k they came to our starboard hole,
and the wounded were lifted up to us and attended to. Repeatedly the
whole of our floor was covered with wounded and dead men; a pinnace
would arrive from a ship and relieve us of our wounded, but we filled
up again almost at once.

Along the water's edge there was now a mass of dead men, on the sand a
mixture of dead and weltering wounded, while a fair number had reached
the sandbank just beyond, where, under an enfilading fire from the
rock, they scraped themselves into the recesses. Boats from the other
ships were being towed in in threes by pinnaces, till close to the
beach when the pinnaces wheeled about, and for the last short distance
they had to trust to their oars. Those landing to our right and left
as they came in from the other ships were faring no better than those
from the "Clyde". One boat half-way to the rock, and which had been
left stranded, had three men caught in the festooned rope that runs
round the gunwale. Into this they had dived, probably as the boat
heeled over to that side and the rope had floated outwards, and there
they swung for the rest of the day, two not moving a muscle and
evidently dead, but for long I could see the other poor fellow stretch
out his arms time after time, but before evening he too was still.

They still kept splashing on between the boats and the sand, dived
forward and fell dead at once, or were drowned, till at last it was
seen that it was useless to continue such slaughter to no purpose, and
the landing at this point had to be given up for the time being.

After the hellish morning we had had, the afternoon thus became
comparatively quiet. Those who were still unwounded made for the ruins
of the round tower of the fort, slightly to our right. Round this pile
of stones they peered, looking for the Turk, who was always found,
but here there were but few shots exchanged, as the Turks advanced our
men made a rush backwards, or to the sands below, in time to prowl
forward once more to have another look, and make the same rush back.

Then came night with its full moon. An attempt was made to land more
men about 8 o'clock. These were fired on and again we had to desist.

About 8.30 an officer on shore made a dash for our ship, and on
describing the terrible condition and suffering of the wounded who had
been in the sandbank for about fourteen hours, I decided to go to
their assistance. We had previously been officially warned that it