It was at about a quarter to eleven in the morning that the great bombardment began, the _Queen Elizabeth_, _Inflexible_, _Agamemnon_, and _Lord Nelson_, stationed near the entrance, opening fire at about ten and a half miles range. These four battleships took for their targets the forts at Kilid Bahr and Chanak; while the _Triumph_ and _Prince George_, at closer range, engaged the forts at Soghandere, Kephez, and Dardanos. This action was continued for an hour and a half, when a French squadron, magnificently handled, advanced up the Straits as far as Point Kephez, and, at close range, engaged the forts of the Narrows. All the ships were hit, but, manoeuvring in circles, none was materially injured, the _Suffren_, _Gaulois_, _Charlemagne_, and _Bouvet_ being the vessels employed. After an hour and a half of this inshore firing, the forts ceased to reply; and, at about the same time, the French vessels were relieved--the _Vengeance_, _Irresistible_, _Albion_, _Majestic_, _Swiftsure_, and _Ocean_ taking their places. These vessels began their attack at half-past two, advancing in line and meeting a hot fire; and it was just as the French vessels were passing out that the first disaster of the day occurred in the {131} sinking of the _Bouvet_ by a floating mine. This was in an area previously swept clear, and it opened up a new and difficult problem, namely that of mines, loosed higher up the Straits, and drifting down with the current. Sinking in three minutes, practically the whole of the crew of the _Bouvet_ was lost. It was now becoming clear that the old axiom as to the inferiority of ships to forts still held the field; and to the observers on land it was even more obvious than to those who were directing the gunfire afloat. In the rear of one battery, for instance, within a space not more than three hundred feet deep, there fell no less than eighty-six shells, the battery itself remaining undamaged, while none of the 6-inch guns of the much-hammered Fort Dardanos suffered any injury from our fire. The assault was continued, however, till dark, with the utmost vigour, in spite of the growing list of casualties, both the _Irresistible_ and _Ocean_ being sunk by drifting mines, and the _Gaulois_ and _Inflexible_ seriously crippled by gunfire.