Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/405

THE ITTII OF OCTOBER. 375. the Trafalgar — as we saw, was ordered to haul chap. off; so that only two English ships (with their "^^^^^ propelling steamers) remained ultimately em- ployed in the task of prolonging the French line of battle. AVlien we left the in-shore squadron, it had just coutinua- been reinforced by the Arethusa and the Albion, e'.lL'agement These two ships had stood in with orders to attack i.y'tim"" the cliff batteries ; and, accordingly, they ad- squadron, vanced to the very edge of the shoal which ran parallel with the beach, overlooked by the Wasp - and the Telegraph, the Albion, as we saw, casting anchor at a distance of only 600 yards from the Wasp. They were aided in their attack by a fire (at much longer ranges) from the Sampson, the ships com- Tribune, and the Terrible ; nor, indeed, can it be uie Teir'^ said that there were any of the ships near the tltjlnd^' coast on the north of Sebastopol which were xowen^ strangers to this conflict with the cliff batteries ; for although the London, as we saw, had come on in the wake of the Sanspareil, and opened lire on Fort Constantine, she suffered much more from the little Telegraph Battery than from all the power of the great casemate castle. Indeed the same, or almost the same, might be said of the Sanspareil, and even of the Agamemnon. More or less grievously the ^v'hole of the in-shore squad- ron was suffering under the fire of only a few pieces of artillery well placed on the cliff ; and, indeed, it might be said — for, compared with its next neighbour bo.ttery the Wasp did but little