s reverses he had experienced induced the Emperor of
Russia to see the hopelessness of continuing the war, and to sue for
peace.

From the time of the Crimean war and onwards, the British Navy has
happily never had occasion to engage in warfare with the ships of any of
the other great Powers. Individual ships and "naval contingents,"
however, have taken part in operations of more or less importance, and
the first action in which a British vessel was opposed to an ironclad,
took place in 1877, when the cruiser _Shah_ engaged for some hours the
Peruvian turret-ship _Huascar_.

In the course of one of the numerous revolutions that so often convulse
the South American Republics, the latter vessel had become little better
than a pirate, by levying contributions on various seaport towns, but
having been venturesome enough to deal with British vessels in the same
way, the _Shah_ and the _Amethyst_ were sent to demand satisfaction.
The _Huascar_, however, paid no attention, and at last the British ships
opened fire on her.

The _Shah_ was a fast cruiser armed with heavy guns, but was wholly
unarmoured, while the _Amethyst_ was only a small sloop, also
unarmoured. The _Huascar_ was a small, low, turret-ship of the
_Devastation_ type, with only one ten-inch gun mounted in her turret,
but she was thickly armoured, and obtained a great advantage by taking
up such a position that the _Shah_ had frequently to cease fire for fear
of sending her shot into the adjacent town of Ylo.

The combat continued for three hours without result, as the _Shah_ had
to keep at long-range; her shot repeatedly struck her opponent, but
without result, owing to her armour. One shell however pierced the
armour, and bursting inside, killed one man and wounded several more.
None of the _Huascar's_ shot struck the _Shah_ although they fell close
on every side. Night put an end to the combat, and enabled the
_Huascar_ to escape. In the course of the action the _Shah_ fired the
first Whitehead torpedo ever used in actual warfare; the distance
however, was too great and it failed to reach the mark. Next day the
_Huascar_ surrendered to her own government.

The next occasion on which British warships were engaged was at
Alexandria in July 1882. There had been trouble in Egypt for some time,
and a month previously many Europeans had perished at the hands of the
Alexandrian mob. A "National" party, headed by Arabi Pasha, was
preparing revolt, and it