Minor in the Gulf of
Halicarnassus was bombarded for a serious act of Turkish treachery.
The captain of the _Dupleix_ had sent two boat crews to parley with
the authorities, when they were fired upon by armed Turkish civilians
and some soldiers. About twenty French soldiers were killed or
captured as a result of this treacherous act, concerning which the
Ottoman authorities published a communique in which they described the
incident as the repulse of a landing force. The French losses were
quickly avenged, for the _Dupleix_ at once began a bombardment of
the Moslem quarter of the town, and continued firing for three hours
during which great damage was done.

Armed Turkish inhabitants perpetrated a similar outrage on boat
parties on May 18, 1915, at Banias, near Latakia; a tug and a boat
belonging to the _D'Estrees_ were fired on from roofs and landing
places while chasing a merchantman belonging to the enemy that was
seeking refuge in the port. As a punishment for the treachery of the
civilians, who had posed as peaceable inhabitants until the French
boats came into port, part of the town was destroyed by the shells of
the _D'Estrees_.

In February, 1915, toward the close of the month, in the Red Sea, the
French armored cruiser _Desaix_ landed a reconnoitering party near
Akaba, and found the Turks occupying a neighboring village. After
receiving reenforcements from the cruiser, the French sailors drove
out the fifty or sixty Turks hiding among the houses of the village,
killing and wounding a dozen of them, their only casualty being one
man, who was slightly wounded. The Red Sea was now patrolled by
vessels of the Indian Marine, which were frequently successful in
making captures, and in removing mines from the Gulf of Akaba.

On March 21, 1915, H.M.S. _Dufferin_ at Mutweilah on coast of Midian,
where an old Turkish fort is located, was the victim of the white-flag
trick. Through this treacherous act one British sailor was killed, and
an officer and nine other men were wounded. In the middle of May,
H.M.S. _Northbrook_ captured a dhow, having on board six German
officers belonging to the merchant marine, and ten men who were trying
to reach one of the Turkish Red Sea ports to the north. In these
waters and in the Levant there were many incidents of this character,
insignificant in themselves, but important in the aggregate, since
they kept the enemy worried, and created a wholesome fear of allied
vigilance.

In th