5. _Old Fort of Mex._--Parapets were uninjured, but the buildings in the rear were almost swept away. A small store in front of magazine was levelled to the ground. The large store was riddled with shot, but the magazine was untouched. The barracks were much damaged. The fort was found to contain many fragments of shell, and the loss of life among the defenders was probably considerable. The damage to the guns was as follows:--A 10-inch Armstrong gun was struck in the second coil by a shell which cut a groove of an oval shape in the metal; the coil was shaken out of place and cracked, but the gun was left serviceable. A 9-inch Armstrong gun was struck by a shell, and received an oval graze 1·25 inch in depth. In the right portion of the battery, a 10-inch S.B. and two 8-inch Armstrong guns were struck by shrapnel bullets, and the fifth gun from the left, an 8-inch Armstrong, was struck on the coil by a shell. The blow dismounted gun, carriage and slide. The metal of the gun was ripped off for eighteen inches, and the trunnion ring was also started by the force of the blow. The remaining guns (36-pounders) were uninjured. _Left Flank Battery._--Left gun(10-inch S.B.). This gun was hit on the right of the carriage by a splinter, the gun was uninjured. No.3 gun (10-inch S.B.).--This was hit by a shell on the muzzle, gun uninjured. 6. The Mex Lines, armed with S.B. guns, were not fought, and the works escaped injury. 7. _Fort Kamaria_ was not much injured. A 10-inch S.B. gun was dismounted by a shell. In view of the tremendous fire to which Fort Mex was subjected, and the comparatively short range at which all the ships except the _Temeraire_ engaged it, it is almost impossible to believe that not a single gun here was disabled or dismounted during the action proper. The 8-inch gun which was dismounted was bowled over by the _Penelope_ long after the fort had ceased firing, and from a distance stated to be about 300 yards. The successful shot was the thirtieth of this series, and was aimed by the gunnery lieutenant. "This fort was the only one which could not have resumed action on the following day, in consequence of the injury done by the landing-party by exploding gun-cotton and spiking the guns."[26]