The Egyptian campaigns, 1882 to 1885Royle, Charles
History
The Egyptian campaigns, 1882 to 1885
Royle, Charles
Egypt -- History -- British occupation, 1882-1936; Sudan -- History
13. _Fort Adda._--The barracks and stores, especially on the east side
of the fort, were very much injured, but the batteries were not
materially damaged. The only shell which entered, that on the southern
half of the western side, blew up the magazine. The loss of life from
the explosion was probably very great, and the entire space between the
magazine and the gate was covered with stones, timber, and broken shell.
The injury to the guns was as follows:--A 10-inch S.B. gun was
dismounted by a shell which threw the gun and carriage to a distance of
about 15 feet from the slide. Another 10-inch S.B. gun was similarly
dismounted, whilst a third was struck on the left side of the platform
by a shell which had previously cut off the cascabel of the second gun
to the left; the beams of the platform were completely shattered, and
the gun with its carriage was overturned and wrecked.
14. _Fort Pharos._--The west tower and front were breached in many
places; the minaret was partly knocked down, and the whole of the west
front of the keep, with its two turrets, were in ruins. The south-east
corners of the fort were also much shattered by the shells which passed
over the west front. The stores and barracks suffered severely, and the
destruction of so much masonry must have added considerably to the moral
effect of the fire of the ships. With regard to the sea front, the
parapet was hit in several places (seven in all), but only in three
cases did a shell enter the battery. The corners of the traverse to the
right of the 8-inch Armstrong guns were carried away by two shells; a
third shell pierced the sole of the embrasure of the 10-inch Armstrong
gun, and threw the large granite block which formed the sill on to the
platform of the gun, so the gun might be said to be out of action. Of
the S.B. guns, one heavy 10-inch on the west tower was dismounted, by a
16-inch shell from the _Inflexible_, one 10-inch gun on the west front
was capsized and put out of action, and it is not unlikely that another,
with its carriage, fell into the crater formed by a shell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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