On July 13 a new and strange type of warship, called a “Monitor,” arrived at Kephalos, and next day began bombarding the guns on the Asiatic coast. The monitors were originally constructed for operations in another sphere. They were, in fact, large floating platforms or flat-bottomed forts, supporting, some two 12-inch, and others two 14-inch, guns of American make, without further armament. Their tonnage was about 6000, and their chief peculiarity a broad, flat shelf or platform extending from the hull just below the water-line; so broad and flat that numbers of men could walk upon it while bathing, so that they appeared to be walking upon the water. The shape of the vessels rendered them difficult to steer, and so slow in motion that their progress against such a current as ran in the Narrows would have been very gradual. About the same time, smaller “monitors” arrived. They were nicknamed “Whippets,” and were marked by numbers only. Four “blister ships” (cruisers protected against torpedoes by bulging protuberances along both sides) also came. The “blisters” reduced their speed by about three knots, but, being safe at anchor, they served especially as marking points for survey and “registration.” All these ships played an important part in the coming operations; and in the later months of the campaign, when cross-observation from De Tott’s Battery point and Cape Helles had been established, the large “monitors” stationed off Rabbit Island did invaluable service by suppressing the heavy guns on the Asiatic side. Almost equally surprising was the appearance of several motor-lighters, inevitably called “Beetles.” Originally constructed for the same proposal as the monitors, they were long, iron barges moving under their own oil power, and built to transport 500 men or 50 horses apiece. From the prow projected a swinging platform or drawbridge, which, hanging elevated as the lighter moved, had the look of a beetle’s forceps and antennæ. The iron deck and sides gave absolute protection against rifle-fire or shrapnel, and if the lighters had been sent out for the first landings, hundreds of lives might have been saved and the history of the war transformed, but only few were ready before May or June. [Sidenote: THE 10TH, 11TH, AND 13TH DIVISIONS]