The officers and men of the Fleet were ordered back to their ships. I went on board the flagship and reported to the admiral the condition of the town. With the trifling force at his disposal, it was impossible that he should send a landing-party ashore. Had he done so, in contravention of his orders, the handful of British seamen and Marines would have had no chance against the thousands of Egyptian soldiers who, under Arabi's instructions, were waiting in their barracks under arms, ready to turn out at the first attempt at intervention on the part of the Fleet.
During the ensuing month there poured out of Alexandria an immense number of refugees of all nations and every class of society. These were placed on board various vessels and were dispatched to the ports of their several countries. I was placed in charge of these operations; which included the chartering of ships, their preparation for passengers, and the embarkation of the refugees. In the course of the work there fell to me a task rarely included even among the infinite variety of the duties of a naval officer. My working-party was stowing native refugees in the hold of a collier, when a coloured lady was taken ill. She said: "Baby he come, sare, directly, sare, myself, sare." And so it was. We rigged up a screen, and my coxswain and I performed the office of midwives thus thrust upon us, and all went well.
On the 10th July all merchant vessels and all foreign men-of-war left the harbour, and the British Fleet prepared for action. Admiral Seymour's squadron consisted of fifteen vessels: the ironclads Alexandra (flagship), Captain C. F. Hotham; Superb, Captain T. Le Hunte Ward; Sultan, Captain W. J. Hunt-Grubbe; Téméraire, Captain H. F. Nicholson; Inflexible, Captain J. A. Fisher; Monarch, Captain H. Fairfax, C.B.; Invincible, Captain R. H. M. Molyneux; Penelope, Captain S. J. C. D'Arcy-Irvine: the torpedo-vessel Hecla, Captain A. K. Wilson; gunboats Condor, Commander Lord C. Beresford; Bittern, Commander Hon. T. S. Brand; Beacon, Commander G. W. Hand; Cygnet, Lieutenant H. C. D. Ryder; Decoy, Lieutenant A. H. Boldero; and dispatch vessel Helicon, Lieutenant W. L. Morrison. The coast fortifications extended over a front of rather more than nine miles, from Fort Marabout on the south-west to Fort Silsileh on the north-east. Midway between the two, projects the forked spit of land whose northern arm encircles the new Port, and whose southern arm, extending in a breakwater, encloses the old Port. The twelve forts or batteries mounted in all 261 guns and mortars.
THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, 11TH JULY, 1882.
FROM CHART DRAW BY AUTHOR AT THE TIME
The bombardment of Alexandria has been so thoroughly described in standard works that repetition must be unnecessary; and such interest as the present narrative may contain, must reside in the record of personal experience. I may say at once that any notoriety attached to the part borne by the Condor in the action was due to accidental circumstance. She happened to fight apart from the rest of the Fleet and in full view of the foreign warships and merchant vessels; and, in obedience to the orders of the admiral, she had on board the correspondent of The Times, the late Mr. Moberly Bell. The Condor was actually under way when I received instructions to embark Mr. Bell. Mr. Frederic Villiers, the artist war-correspondent, by permission of the admiral, had been my guest on board for several days.
The following account of the action is taken from a private letter written at the time:—
"The night before the action, I turned up all hands and made them a speech. I said that the admiral's orders were to keep out of range until an opportunity occurred. So I said to the men, 'Now, my lads, if you will rely upon me to find the opportunity, I will rely upon you to make the most of it when it occurs.' ... The Marabout Fort was the second largest fort, but a long way off from the places to be attacked by the ironclads. So the admiral had decided not to attack it at all, as he could not spare one heavy ship, and of course he would not order the small ships down there, as it was thought that they would be sunk. The orders given to the small ships were to keep out of fire, and to watch for an opportunity to occur, after the forts were silenced, to assist. Helicon and Condor were repeating ships for signals. I took station just between the two attacking fleets.
"Just as the action began the Téméraire parted her cable and got ashore. I ran down to her and towed her off and while doing so, saw Fort Marabout giving pepper to Monarch, Invincible and Penelope. Not one of these ships could be spared, as they were getting it hot and could not spare a gun for Marabout from the forts they were engaging. Seeing the difficulty, directly I had got the Téméraire afloat I steamed down at full speed and engaged Fort Marabout, on the principle that according to orders 'an opportunity' had occurred.... I thought we should have a real rough time of it, as I knew of the heavy guns, and I knew that one shot fairly placed must sink us. But I hoped to be able to dodge the shoals, of which there were many, and get close in, when I was quite sure they would fire over us. That is exactly what occurred. I got in close and manoeuvred the ship on the angle of the fort, so that the heavy guns could hardly bear on me, if I was very careful. The smooth-bores rained on us, but only two shots hit, the rest went short or over. One heavy shot struck the water about six feet from the ship, wetting everyone on the upper deck with spray, and bounded over us in a ricochet.