Part 12 (1/2)
In the dull red afterglow that lit up the broad bay of golden sand between Trow Point and the pier, a huge vessel suddenly loomed dark upon the sky line, and, as she approached, those watching anxiously through gla.s.ses made her out as the great steel turret-s.h.i.+p _Lazare Carnot_, flying the French Tricolor. Immediately following her came a number of cruisers, gunboats, and torpedo boats. They included the _Dimitri Donskoi_, the _Kniaz Pojarski_, the _Pamyat Merkuriya_, the _Mezen_, the _Syzran_, the _Griden_, and the _Gaidamak_, all of which had taken part in the attack on Hull, while they had now been joined by the French battles.h.i.+ps _Ma.s.sena_ and _Neptune_, the small cruisers _Cosamo_, _Desaix_, _D'Estaing_, _Coetlogon_, and _Lalande_, the torpedo gunboats _Iberville_, _Lance_, _Leger_, and _Fleche_, and the gun-vessels _Etoile_, _Fulton_, _Gabes_, _Sagittaire_, and _Vipere_, with a large number of torpedo boats and ”catchers,” in addition to those which were at Hull.
As the vessels steamed onward at full speed, the people rushed from the pier back again into the town in wild disorder, while the Coastguard at Spanish Battery on the north sh.o.r.e of the estuary, having now discovered the presence of the menacing s.h.i.+ps, at once telegraphed the intelligence up to Newcastle, where the most profound sensation was immediately caused. The news spread everywhere, and the people on the Tyneside knew that the hand of the oppressor was upon them.
Suddenly, without warning, smoke tumbled over the bows of the _Lazare Carnot_. There was a low boom, and one of the ponderous guns in her turret sent forth an enormous sh.e.l.l, which struck the battery at Trow Point, blowing away a portion of a wall.
A moment later the battery replied with their 9-tonners, sending forth shot after shot, most of which, however, ricochetted away over the gla.s.sy sea. It was the signal for a fight which quickly became desperate.
In a few moments half a dozen of the s.h.i.+ps lay broadside on, and the great guns of the _Ma.s.sena_ and _Neptune_, with those of four other vessels, opened a terrible fire upon the fort, casting their sh.e.l.ls upon the British gunners with frightful effect.
In the battery the Armstrong disappearing guns were worked to their utmost capacity, and the shots of the defenders played havoc with the smaller craft, three torpedo boats and a ”catcher” being sunk in as many minutes.
Meanwhile the _Active_, _Bonaventure_, _Cambrian_, _Canada_, and _Archer_ of the Reserve Squadron, now on its way from the north of Scotland in consequence of orders from the Admiralty having reached it, rounded Sharpness Point, and steamed full upon the enemy's s.h.i.+ps.
The conflict was fierce, but quickly ended.
Heavy fire was kept up from the fort at Tynemouth, from Spanish Battery, from Trow Battery, and from several new batteries with disappearing guns between the Groyne and the quarry at Trow, that had been constructed and manned since the mobilisation by Volunteers, consisting of the 1st Newcastle Volunteer Engineers, the 3rd Durham Volunteer Artillery, and the 4th Durham Light Infantry from Newcastle. Nevertheless the a.s.sistance received by the British s.h.i.+ps from the land was of but little avail, for a Russian torpedo boat sent forth its messenger of death at the third-cla.s.s cruiser _Canada_, blowing her up, while the engines of both the _Active_ and _Bonaventure_ were so seriously damaged as to be practically useless. Rapid signalling by the semaph.o.r.e at Spanish Battery had placed the defenders on the alert, and although the British were suffering so heavily on account of their minority, still the enemy were everywhere feeling the effect of the hot and unexpected reception.
Before half an hour had pa.s.sed two Russian gunboats had been torpedoed, and the French cruiser _D'Estaing_, having caught fire, was burning furiously, many of her crew peris.h.i.+ng at their guns.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF THE TYNE DISTRICT.]
The _Lazare Carnot_ and the _Ma.s.sena_, heedless of the fire from the sh.o.r.e, steamed at half speed across the estuary until they were opposite the Tynemouth Battery, when they suddenly opened fire, being quickly joined by six French and Russian cruisers. In the meantime the contact mines were being blown up by piquet boats, who, although suffering heavily from the fire from the sh.o.r.e, nevertheless continued their task.
It was then seen how utterly inadequate were the defences of the Tyne, and what negligence had been displayed on the part of the War Office in not providing at Tynemouth adequate means of warding off or successfully coping with an attack.
