en. All over the little town thousands of temporary huts and
shops and tents sprang up for the supply of the needs of the troops.

Out in the harbor hundreds of ships of every description were moored.
There were battleships, cruisers, torpedo boats, submarines,
transports, supply boats, barges, picket boats, and dozens of Greek
trading vessels. Into all this mess and chaos came the British
commander.

Then followed a long conference with General d'Amade, Admiral de
Robeck, and Admiral Guepratte. There does not seem to be any reason
for doubting that the plan was to launch a land attack upon the
Gallipoli defenses immediately. But General Hamilton demurred. He
inspected the loading of the transports, and refused to give the order
for an attack until grave defects had been remedied. Of this period he
wrote subsequently:

"I knew that nothing but a thorough and systematic scheme for flinging
the whole of the troops under my command very rapidly ashore could be
expected to meet with success."

The slightest delay in landing, Sir Ian Hamilton realized, would prove
terribly costly, if not absolutely fatal. He and his troops were
embarking on a campaign opening with a feat of arms for which there
was no precedent in history. He did not intend that there should be
the slightest chance of failure if forethought and intelligent
preparation could prevent it.

The prime obstacle to an immediate descent of the allied land forces
upon Gallipoli Sir Ian Hamilton found to be the manner in which the
British transports had been loaded. The only consideration that seems
to have been present in the minds of the military authorities who
superintended the work was the question of getting the material and
men aboard the ships. The supplies, artillery, and ammunitions had all
been loaded without any consideration as to which was to come off the
boats first. Material absolutely necessary for the protection of the
troops once they had landed on hostile shores, and vital in any
attempt to press home the advantage thus gained, was buried under
tents, hut parts, cooking material, etc.

"I cannot go ahead with a transport fleet in this condition," said
General Hamilton in substance to his French and English colleagues.
"The whole fleet must return to Egypt and be reloaded."

"But time," urged Admiral de Robeck. "It will take weeks of valuable
time."

"Better lose time than run straight to certain disaster," declared
General Hamilton.

A