and the night was lurid with flash and explosion; but abreast
and astern of us all was darkness, and out of this darkness our little
foes dashed upon us suddenly from all directions. At the first onset,
as I have explained, our men had been driven from the quick-firing and
machine guns on the upper deck by the enemy’s terrible fire. Many of
these guns had been dismounted or injured, and the torpedo boats came
on while those guns which had escaped were being again manned. For a
few seconds, in consequence, we had nothing with which to meet the
attack, and, in the meantime, the enemy was blazing away at us from
his 3-pounders and machine guns. We tried to use our search-lights
once more, but we could not get them to work, probably because the
cables had been destroyed. We did, however, succeed in opening fire to
a limited extent before the enemy got very close, and, I believe, we
sunk one of the small boats. But, although the men behaved splendidly,
and worked at the guns with admirable steadiness, the game was up. A
torpedo hit us on the port bow, just under the forward sponson; and, in
an instant, or, rather, as soon as we realised what had happened, we
knew that the dear old _Benbow_ was done for. The shock was tremendous,
and threw us all down, for the ship’s bows rose violently into the air,
and trembled as if they had been wrenched and twisted by some angry
giant. But, bruised and bloody as we were, we were soon up again. The
entrance to the conning tower was half blocked with the _débris_ of
boats and booms, yet the captain, in spite of his wound, managed to
struggle out on deck, and I followed. Several boats were by this time
almost alongside, and, as we appeared, a French lieutenant in one of
them cooly removed his hat, and made a motion as if to ask whether we
surrendered. The captain fired his revolver at the gallant fellow, and,
even as he did so, fell back, shot through the chest by a bullet from a
machine gun. ‘Don’t haul it down while we float,’ he cried, as he lay
writhing in his last brief agony: ‘remember what they will say at home.’
[Illustration: “BY THE ENEMY’S TERRIBLE FIRE.”]
[Illustration: “REMEMBER WHAT THEY WILL SAY AT HOME.”]
“We did not haul it down. We drove the boats off, and gave them a weak
cheer as they went, but the ship was by that time settling rapidly down
by the head, with a frightful heel to port. The boats were ordered to
be got out. They were, however, all knocked to pieces. We did our best
also to steam back into the still battling fleets, feeling that no fate
could be much worse than the one which immediately threatened us; but
the water had got into the stokeholes, owing, I suspect, to some of the
bulkheads having given way under the pressure, and we could not move.
Just when everything seemed most hopeless, I saw what looked like a
small cruiser rapidly making for us, with all her lights showing. But
she came too late for most of us. While she was still a full mile away
the _Benbow’s_ stern rose high out of the water, so high as to send
everything and everybody on deck adrift, and then, with a great gurgle,
the ship dived down bows first.
“I have no further recollection that helps me to explain how, when the
day was beginning to dawn, I found myself clinging to a splintered
grating, alone upon the sea. I was dizzy and chill, and sore from
head to foot, and I was almost naked, but I clung on mechanically.
Indeed, my arms were so stiff that it seemed that I could scarcely have
unclasped them, even if I had wished to do so. As the sun rose I caught
sight of a vessel under steam, less than half a mile from me; and,
although I was able to make no effort to attract attention, I was, in
another quarter of an hour, so fortunate as to be picked up by a boat
which was sent for me by the commander of the _Agostino Barberigo_, and
to be taken on board by the kindly Italians. They tell me that at first
I could give no account of myself, and that I could neither speak nor
stand, but they treated me so well that by midday I recovered.
“My first question was, naturally, about the Fleet. Terrible, even
beyond my apprehension, is the fragmentary story which my rescuers told
me. The _Agostino Barberigo_ had been almost within gunshot during
the action, which had lasted for less than an hour. After the battle,
her commander had hailed the French ironclad _Amiral Baudin_, and had
learned that, of our ten battleships, five--namely, the _Benbow_,
_Camperdown_, _Edinburgh_, _Inflexible_, and _Collingwood_--had been
either sunk or compelled to strike, and that of the remainder, two at
least, although they had temporarily got away, were entirely disabled.
One of these was understood to be the _Victoria_, in which, quite
early in the engagement, there had, apparently, been some serious
accident. The fate of the _Polyphemus_ was unknown, but she had rammed
or torpedoed and sunk the _Trident_. The _Australia_ had got away,
but the _Undaunted_, towards the end of the action, had made a gallant
endeavour to ram the _Vauban_, and, although she had considerably
damaged her, had been sunk, firing as she went down. The _Surprise_
had got away, but was on fire when last seen. The _Fearless_, after
colliding with one of our own vessels and having her bows stove in, had
been taken. The _Scout_ had rammed and sunk the cruiser _Sfax_, but had
herself gone down, though I am glad to be able to add that most of her
officers and crew are safe on board the cruiser _Cécille_. Finally, in
addition to the _Trident_ and _Sfax_, the French are said to have lost
the _Vautour_ cruiser and the _Kabyle_--_torpilleur de haute mer_--as
well as two small torpedo boats.
“But the victory, which is an undoubted one, lies with them. Our
Mediterranean Fleet, as such, exists no longer. Half of it has
been destroyed or taken; the other half is disabled, and, in all
probability, scattered. Never before, in all her history, has England
experienced so complete a disaster upon the sea, and it can be but
slight satisfaction to us to know that to purchase this grand success
our enemies have spent an old second-class ironclad, a large but not
very new cruiser, and three or four small craft, even when we know also
that many of their other vessels must be severely damaged.
