1807 - Sir John Duckworth at the Dardanells


 
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Naval history of Great Britain - Vol. IV
by
William James
1807 British and Turkish Fleets 310

good deal damaged, and had two seamen killed, one lieutenant, one midshipman, 10 seamen, and two marines wounded.

The Lucifer had no one hurt.

The Active received a granite shot weighing 800 pounds, and measuring six feet six inches in circumference, which passed through her side two feet above the water, and lodged on the orlop deck, close to the magazine-scuttle, without injuring a man. The aperture made by it was so wide, that Captain Moubray, on looking over the side to ascertain what damage it had done, saw two of his crew thrusting their heads through at the same moment. Had there been a necessity for hauling to the wind on the opposite tack, she must have gone down. * Her loss altogether amounted only to her boatswain, four seamen, and three marines wounded.

The Endymion had three seamen killed, and one lieutenant and eight seamen wounded.

The Meteor had the misfortune, about a quarter of an hour before she got abreast of the castle of Abydos, to part the hawser by which the Endymion had been towing her. The Endymion did not wait to take the Meteor again in tow, but hastened past the batteries. These opened a tremendous fire on the bomb, and all on board the squadron, knowing that the Meteor's magazine was above water, expected every instant to see her blown into the air. The stone shot flew about her in all directions, and some struck her hull. At length, after (as in the passage up she had done her 13-inch) bursting her 10-inch mortar, the Meteor got past the batteries, with the loss of one lieutenant of the marine artillery and seven seamen wounded.

We may notice in passing, that the Lucifer's magazine was also above water, both bombs having originally been merchant vessels. The regular bombs, or those built as such, have their magazines below water, which is the proper place. It was certainly a very hazardous experiment, to take these bomb-vessels where they would be exposed to so close and heavy a fire as in the passage of the Dardanells.

The total of the British loss in repassing the Dardanells amounted to 29 killed and 138 wounded ; any the total loss incurred in the expedition, to 46 killed, including the four drowned, and 235 wounded. The following appear to have been the officers who suffered on the occasion. Killed : Captain of marines R. Kent, of the Canopus, and Lieutenant George Lawrence Belli, of the Royal-George. Wounded : Lieutenants John Forbes and Nisbet Josiah Willoughby, and midshipmen George Holbrook, John Furneaux, ---- Dalrymple, John Alexander, John Wood Rouse, and Charles Cotesworth, of the Royal-George ; master's mate John Nichols, and midshipman George Wray, of the Canopus ; master's mate William Jones of the Windsor-Castle ; Lieutenant of marines Thomas Marshall, and master's mate Joseph Magui of the Repulse ; Lieutenants John

*  Marshall's Naval Biography, vol. i., p. 809.

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