Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/71

 Black Sea, and arrived in October 1855. Three of the French batteries had been previously despatched to the same locality, and took part in the bombardment of Kinburn. Our vessels were armed with thirty 60-pounders, the largest piece of ordnance then in use. Having a flat bottom, they only drew 9 ft. of water. They were, in fact, ships from which a thick slice had been removed from their hulls above and below the water. They were well suited, from their light draught, for the shallow waters of the Baltic, and with their powerful armament could have attacked the forts at Cronstadt with advantage, because these were all low down, and not of the formidable nature asserted at the time.

The defence of Kinburn in the Black Sea consisted of a strong casemated fort armed with over sixty guns, and supported by earthworks with a few additional guns. These batteries were on a narrow spit of land at the entrance to the River Boug, about forty miles east of Odessa. A combined English and French force was sent to attack them early in October 1855. It consisted of ships of the line, steamers, gunboats, mortar vessels, and the three French floating batteries lately arrived. On the 17th the assault took place. The mortar boats first opened fire, and then the floating batteries. Curiosity was excited as to the behaviour of the new constructions, and it was soon evident, after the forts commenced returning the fire, that the iron plates afforded efficient protection. The floating batteries were repeatedly struck by shot, which hardly indented the sides, and the shells burst