“There was only one small pier at Ismailia. Ships did not at first anchor nearer than about half a mile from the shore. Every man, every horse and every gun, as well as all the ammunition and stores for the supply of the army, had first to be transhipped from the transports into barges and small boats, rowed or tugged to shore, and then landed on the small pier.... In no sense were the conditions for the rapid landing of a large number of troops and of a vast quantity of stores in existence at Ismailia. It is true that this state of things could be ultimately changed by our engineers. But this would also be a question of time. Every tool, every scrap of material, all the bridging stores and all the means of constructing other piers, for laying down tramways and increasing the pier accommodation must, by an inexorable necessity, be first landed under the conditions actually existing. Materials for all these purposes, including landing-stages expressly made for Ismailia, had been prepared in England before the expedition sailed, but it would not be possible to send them forward in the most advanced vessels of the fleet, for those ships must be otherwise filled. In order to secure the all-important lines of communication--the railway and Sweet-water canal--for the advance from Ismailia, it was essential that the first vessels of the fleet should be occupied by the troops which would be sent forward to seize them. These troops, once sent forward, must be supplied with food and ammunition, so that a considerable force, with all its guns and equipment, tons of supplies, ordnance stores and ammunition and the means of local transport ... must be sent on in the most advanced ships before any engineering material for the improvement of the means of landing ... could be put on shore.”[242]