Page:The Next Naval War - Eardley-Wilmot - 1894.djvu/69

 the battle. But I have always been doubtful whether in a fleet action they might not be as dangerous to friends as foes."

This letter, written hurriedly, no doubt, only gives a general description of the first great battle between modern fleets. Many details are wanting as to the individual action of ships, which it would take too long to fill in. The broad fact remains that for lack of sufficient force we had suffered a reverse in the Mediterranean, and for some time at least could not control that sea. It had been a question of numbers and not size of individual ships. The smaller vessels had not suffered especially, and as the greater proportion of the shot struck at an angle, a comparatively moderate thickness of armour either caused them to glance off or to burst harmlessly outside. The truth of the old adage that the best protection against the enemy's fire is a well-directed fire from your own guns, was fully borne out. It was the weight of metal discharged in a given time, not massive bolts at intervals, that was most effective.

At a future time I will go into this action in greater detail, with the lessons derived from it, but at present am only concerned in showing the general result of trusting to chance and past success in maintaining our position at sea.