Nearly every time she was struck the greatest temporary damage possible was inflicted, and yet no permanent injury was caused. The armor was really a disadvantage to her, for it served to explode the enemy’s projectiles, which only stopped when they struck at the very smallest angles. The backing and inner skin only served to increase the number of fragments, which were driven in with deadly effect. The shell which passed through the thin sides of the forecastle did not explode, and did but little damage. Each shell which pierced the armor exploded, and each explosion set the ship on fire in a new place. The Chilian small-arm men and the Nordenfelt machine gun drove all the Peruvians off the deck, and away from the unprotected guns there. The “Cochrane” fired forty-five Palliser shells. The “Blanco” fired thirty-one. It is thought that the “Huascar” fired about forty projectiles from her turret guns. The “Cochrane” was hit three times. The “Blanco” was untouched, while the “Huascar” received at least sixteen large Palliser shells, besides Nordenfelt bullets and shrapnel. The shot-holes in the “Huascar” were so jagged and irregular that no ordinary stoppers could be of any service. The officers who have given us the account of this action make a number of practical deductions and suggestions of great importance, but not necessary to be quoted here. [Illustration: STEEL TORPEDO BOAT AND POLE.] BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. JULY 11TH, A. D. 1882. It would be rather presumptuous for any one to attempt at this time to give the real causes of the bombardment of Alexandria, and of the subsequent operations of the British army in Egypt. The Egyptian leader, Arabi Pasha, has been tried, and the tribunal, while sparing his life, sentenced him to be banished to Ceylon, where he is now. Nothing definite was made public, however, as to the assurances of support and sympathy which he is supposed to have had, not only from the Sublime Porte, but from other nations. Egyptian politics may be symbolized by a tangled skein which time alone can unravel. Some day it may be known whether the ostensible reasons brought a great calamity about, or whether secret and less worthy motives caused the action of the British ministry, and controlled their fleet and army. In the summer of 1882 Arabi Pasha, who had complete control of the military force of Egypt, although the Khedive had not been formally deposed, was strengthening the forts about Alexandria, and increasing their armament. As he was opposed to English or any foreign control in Egypt, England naturally felt alarm for the safety of the Suez Canal, which is so vitally important for her communications with her great Eastern empire, as well as for her general commerce. Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour, with a powerful squadron of the largest ironclads and a number of gun-boats, had been ordered to Alexandria, in observation.