Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/106

94 torpedo. But some did good work before they perished. Vast columns of smoke belched forth from the side of some mighty war-ship, and when they had drifted away showed a gigantic rent where the honey-combed air-tight compartments and dismounted guns were clearly visible, while showers of blood and masses of metal fell on the surrounding ships. Then more torpedo-boats would dash into the chasm, but the guns on the yet intact part of the ship destroyed many of them before they could effect another explosion. Many of the first-class battleships were almost cut in half in this manner, but still the remainder kept on fighting with undaunted courage.

Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet had not been idle. At the commencement of the engagement the enemy's fleet detached nearly a hundred vessels, which began to drift slowly away to the right. The Anglo-Saxon Admiral-in-Chief sent a considerable part of his fleet to observe these, in order