The _Condor_ maintained her duel with the forts for an hour and was not hit seriously once. Almost single-handed she silenced the great guns of the Marabout fort, and afterwards aided the _Bittern_ and _Cygnet_ to suppress the other guns. Little wonder was it that when she afterwards passed the _Invincible_ she was rewarded with the splendid compliment, “Well done, _Condor_.” The crews of the large warships cheered her as she passed them, and her own crew returned the compliment, not forgetting cheers for their popular commander and groans for Arabi Pacha. Meanwhile the _Inflexible_, with her terrible 81-ton guns, was steadily if slowly firing at the Meks and Lighthouse forts. The guns of one turret sent shell after shell into one of the forts and those of the other turret were directed upon the other fort. The heavy rumbling of her immense shells contrasted curiously with the scream of the lighter shells of the smaller guns. Her enormous projectiles, weighing about 1,700 lb. each, fired with terrible precision, blew the face of Fort Ada to pieces, and aided in reducing the Lighthouse fort. The bombardment was a repetition of the old story of fixed shore fortifications being assailed by a mobile and powerful fleet. As usual the fleet could manœuvre to its own best advantage for shelling an enemy and upsetting his aim. The fleet itself, however, did not escape entirely without injury. A shell entered the captain’s cabin of the _Alexandra_ and burst, doing considerable damage to the contents of the apartment, but singularly little injury to the ship. The _Alexandra’s_ armour was pierced several times, but none of the projectiles succeeded in getting through the backing, and a portion of her smokestack was shot away. Altogether she was struck twenty-five times. Most of the other attacking vessels also bore marks of the engagement, but in no instance was the injury inflicted serious. Much of the damage was sustained aloft, thus showing that the Egyptian gunners had for the most part aimed too high. Some of their shells, also, failed to explode, and on the whole the firing from the forts was badly directed. The British had five men killed and twenty-eight wounded. The losses of the Egyptians were never known accurately, but must have been very great, for the British shells which did not hit the forts found their billets in the town behind and, exploding, added to the terror and death-roll among the natives who had not already fled. A correspondent who visited the forts immediately after the bombardment wrote:--