ose to the shore, while
the Queen Elizabeth, further out, acted as a kind of chaperone to the
lot. Each covered a section of the line, and when the signal was given
opened up a bombardment of the heights and valleys beyond which can only
be described as terrific.

Turkish infantry moved forward to the attack. They were met by every
kind of shell which our warships carry, from 15-inch shrapnel from the
Queen Elizabeth, each one of which contains 20,000 bullets, to 12-inch,
6-inch, and 12-pounders.

The noise, smoke, and concussion produced was unlike anything you can
even imagine until you have seen it. The hills in front looked as if
they had suddenly been transformed into smoking volcanoes, the common
shell throwing up great chunks of ground and masses of black smoke,
while the shrapnel formed a white canopy above. Sections of ground were
covered by each ship all around our front trenches, and, the ranges
being known, the shooting was excellent. Nevertheless, a great deal of
the fire was, of necessity, indirect, and the ground affords such
splendid cover that the Turks continued their advance in a most gallant
manner, while their artillery not only plastered our positions on shore
with shrapnel, but actually tried to drive the ships off the coast by
firing at them, and their desperate snipers, in place of a better
target, tried to pick off officers and men on the decks and bridges. We
picked up many bullets on the deck afterward.

Some Turkish warship started to fire over the peninsula. The Triumph
dropped two 10-inch shells within a few yards of her, whereupon she
retired up the strait to a safer position, from which she occasionally
dropped a few shells into space, but so far has done no damage.

The scene at the height of this engagement was sombre, magnificent, and
unique. The day was perfectly clear, and you could see right down the
coast as far as Sedd-ul-Bahr. There the warships of the first division
were blazing away at Aki Baba and the hills around it, covering their
summits with a great white cloud of bursting shells. Further out the
giant forms of the transports which accompanied that division loomed up
through the slight mist. Almost opposite Gaba Tepe a cruiser close in
shore was covering the low ground with her guns and occasionally
dropping shells right over into the straight on the far side. Opposite
the hills in possession of the Australian and New Zealand troops an
incessant fire was kept up from