annoy our troops with their incessant sniping. He had also brought up
more guns during the night, and plastered the whole position once again
with shrapnel.

The rifle and machine-gun fire became heavy and unceasing. But the enemy
were not going to be allowed to have matters all their own way with
their artillery. Seven warships had moved in close 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