. The Royal Navy . to the westward Ues Fort Marabout,which, with its heavy 10-inch guns, was able tovery considerably annoy the inshore squadron. Ofthe gunboats the Condor was commanded byCommander Lord Charles Beresford, and althoughthe heaviest gun in his ship was but a 64-pounder,Beresford decided to engage the fort and endeavourto keep its fire under. His enterprise was as coollyand skilfully calculated as it was plucky. He sawthat he could, by skilful handling, so manoeuvrehis ship that while it would be difficult for thehuge weapons in the fort to be so depressed thatthey would bear dire
. The Royal Navy . to the westward Ues Fort Marabout,which, with its heavy 10-inch guns, was able tovery considerably annoy the inshore squadron. Ofthe gunboats the Condor was commanded byCommander Lord Charles Beresford, and althoughthe heaviest gun in his ship was but a 64-pounder,Beresford decided to engage the fort and endeavourto keep its fire under. His enterprise was as coollyand skilfully calculated as it was plucky. He sawthat he could, by skilful handling, so manoeuvrehis ship that while it would be difficult for thehuge weapons in the fort to be so depressed thatthey would bear directly on the Condor, yet shewith her shells and machine guns could operatewith deadly effect against the men handling theEgyptian guns. For an hour and a half, singlehanded, the little ship effectually drew off* the firefrom the inshore squadron, until the other gun-boats were sent in to her aid, and soon the littleflotilla, following Beresfords tactics, had silenced A CRUISER ACTION OFF THE SCILLIESManoeuvres, 1901. rfim NAVY OF STEAM AND STEEL 265 Fort Marabout. Then from the Invincible ran upthe historic signal, Well done, CondorV and asalvo of cheers from ship after ship showed thatthe whole fleet had seen and were delighting inLord Charles Beresfords feat of pluck and seaman-ship. Meanwhile, after two hours of action, theinshore squadron had blown up Fort Marsa, anddisabled all but four guns in Fort Mex and thecontiguous batteries. By noon the forts runningfrom Pharos to the lighthouse at Ras el Tin hadbeen practically silenced by the fire of the outshoresquadron, and by two oclock the whole of thefortifications had ceased to fire and were apparentlyabandoned by the enemy. Under the command of Lieutenant Bradford ofthe Invincible, accompanied by the Hon. HedworthLambton, flag lieutenant of Sir BeauchampSeymour, a boat from the Invincible, covered by thegunboats, pushed for the shore. On landing, theyfound only the dead in the forts, the guns of whichwere either blown up by
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