“When I was picked up I was nearly ten miles from the scene of the
action; and, so far as I know, I am the only one of my ship’s company
that has escaped, though one cannot but trust that others were picked
up by the cruiser which was approaching us when we went down. The
_Agostino Barberigo_ had, however, on board about thirty bluejackets
and a wounded sub-lieutenant, whom she saved when the _Camperdown_
sank; and it is certain that in the French Fleet, the greater part of
which put back to Toulon, there are many other survivors.
“I can add no more. As a British officer who, as a volunteer, has tried
to do his duty, I cannot, nevertheless, avoid expressing the opinion
that if we had had a proper Mediterranean Fleet--one equal or superior
to that of the French, this grievous disaster would not have occurred.
We allowed ourselves to be lulled to sleep by the peaceful aspect of
affairs here; and the unforeseen storm has found us unprepared to cope
with it. Such Fleet as we had was weak, not only numerically, but also
in armour and armament; for enormous guns and partial belts have proved
a failure. We have been pinning our faith too much to these partial
water-line belts, and to guns of monstrous proportions. The only one of
the _Sanspareil’s_ big guns that was fired broke down; the other could
not, for some reasons which I have not been able to discover, be fired
at all. And I am informed, by a seaman who belongs to the _Victoria_,
but who had been lent as a signalman to the _Camperdown_, that the
accident already alluded to as having occurred in the _Victoria_
was, in fact, the bursting of a 110-ton gun in her turret. If I can,
ere I start for home, learn any further details of our unexampled
misfortune, I will lose no time in telegraphing them. I am aware
that this account leaves much to be desired. The awful circumstances
in which it is written must be my excuse. The fact that I have, in a
short hour, lost, as I cannot but believe, most of my shipmates and
dearest friends, gives me personally such poignant pain that I can
barely concentrate my thoughts; but even more am I overwhelmed by the
consciousness of the irreparable loss in officers and material that
has fallen upon the country. Would that half the gallant fellows who
perished to-day were still at the call of England; for sorely will she
need them.”
Thus the bolt fell from a clear sky, and, within a few hours, the two
most powerful naval nations of the world found themselves engaged in
deadly struggle.
Elsewhere in its issue of that Black Wednesday, the _Times_ gave
particulars (see Table, p. 64), derived from other sources, of the
victorious French Fleet. It also mentioned, in a leading article, that
the telegraphic dispatch above quoted had been sent to it by Lieutenant
Thomas Bowling, R.N., an officer on half-pay, who had been present
as a guest in the ill-fated _Benbow_. And in its later editions it
contained a great deal of bad news from a spot far less distant than
the Mediterranean. This news will be found in the next chapter.
-------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE.
_French Fleet Engaged in the Action of April 27th-28th._
-----------------------+---------+--------+-------+----------
| Tons. | H.P. | Guns. | Men.
-----------------------+---------+--------+-------+----------
Battleship-- | | | |
_Amiral Baudin_ | 11,380 | 8,320 | 15 | 500
_Courbet_ | 9,652 | 8,112 | 14 | 670
_Dévastation_ | 9,639 | 8,154 | 14 | 685
_Formidable_ | 11,441 | 9,700 | 15 | 500
_Hoche_ | 10,650 | 11,300 | 20 | 660
_Marceau_ | 10,581 | 12,000 | 21 | 660
_Amiral Duperré_ | 10,487 | 8,120 | 19 | 664
_Caïman_ | 7,200 | 6,000 | 6 | 332
_Friedland_ | 8,824 | 4,428 | 16 | 676
_Indomptable_ | 7,168 | 6,605 | 6 | 332
_Richelieu_ | 8,767 | 4,240 | 19 | 720
_Trident_ | 8,456 | 5,083 | 16 | 730
_Colbert_ | 7,713 | 6,230 | 6 | 332
_Redoubtable_ | 8,857 | 6,071 | 14 | 700
_Vauban_ | 6,150 | 4,561 | 11 | 440
_Bayard_ | 5,986 | 4,538 | 12 | 450
| | | |
Cruiser-- | | | |
_Cosmao_ | 1,877 | 6,000 | 4 | 150
_Troude_ | 1,877 | 6,000 | 4 | 150
_Lalande_ | 1,877 | 6,000 | 4 | 150
_Sfax_ | 4,502 | 6,522 | 16 | 473
_Jean Bart_ | 4,122 | 8,000 | 10 | 360
_Cécille_ | 5,766 | 9,600 | 16 | 486
_Faucon_ | 1,240 | 3,233 | 3 | 134
_Vautour_ | 1,280 | 3,391 | 5 | 134
_Condor_ | 1,240 | 3,582 | 5 | 134
_Wattignies_ | 1,310 | 4,000 | 5 | 140
| | | |
Torpedo gun-vessels-- | | | |
_Dragonne_ | 395 | 2,000 | Q.F. | 63
_Dague_ | 395 | 2,000 | ” | 63
_Leger_ | 450 | 2,200 | ” | 63
_Bombe_ | 395 | 2,000 | ” | 63
_Levrier_ | 450 | 2,200 | ” | 63
-----------------------+---------+--------+-------+----------
And the first-class torpedo boats _Ayéla_, _Audacieux_, _Coureur_,
_Ouragan_, _Téméraire_, _Kabyle_, _Orage_, _Aventurier_, and _Eclair_.