The Memoirs of Admiral Lord BeresfordBeresford, Charles William De la Poer Beresford, Baron
History
The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
Beresford, Charles William De la Poer Beresford, Baron
Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography; Great Britain -- History, Naval -- 19th century
On 14th August the Cavalry Division rode from Belbeis to Cairo,
starting at dawn and arriving at Abbassieh at 4.45 p.m. The same
night, Captain Watson, R.E., disarmed the troops in the Citadel and
occupied Cairo.
On the 15th August Sir Garnet Wolseley and the Guards arrived at Cairo,
a day before scheduled time.
During the next week, Kafr Dowar, a place of equal importance with
Tel-el-Kebir, Aboukir, Rosetta and Damietta, surrendered.
From the bombardment of Alexandria to the capture of Cairo was
sixty-six days, of which the campaign occupied twenty-five days.
On the 25th September the Khedive returned to Cairo, where the greater
number of the British troops assembled. Subsequently, Admiral Sir
Beauchamp Seymour and Sir Garnet Wolseley were created Peers of the
United Kingdom.
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Arabi Pasha was tried by court-martial on a charge of rebellion against
the Khedive, and was condemned to death, the sentence being commuted to
exile for life. In December, Arabi and six of his friends who had been
sentenced sailed for Ceylon.
{185}
CHAPTER XIX
THE EGYPTIAN WAR (_Continued_)
II. THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
My appointment to H.M.S. _Condor_ was dated 31st December, 1881. The
_Condor_ was a single-screw composite sloop gun-vessel of 780 tons and
770 h.p., carrying one 4½-ton gun amidships, one 64-pr. forward and one
64-pr. aft, all muzzle-loading guns. In June, 1882, the _Condor_
formed part of the squadron lying off Alexandria under the command of
Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour.
On Sunday, 11th June, calling upon Captain Blomfield, the
harbour-master, I found him in great distress. He had heard that there
was trouble in the city, into which his wife had gone, and he was
extremely anxious about her safety. We took a light carriage harnessed
to a pair of Arab horses and drove into the town. Presently a great
crowd came running down the street towards us. They were mostly
Greeks, many of whom were wounded and bleeding. The next moment we
were surrounded by a raging mob, armed with _naboots_, or long sticks,
with which they attacked us. The street was blocked from end to end;
and to have attempted to drive through the mob would have been certain
death. I seized the reins, swung the horses round, cleared the crowd,
and drove back to the harbour-master's house. In the meantime his wife
had taken refuge in an hotel, whence she safely returned later in the
day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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