esting?" The beach was, in fact, strewn
with maimed men, or men on whose sufferings the oblivion of death had
mercifully fallen. Pinnaces which had towed the boats of the Dublins
hung about picking up the dead and wounded from the sea, and members
of their crews heroically landed on the beach to carry off the
disabled living. Officers and bluejackets suffered death while engaged
on this work of mercy. Consequently most of the wounded could only be
removed when it was dark. They lay on the beach all day, in the hot
sand under the broiling sun, in agonies of pain and thirst, till nine
o'clock at night. Surgeon Barrett, of the Royal Navy, a Cork man, who
was on the _River Clyde_, says:--"I had some of the wounded back on
board--chaps whom I had seen half an hour before well and strong--now
wrecks for life. It was awful. They were very cheery and dying to be
back again at the Turks. It was very strange. I would see a poor chap
dying, and asking him where he came from, the answer would be 'Blarney
Street, Cork'; another 'Main Street,' and one poor sergeant, who had
five bayonet wounds in his stomach, came from 'Warren's Place.' He
died that night, and was cheery to the last. They are fine fellows,
and won the admiration of everyone." Surgeon Peter Burrows, R.N.,
another Irishman, though severely wounded, remained on the _River
Clyde_ until April 27th, succouring the injured. He attended to 750
disabled men while suffering great pain himself, and being quite
incapable of walking during the last twenty-four hours of his
continuous duty. The Distinguished Service Order was given to Surgeon
Burrows.
Altogether more than 1,000 men had left the _River Clyde_ by 11
o'clock in the morning. Two-thirds of them had been shot dead,
drowned, or wounded. The landing was then discontinued. It was resumed
under the shelter of darkness, when, strange to say, the 1,000 men
remaining on the _River Clyde_ got ashore without a single casualty.
In fact not a shot was fired against them. But before they were landed
a night attack was made by the Turks on the remnants of the Dublins
and Munsters crouching on the beach under the protection of the bank.
Lieutenant Henry Desmond O'Hara, of the Dublins, took command, all the
senior officers having been killed and wounded. He was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order and promoted to be captain for his
initiative and resource in restoring the line when it had been broken
by the Turks, and organising
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