only guns that could flank it and from the sea ... none of their
batteries have casemates, traverses, or splinter-proofs: they have
many guns, but generally small and defective--the carriages in
general so." [115]

Captain Miller's energy made good some of these defects; but the place
was still lamentably weak when, on March 15th, Sir Sidney Smith
arrived. The English squadron in the east of the Mediterranean had,
to Nelson's chagrin, been confided to the command of this ardent young
officer, who now had the good fortune to capture off the promontory of
Mount Carmel seven French vessels containing Bonaparte's siege-train.
This event had a decisive influence on the fortunes of the siege and
of the whole campaign. The French cannon were now hastily mounted on
the very walls that they had been intended to breach; while the gun
vessels reinforced the two English frigates, and were ready to pour a
searching fire on the assailants in their trenches or as they rushed
against the walls. These had also been hastily strengthened under the
direction of a French royalist officer named Phelippeaux, an old
schoolfellow of Bonaparte, and later on a comrade of Sidney Smith,
alike in his imprisonment and in his escape from the clutches of the
revolutionists. Sharing the lot of the adventurous young seaman,
Phelippeaux sailed to the Levant, and now brought to the defence of
Acre the science of a skilled engineer. Bravely seconded by British
officers and seamen, he sought to repair the breach effected by the
French field-pieces, and constructed at the most exposed points inner
defences, before which the most obstinate efforts of the storming
parties melted away. Nine times did the assailants advance against the
breaches with the confidence born of unfailing success and redoubled
by the gaze of their great commander; but as often were they beaten
back by the obstinate bravery of the British seamen and Turks.

The monotony was once relieved by a quaint incident. In the course of
a correspondence with Bonaparte, Sir Sidney Smith is said to have
shown his annoyance by sending him a challenge to a duel. It met with
the very proper reply that he would fight, if the English would send
out _a Marlborough_.

During these desperate conflicts Bonaparte detached a considerable
number of troops inland to beat off a large Turkish and Mameluke force
destined for the relief of Acre and the invasion of Egypt. The first
encounter was