The Russians seem to have had very little difficulty in approaching the Turkish ships, owing to the neglectful way in which the sentries kept a look-out, and their daring was certainly rewarded by a remarkable series of successes in which the luck was unquestionably on their side. Thus at the attack on the _Seifi_ the latter’s turret guns missed fire three times, and the Russians got so near that they blew a hole in her by pushing a Whitehead torpedo under her stern, and exploded another near her bows in order to hasten her disappearance beneath the waters of the Black Sea. Possibly one reason why the Turks generally missed the Russian torpedo boats when they aimed at them was that there were no quick-firers, as the term is now understood, and that the Turks had nothing between the clumsy and heavy 40-pounders and the Gatlings, and had no guns to meet the torpedo attacks, even when they did sight the approaching torpedo boats. Another reason why they failed to prevent the attacks by gun-fire was the great difficulty of training heavy guns upon small fast-moving boats no bigger than steam launches upon the dark and inclement nights which were usually chosen for the enterprises. Again, the slow-firing guns of those days had to be laboriously reloaded afresh and aim had to be taken again, and by that time the attacking boat might be out of range or have discharged its dangerous and destructive missile. The one ship-and-ship encounter of the war took place between the converted merchant steamer _Vesta_ and the Turkish _Assar-i-Chevket_. The latter gave chase and steadily overhauled the other until those on the _Vesta_ began to expect that another few minutes would see her career brought to an end by the warship overtaking and ramming her. Both ships had been making good shooting, especially the Turk, but at the last minute a heavy shot from the _Vesta_ struck the warship’s conning tower a hard blow, and the warship gave up the chase. [Illustration: DUEL BETWEEN THE “VESTA” AND “ASSAR-I-CHEVKET.” _From a Contemporary Wood Engraving._] [Illustration: RUSSIAN TORPEDO BOATS ON THE DANUBE IN THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR.]