Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/420

 Etautine. 390 THE CANNONADE OF CHAP, ship had ceased, the jib -guys of the two were L_ still touching. Therosiiion Notwithstanding her mishap, the Eodncy now Uodncy: lay l)ravely placed for the task of engaging Fort Constantine ; and to that her men bent their exertions ; for all that they did at this time, as a consequence of their being aground, was to heave taut the cable by which they had anchored. iier cng.iRc- Duriug the progress of the movement which Fort Con- had brouglit the one ship past the other, each starboard gun of the Eodney, as it came to bear clear of the Agamemnon, had, at once, opened fire on the fort ; and, now that the batteries of the Eodney were no longer, in any part, masked, she poured upon Fort Constantino the fire of her whole starboard broadside at a range of 800 yards, whilst she answered the more distant bat- teries on the south of the roadstead with the four guns she had at her stern on the main and the lower deck.* Whilst thus engaging Fort Constantine the liodney found no such ' dead angle ' as to be in the enjoyment of any perfect immunity from the power of its casemated batteries ; but it is cer- tain that — from causes still somewhat obscure — the fire which the fort directed against this shiji was not only ill directed — being always a good deal too high — but also intermittent, and in short, length of range, it is probable that their fire may have told somewhat npou the o))en-air batteries of Fort Alexander.
 * Two of these were 68-pounders ; and notwithstauding the