TilK ITTII OF OCTOBER. 371 .'uid ai'scual liy forces which ruled the high seas; chap ior none, at that time, knew wlicre they couhl l)oint to a limit which bounded the power of great navies over places within range of their ^uns. ' There was something solemn/ says Todle- hen, 'in those minutes of expectation; all Lend- ' ing their anxious attention to the manreuvres ' of the enemy's fleet, but at the same time full ' of firmness, prepared to undergo a maritime ' bombardment terrible, unknown till then iu the ' annals of war.'* But no sooner had the fleets taken up tlicir array than the spell seenied to break. The practised seaman, who saw, through the barrier of smoke, how the line of fire from the French ships began at more than a mile IVom the nearest of the enemy's works, and then went away N.N.E. as though avoiding Sebastopol, would soon 1)0 able to say : 'This is not so much ' as a threat, still less an attack in great earnest.' The English Admiral did not forget the place piace of tiie which he had chosen to reserve for his flag-ship the Aiika"^ wdien told that any vessel must needs be sunk in battle, one hour if she should be posted in the centre of the Allied line of battle. It was exactly there that, in fulfilment of his words, Dundas now placed the Britannia. It wiU presently be seen that of the vessels part taken which followed the Britannia ^hen she was thus afv-.siou.'^^'* brought into line by the English Admiral, three were afterwards moved farther in, to take part in
- Todlebcn, p. 32G,
