During the fighting off Omdurman on the 1st, two of the Khalifa's gunboats were destroyed. There was a pathetic interest attached to old vessels like the _Bordein_ and _Ismailia_, as they had formed a part of Gordon's little fleet in the old days of thirteen years ago! The _Bordein_ had been despatched northwards by Gordon, but, like the _Abbas_, had been wrecked. She struck on a rock in the Shabluka Cataract, on 30th January 1885, and foundered, but was subsequently raised by the Dervishes. When our gunners came within sight of the vessel, voices were raised to save the old boat for Gordon's sake. "Don't let us fire on the poor old _Bordein_!" But there is little room for sentiment or loving-kindness amid the exigencies of warfare, and under our fire the _Bordein_ was headed for the shore, and sank as she reached it. A still worse fate overtook the _Ismailia_. In some way or other she fouled one of the mines laid down by the Khalifa's engineers in midstream; the mine exploded, and the _Ismailia_, literally hoist by its own petard, was blown out of the water. Two other mines had also been laid in the channel, near the right bank opposite Omdurman. The ropes connecting these with the shore were afterwards found inside the ruined forts, but all our attempts to explode them were futile. The Dervish steamer which was subsequently captured by the Sirdar on his way to Fashoda was, I believe, the solitary survivor of Gordon's ill-starred flotilla. The _Talawahiyah_ had been sunk off Rojan Island, on 29th January 1885, and was never recovered. The _Abbas_, which set out from Khartum with Colonel Stewart and Mr. Power on board,--the one last desperate attempt to reopen communications with the North,--was wrecked at Hebbeh, between Abu Hamed and Kirbekan, and now lies there, keel uppermost. CHAPTER VI AFTER THE BATTLE