The bombardment of Alexandria, which commenced the war in Egypt, was of
the highest interest to naval men; for here, for the first time,
ironclad ships, armed with new and heavy ordnance, attacked forts
mounted with the heaviest guns. A bloodless revolution had taken place
in Egypt. The army, headed by Arabi Pasha, had quietly pushed aside the
authority of the Khedive, and had become supreme in Egypt. The people
at large were with the army, and regarded the movement as a national
one; its object being to emancipate the country from foreign control.
England was unable to behold the change without apprehension; the
Khedive was her own nominee, and had from the commencement of the
trouble with the army acted entirely in accordance with the advice of
the representative of England. We had a large stake in the country from
the numerous loans which had been raised for the most part in England;
but we were principally affected by the fact that the rebels would have
it in their power to stop the canal, and so to block the highway to our
Eastern possessions.
The Egyptians began to manifest a hostile spirit towards foreigners, and
an attack was made upon the Europeans in Alexandria; a large number were
killed, and the rest compelled to take shelter on board a ship. A
powerful English fleet was assembled in the port of Alexandria; the
attitude of the Egyptians became more and more threatening, and they
proceeded to throw up batteries to command the British fleet. Admiral
Seymour, who was in command, peremptorily called upon them to desist;
but in spite of his threat to open fire upon them they continued to work
upon the forts; the fleet therefore prepared for action. All neutral
ships were warned to withdraw from the harbour, and the fleet then
steamed out and took up its position facing the outer forts.
At seven o'clock on the morning of the 5th of July 1882, the signal to
engage the batteries was made on board the admiral's ship the
_Invincible_; and the _Invincible, Monarch_, and _Penelope_ immediately
opened fire on the forts known as the Mex batteries; while the _Sultan,
Alexandria, Superb_, and _Inflexible_, at the same moment, opened fire
on the forts at Pharos Point and Ras-el-Tin. The Egyptians were
standing at their guns, and instantly replied to the fire. The gunboats
were lying in a second line behind the line of battle-ships, but the
sailors who manned them were not content to remain idle, and, though
without orders to engage, the _Cygnet_ soon crept in close enough to use
her guns. The _Condor_ steamed away to the west, and engaged alone and
unsupported the Marabout Fort. The admiral, seeing the disproportion of
force between the Egyptian fort and the little gunboat, signalled the
_Bittern_ and _Beacon_ to join her. The _Decoy_ went of her own accord,
and the other gunboats and the _Cygnet_ also moved off to aid in
pounding the Marabout Fort.
The roar of the heavy guns of the fleet and batteries was tremendous,
and on both sides cannon of vastly heavier metal than had ever before
been used in war were sending their deadly messengers. The Egyptians
stuck to their guns with the greatest bravery, but their skill was far
from being equal to their courage, and the greatest portion of their
shot flew high over the vessels; this was especially the case with the
heavy guns, the lighter and more manageable pieces were better aimed,
and the round shot continually struck the men-of-war but failed to
penetrate their iron sides. On the other hand, the huge shot and shell
of the ironclads committed terrible devastation on the batteries. These
were for the most part constructed of stone, which crumbled and fell in
great masses under the tremendous blows of the English shot and shell.
After an hour's continued firing the return from the forts began to
slacken. Many of the guns were dismounted, and rugged gaps appeared in
their walls; but it was not for three hours later that the Egyptian
gunners were driven from their pieces. Even then they continued to fire
steadily from several of their forts. At one o'clock the gunboats had
silenced the fire of the Marabout Fort, and proceeded to aid the
_Invincible, Monarch_, and _Penelope_ in their bombardment on the Mex
batteries; and the _Temeraire_, which had hitherto been engaged with a
fort commanding the Boghaz Channel, joined the _Alexandria, Sultan_, and
_Superb_, and their fire completely silenced the Pharos forts and blew
up the enemy's powder magazine. By four o'clock in the afternoon, the
enemy's fire ceased altogether, but for another hour and a half the
fleet continued to pound the forts.
The action was decisive; almost every Egyptian gun was dismounted, the
forts were riddled with holes and reduced to ruins, and the slaughter of
the Egyptian artillery was very great, while on the English side the
casualties amounted to only 5 killed and 28 wounded. So tremendous was
the effect produced by the fire of the British guns, that the Egyptian
soldiers entirely lost heart, and although the fleet carried no force
capable of effecting the capture of the town, if staunchly defended, the
Egyptians at once evacuated Alexandria. The European quarter was
plundered and fired by the mob of the town, and an enormous amount of
damage done.
As soon as the place was found to be evacuated, a strong body of marines
and bluejackets landed and took possession of it, and speedily restored
order, and held the city until the arrival of the troops from England.
Sir Archibald Alison came out and took command of the force on shore,
and, sallying out with 600 men, captured the waterworks at Ramleh--an
important position between the sea and the canal, and facing the camp of
Arabi's army some four miles distant; here, for some time, artillery
duels from time to time went on between the guns of the two armies.
Captain Fisher of the Royal Navy took possession of a railway train and
made of it a moving battery. Its armament consisted of two heavy guns
and some gatlings; the trucks were protected by sand-bags, and the
battery was manned by sailors. This train did great service, as the
line of railway ran from Alexandria through the rebel camp, and when
reconnaissances were made the movable battery accompanied the troops,
and by its fire greatly facilitated the operation.
