The French fleet, seeing hostilities imminent, got under way, and steamed out into the offing, followed by the other foreign men-of-war and merchant vessels. Many of these were crowded with refugees, but there were left in the city a large number of Greeks, Italians, Maltese, and Syrians. The British ships then proceeded to take up their stations before the forts, and a panic ensued among the inhabitants, who quitted the city, as did most of the Europeans who had remained. This they effected with great difficulty, and there was a prospect of the renewal of the massacre which had taken place some weeks before. The cash chest of the European Director of Customs, which were managed for the benefit of the foreign bondholders, was seized by Arabi, but the officials managed to get away. On the 10th of July a deputation of Egyptian notables came off to the English flag-ship, to know the meaning of these warlike preparations. They had not heard of the _ultimatum_, which had not reached them, by some blunder, whether on the part of the English or the natives does not appear; and, indeed, the document was brought off to them while they were still on board the ship, by messengers who had been searching for them. They then went on shore, to consider it. Very early next morning, the 11th of July, a deputation of Egyptian officials came off to say that they were willing to dismount the guns of the forts themselves. This would appear to be all that the English Admiral had originally demanded; but whether he suspected a ruse, or whether he was determined to take offensive measures at any rate, he refused to entertain the proposal, saying that the time for negotiation had expired. At seven in the morning the first shot was fired from the Alexandra, and eight English ironclads, of the heaviest description, with five heavy gun-boats, opened upon the different forts. These were the heaviest guns and the thickest armor, by far, that had ever been in action. To mention only one, the Inflexible had four 81-ton guns, and armor from sixteen to twenty-four inches thick, and measures 11,400 tons. The Egyptian forts constituted two distinct systems of defence. The first consisted of those which protected the new port and eastern town; and the second those which covered the entrances to the outer western harbor. Seymour divided his fleet so as to simultaneously bombard the whole. His ironclads and wooden gun-boats were fitted, in addition to heavy guns, with torpedoes, and Nordenfelt and Gatling machine guns. The Invincible (flag-ship), Monarch and Penelope, with the Téméraire outside, took up a position at the entrance of the western harbor, about opposite Fort Meks, and about twelve hundred yards from another important work, Fort Marsa-el-Kanat.