Only a few survived to gain shelter. All the others were
killed on the gangway. Disembarkation, therefore, which meant almost
certain death, was postponed until later in the morning, when another
attempt also failed.
Then, while the liner, carrying 2,000 men, packed in like sardines, with
the officers huddled on the protected bridge, lay all day on shore, with
a hail of bullets rattling against her protected sides, the battleships
Albion, Cornwallis, and Queen Elizabeth furiously bombarded Seddul Bahr
and the encircling hills. Meanwhile the Turks on the Asiatic side tried
to destroy the liner by howitzer fire, which was kept under only by the
bombardment from covering ships in the strait. In spite of this covering
fire, the vessel was pierced by four big shells, and it was decided to
postpone any further movement until night, when the troops got ashore
almost without the Turks firing a shot, as a result, perhaps, of troops
landed on other beaches having pushed along and destroyed some Turkish
positions.
END OF THE THIRD WEEK.
[Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES.]
IMBROS, (via Dedeaghatch, Turkey,) May 15, (Dispatch to The London Daily
Chronicle.
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