Until the end of July the principal part of the work of defending
Alexandria and checking the army of Arabi fell upon the Naval Brigade,
but by that time so large a number of troops had arrived that the
services of the sailors on shore were no longer required, and, with the
exception of those serving in Captain Fisher's battery, they returned to
their respective ships. The marines, however, remained on shore and
took part in a sharp engagement which took place on the 5th of August.
Sir Archibald Alison was desirous of discovering the exact position and
force of Arabi's advance line of defences, and a reconnaissance,
composed of six companies of the 60th Rifles, four companies of the
38th, and four of the 46th, were told off for the service; and seven
companies of marines under Colonel Tewson were ordered to advance along
the railway embankment in company with the ironclad train. The Rifles
were to march by the canal, and the two parties would join at the point
where the canal and railway approach closely to each other. The ground
between the line taken by the two columns consisted of fields and marshy
swamps.
No sooner had the advance begun than a movement was visible in the
enemy's lines, and the Egyptians were soon seen extending in skirmishing
order 1000 yards in front of the 60th. They took up their position in a
deep ditch which crossed the British line of advance, and behind which
was a thick jungle, and opened a heavy fire upon the Rifles. The troops
advanced steadily in skirmishing order, opening fire upon their almost
invisible foes, whose heads only could be seen when they raised them to
discharge their muskets. The Egyptians fired high, and although a hail
of bullets swept over the heads of the advancing troops there were but
few casualties. When the Rifles approached the ditch, the supports were
brought up and a rush was made, when the Egyptians at once forsook their
position and fled through the jungle.
In the meantime, the marines, advancing along the embankment, had been
met by a hot fire from the enemy, whose main position here was a large
house, surrounded by entrenchments on which some guns were mounted. The
forty-pounder on the moving battery kept up a steady fire on this
position; while the marines, pushing forward, were hotly engaged with
the enemy's infantry. The two columns advanced abreast until they
reached a point some 600 yards from the spot where the railway and canal
come together; the embankment was strongly held by the Egyptians, but
the marines charged them with fixed bayonets and drove them before
them--bayoneting and shooting great numbers.
By this time the enemy were coming up in great strength from their
camps. The marines were now unsupported, for Colonel Thackwell, who
commanded the other column, had received orders to advance to the White
House. There were two white houses on the canal, and he stopped at the
first, whereas the second was the one intended; the marines having
pushed on farther, were therefore entirely without support, and the
enemy, massing in great numbers, threatened them on both flanks. The
order was therefore given to fall back, but in order to check the enemy
while the movement was being carried out, Major Donald with 50 marines
advanced boldly close up to the Egyptian position, and kept up so hot a
fire that the enemy's advance was checked, while the main body of the
marines retired steadily across the fields to the embankment, keeping
perfect order in spite of the tremendous fire which was poured into
them, and bringing off every wounded man as he fell.
The enemy had now brought up several batteries of artillery, which
opened from a distance, and under this cover pressed hotly upon the
marines; these, however, retired in alternate companies, turning round
and facing their pursuers, and aided by the musketry fire of the sailors
in the train as well as by their machine guns and forty-pounder.
Darkness was fast coming on, and as the batteries at the waterworks now
opened fire upon the Egyptians, the latter ceased to press the retiring
troops, who withdrew without further molestation to their position at
Ramleh.
When the main body of troops from England reached Alexandria, with Sir
Garnet Wolseley in supreme command, steps were taken to remove the scene
of war to Ismailia--half-way along the Suez Canal--in order to advance
upon Cairo from that place, and to avoid the necessity for attacking the
formidable works which Arabi had erected facing Alexandria. The plan
was kept a profound secret: the troops were placed on board the
transports, and, escorted by the fleet, steamed away to Port Said at the
mouth of the Suez Canal, and then up the canal to Ismailia.
In spite of the efforts of the sailors, upon whom the burden of the
operation of disembarkation fell, there was considerable delay before
the troops were in a position to advance, and Arabi was able to collect
a large army at Tel-el-Kebir, on the line by which the army would have
to advance. While the preparations for a forward movement were going
on, a portion of the British troops pushed forward; and a brigade, among
whom was a battalion of the marines, occupied Kassassin, a few miles
distant from the Egyptian position.
On the 10th of September, Arabi, seeing how small was the force which
had taken up its post near him, determined to attack them, with the
intention of crushing them first, and then advancing and destroying one
by one the small bodies of British troops at the posts on the line down
to Ismailia. He advanced with a powerful force, and so quickly did he
push forward that the British had scarcely time to get under arms when
the Egyptian shell began to fall fast in the camp. The little force
fell in with the greatest coolness, and the marines and 60th Rifles
advanced in skirmishing order to meet the vastly superior numbers of the
Egyptians. So staunchly and steadily did they fight, that they were
able to keep their assailants at bay until the English cavalry came up
from the next post, and, falling upon the Egyptians in flank, completely
routed them. At the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, where Arabi's army was
completely defeated and the rebellion finally crushed, the marines, who
had hitherto borne the brunt of all the fighting which had taken place,
were not in the front line of attack, and bore but little share in the
fighting, which was done almost entirely by the Highland Brigade.