Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/380

 350 ■ THE CANNONADE OF CHAP, was 1800 yavJs or more from the nearest of the XIII. enemy's works. A.imirai_ Knowing the liigli quality of the French navy, Kign'aito' I am hid to imagine that the signal which pre- Jiid fleet. •. ■,, . ,11 1 ceded the engagement must have been chosen m expectation of a really great battle, or else had been fashioned beforehand, and enforced upon the reluctant Admiral by some paramount autiiority. If conjecture in regard to the authorship could be safely indulged, it would point to the ruler of France. Ihit whether Admiral Hamelin was act- ing of his own free will or by compulsion, his words, it must be owned, had such pith and such import as to be capable of becoming invested with historic grandeur, if followed by a corre- sponding achievement. He ran up for his signal, — ' La France vous rcgarde !' TiieFroneh It was about luilf - past ouo whcu the Frencli lire. °^""""" fleet opened fire from more than 600 guns.-f- The fire was directed (at ranges of from 1800 to 3700 yards) against Fort Alexander, against the town, and also against the ships in the roadstead ; but the main object of the attack — at ranges already shown — was the Quarantine Sea-fort. French line was, as we saw, to be N.N. E. t Number of guns on board the figliting ships of the Franco-Turkish line, not including the Sherif, 1412 Deduct one-half, i.e., the guns on the port side, 706 Guns on the .starboard, or fighting broadsides, . 706 I, however, speak of ' six hundred ' as approximately represent- ing the number of guns, because I have an impression that there were two 80-gun ships and one 90-gun ship which wera not called upou to deliver fire.
 * See the accompanying plan. The exact direction of the