The _Cornwall_ had one or two interesting examples of the damage done to a ship by modern high-explosive shell. The most serious was a shell that must have exploded on the water-line, as the ship was rolling, for the side was afterwards found to be indented 5 inches at a position 5 to 6 feet below the water-line, and consequently below the armoured belt, a cross bulkhead being at the precise point of impact. Curious as it may appear, even the paint was untouched, and there was no sign of a direct hit from outboard, except for the bulge that remained and the starting of a good many rivets from their sockets. The cross bulkhead behind was buckled up like corrugated iron, and the two coal bunkers, which had been empty, were flooded, giving the ship a heavy list. When we got into Port William we managed to heel the ship sufficiently to enable our carpenters to get at the leak, and they succeeded in completely stopping it in two days, working day and night--a fine performance, for which Mr. Egford, the carpenter, received the D.S.C., whilst his staff were personally congratulated by the Commander-in-Chief. Another shell passed through the steel depression rail of the after 6-inch turret, by which it was deflected through the deck at the junction of two cabin bulkheads; it next penetrated the deck below and finally burst on the ship's side, causing a large hole. An amusing incident was connected with this. The projectile cut a fire-hose in half, the business end of which was carried down the hole into one of the officer's cabins, where it continued to pump in water for the remainder of the action. At the end of the day this officer found all his belongings, including his full dress and cocked hat, floating about in two or three feet of water. Another officer was seated on a box in the ammunition passage waiting for the wounded, when a shell struck the ship's side close by him, the concussion knocking him off. Getting up, he saw the doctor near by, and thought he had kicked him, so asked him angrily what the blazes he thought he was doing. It was not until after a long and heated argument that he could be persuaded to believe that he had not been the victim of a practical joke. In another case a shell shot away the fire main immediately above one of the stokeholds, which was flooded. Stoker Petty Officer W. A. Townsend and Stoker John Smith were afterwards both decorated with the D.S.M. for "keeping the boiler fires going under very trying circumstances."