4th Affair.
The Rustchuk Attack.—The fourth torpedo attack was made on the afternoon of the 20th of June, 1877, on a Turkish monitor off Rustchuk.
The only Russian torpedo boat sent to the attack on this occasion was a Thornycroft named the Choutka, commanded by Lieutenant Skrydloff, and accompanied by a celebrated Russian artist, Verechtckaguine by name. The instant the torpedo boat was observed, so well directed and steady a fire was kept up by the monitor that both the lieutenant and the artist were badly wounded, and the electric wires of the torpedo severed, thus obliging the Choutka to beat a retreat. According to the Russian account, the monitor was struck by the boat's torpedo spar, but the above seems the more likely version. This was certainly a most audacious attack, and had the Turks only succeeded in hitting the Choutka with her big gun, it would have ended fatally for the Russians; as it was, the boat was struck by several bullets, but none of the crew were wounded.