and accessible to ocean steamers drawing 19 feet. Above Basra the river was uncharted, but vessels of n ft. draught could get to Qurna, 40 m. farther up, a port of great importance as the point of junction of the Euphrates and Tigris.
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Bagdad to Kut Hut to Amara Amara to Kurna Kurna to Basra Basra to Fao Bagdad to Fao
above Ezra's tomb 3'A to Low water July to Nov. Flood Dec. to June
MESOPOTAMIA
RIVER CAMPAIGN I914--I917
Fao, PERSIAN GULF
The flotilla helped the troops to land in Nov. 1914, and its formidable appearance hastened the retirement of the Turks from Basra. After negotiating a nasty obstruction in the shape of a German ship sunk in the river, it pushed on to Qurna. Six miles below it, the sloops were held up for a time by a shallow bar, but the " Shaitan," " Lewis Pelly " and " Miner " went on. The " Miner "was badly hit (Dec. 3), and on Dec. 4 the " Shai- tan " was struck by a shell which killed her captain (Lt.-Comni. F. J. Elkes, R.N.R.) and wounded the helmsman. The " Es- piegle," ploughing through the mud in their wake, had found deeper water off Qurna, and was now on the scene. The flotilla took part in the attack on Qurna, which was captured by a turning movement on Dec. 9 1914, and a sound strategical position secured. The difficulties of a river transport were not as yet very severely felt, and in any case the navy had nothing to do with this sphere of work, which was under military control. The flotilla acted merely as a river battery or pursuing force under the G.O.C.
From Qurna the sloops pushed up the Tigris, but 8 m. above Ezra's Tomb (i.e. some 35 m. from Qurna) were held up by a long shallow stretch of not more than 5 to 6 feet. The " Ocean " had left for the Mediterranean on Dec. 13, and Comm. Wilfred Nunn was now senior naval officer. The Turks were entrenched at Bahran, about 6 m. above Qurna. Gen. Townshend arrived in April, and on May 31 1915 there followed the amphibious battle of Qurna, fought in punts over flooded marshes in a temperature of 113 in the shade. Gen. Townshend was on board the " Espiegle " (Capt. Wilfred Nunn), which was sup- ported by the sloops " Clio " and " Odin," with the " Law- rence " and " Miner " and the two small armed launches " Shaitan " and " Lewis Pelly " minesweeping in front. The Turks were driven back and the flotilla followed hot on their heels, shelling the Turkish gunboat " Marmaris," which ran ashore and was abandoned. Some 8 m. above Ezra's Tomb, where the " Espiegle " and the sloops were held up by their draught (10 to n ft.), Capt. Nunn embarked with Gen. Town- shend in the "Comet," the British residents' yacht (i 6-pdr., 3 3-pdr.), and pushed boldly on with the " Shaitan," " Sumana " and " Lewis Pelly " up to 'Amara, where they anchored on June 2 1915, and so disconcerted the Turks that a regiment of 1,000 men surrendered to the " Comet's " crew of 22. The following month an advance was made in the S. up the Euphrates,
and the "Espiegle," "Odin," "Miner" : and "Sumana" played a large part in the capture of Nasiriya on that river (July 24 1915). There followed the advance to Rut, 143 m. farther up, supported by the " Comet," " Shaitan " and " Sum- ana," with 44-7-in. guns in horseboats. The victory of Sept. 27-28 1915 was won, where Lt.-Comm. Cookson of the " Comet " was killed, gallantly trying to cut the wire hawser of an obstruc- tion under heavy fire.
The army was now in Kut, 240 m. up the Tigris. On every ground of strategy a further advance was indefensible, but political reasons and the glamour of the name of Bagdad drove Townshend forward through the baking marshes, and led to the battle of Ctesiphon on Nov. 22 1915. There his total force numbered 14,000 combatants. The flotilla consisted of the "Firefly," a new paddle-steamer (i 4-in.,i 6-pdr. and a 3-ft. draught), " Comet," " Shaitan " and " Sumana," but it was held up by heavy artillery at Bustan, a hairpin bend some 6 m. from Ctesiphon, and was not able to join action at close range. The S.N.O. (Capt. Nunn) arrived the same day. The Turks counter-attacked, and Townshend fell back on the 2Sth, with the flotilla toiling behind covering his rear trying to shepherd the army's river craft and salve its stranded barges. The " Shaitan," strained with heavy towing, sprang a leak and sank on Nov. 29 about 8 m. above 'Asiziya. At the battle of Umm at Tabl about 10 m. below 'Asiziya on Dec. i the " Firefly " and " Comet " poured lyddite shell into the serried ranks of Nur- ed-Din's army at 2,000 yd., but the " Firefly " was crippled by a shot in her boiler, and the " Comet," which went to help her, grounded and had to be abandoned. The " Sumana " saved the crews, and after towing off a lighter with all the divisional ammunition got in touch with the rear of the shattered force as it staggered into Kut on Dec. 2 1915. All the river craft except the " Sumana " were sent down-stream by Gen. Townshend before the enemy closed round the town. In the first advance by Gen. Sir F. J. Aylmer to relieve Kut, a heroic attempt was made by the paddle-steamer " Julnar," under Lt. H. O. Firman and Lt.-Comm. Chas. Cowley on April 24 1916, to reach the beleaguered town with 270 tons of stores, sufficient to feed the garrison for three weeks. She ran a terrific gauntlet of fire, and nearly got through, but at Makasis, within 8| m. of the town by river, was held up by a wire and captured. Lt.-Comm. Cowley and Lt. Firman, who were killed, were awarded the V.C. Kut surrendered on April 29 1916. The river transport of the relief expedition was notoriously bad, and scores of wounded lay in dirt and filth on the bare decks of lighters on the long weary journey down to Basra.
Gen. Sir Stanley Maude's campaign was carried out on a very different scale. The whole service of river transport, with all its ancillary branches of quayage, repair and dredging, was placed on an adequate basis. Scores of barges were sent out in parts and assembled at Abadan and Basra. The port of Basra was equipped with piers, and the river dredged so as to make Qurna accessible to steamers of 14 ft. A whole fleet of river craft was created, including all sorts and types of paddle-steamers, tugs, barges, lighters, motor-boats, Arab dhows and Arab punts. Lynch's river paddle-steamers, carrying 400 tons on a 4-ft. draught and able to ply all the year round, were assembled by the dozen. The river traffic was organized on a definite basis, and the whole system placed under the Inland Water Transport, a service largely consisting of experienced R.N.R. officers in military uniforms. The naval flotilla under Comm. Wilfred Nunn had been strongly reinforced, and consisted of three of the " Insect " class, " Tarantula," " Mantis," and "Moth" (armed with 2 6-in., 2 i2-pdr. and 6 machine-guns, drawing 4 ft.) and five of the " Fly " class (i 4-in., i i2-pdr. i 3-pdr., i 2-pdr. pom-pom, drawing 33 ft.). It advanced with the army, reaching Kut on Feb. 24 1917. The " Tarantula," " Mantis," " Moth," " Gadfly " and " Butterfly " pushed on at full speed, and at the Nahr Kellak bend, some 50 m. above Kut, came under a heavy fire from the Turkish rear-guard. The pilot and quartermaster of the " Mantis " were killed and her captain (Comm. Bernard Buxton) wounded, and the " Moth "