From behind the tall grey lighthouse a few guns were thundering, but in face of the overwhelming force at sea it was but a sorry attempt. One shot from the battery severely damaged the superstructure of the _Lazare Carnot_, another cut through the funnel of the _Neptune_, carrying it away, and a third entering the magazine of one of the small cruisers caused it to explode with serious loss of life. Yet the devastating effect of the enemy's sh.e.l.ls on the obsolete defences of Tynemouth was appalling.
Enclosed in the fortifications were the crumbling ruins of the ancient Priory, with its restored chapel, a graveyard, and an old Castle that had been converted into artillery barracks. As flame and smoke rushed continuously from the barbettes, turrets, and broadsides of the hostile s.h.i.+ps, the shots brought down the bare, dark old walls of the Priory, and, cras.h.i.+ng into the Castle, played havoc with the building. The lantern of the lighthouse, too, was carried away, probably by a shot flying accidentally wide, and every moment death and desolation was being spread throughout the fort. Such a magnificent natural position, commanding as it did the whole estuary of the Tyne, should have been rendered impregnable, yet, as it remained in 1894, so it stood on this fatal day, a typical example of War Office apathy and shortsightedness.
Its guns were a mere make-believe, that gave the place an appearance of strength that it did not possess. In the North Battery, on the left side, commanding a broad sweep of sea beyond Sharpness, only one gun, a 64-pounder, was mounted, the remaining five rotting platforms being unoccupied! At the extreme point, to command the mouth of the river, a single 5-tonner was placed well forward with great ostentation, its weight, calibre, and other details having been painted up in conspicuous white letters, for the delectation of an admiring public admitted to view the Priory. The South Battery, a trifle stronger, was, nevertheless, a sheer burlesque, its weakness being a disgrace to the British nation. In fact, in the whole of the battery the upper defences had long been known to experts to be obsolete, and the lower ones totally inadequate for the resistance they should have been able to offer.
Was it any wonder, then, that the sh.e.l.ls of the enemy should cause such frightful destruction? Among the British artillerymen there was no lack of courage, for they exerted every muscle in their gallant efforts to repulse the foe. Yet, handicapped as they were by lack of efficient arms and properly constructed fortifications, their heroic struggles were futile, and they sacrificed their lives to no purpose. The deadly hail from the floating monsters swept away the whole of the ancient Priory walls, demolis.h.i.+ng the old red brick barracks, blowing up the Castle gateway, wrecking the guardroom, and igniting the Priory Chapel. The loss of life was terrible, the whole of the men manning the 5-ton gun pointing seaward having been killed by a single sh.e.l.l that burst among them, while everywhere else men of the Royal Artillery, and those of the Tynemouth Volunteer Artillery, who were a.s.sisting, were killed or maimed by the incessant rain of projectiles.
Night clouds gathered black and threatening, and it appeared as if the enemy were carrying all before them. The French battles.h.i.+p _Neptune_, seeing the guns of all three batteries had been considerably weakened, was steaming slowly into the mouth of the Tyne, followed by the Russian cruiser _Syzran_, when suddenly two terrific explosions occurred, shaking both North and South s.h.i.+elds to their very foundations. High into the air the water rose, and it was then seen that two submarine mines had been exploded simultaneously by electric current from the Tynemouth Battery, and that both vessels had been completely blown up.
Such was the force of the explosion, that the hull of the _Neptune_, a great armour-clad of over ten thousand tons, had been ripped up like paper, and of her crew scarcely a man escaped, while the cruiser had been completely broken in half, and many of her crew blown to atoms.
Scarcely had this success of the defenders been realised when it was followed by another, for a second later a British torpedo boat succeeded in blowing up with all hands the French torpedo gunboat _Lance_.
These reverses, however, caused but little dismay among the invaders, for ere long the British cruisers had been driven off, the guns at Trow had been silenced, while those at Spanish Battery and Tynemouth could only keep up a desultory fire. Then, in the falling gloom, s.h.i.+p after s.h.i.+p, guided by foreign pilots, and carefully evading a number of hulks that had been placed near the estuary, entered the Tyne, pouring forth their heavy monotonous fire into North s.h.i.+elds and South s.h.i.+elds.
Skilfully as the despairing defenders managed their submarine mines, they only succeeded in destroying three more of the enemy's s.h.i.+ps, the French torpedo gunboats _Iberville_ and _Ca.s.sini_ and the cruiser _Desaix_, the crews peris.h.i.+ng.
Not for a moment was there a cessation of the cannonade as the smaller s.h.i.+ps of the enemy advanced up the river, and the damage wrought by their sh.e.l.ls was enormous. Tynemouth had already suffered heavily, many of the streets being in flames. The tower of St. Saviour's Church had fallen, the conspicuous spire of the Congregational Chapel had been shot away, the Piers Office had been reduced to ruins, and the long building of the Royal Hotel completely wrecked. The houses facing Percy Park had in many cases been shattered, a sh.e.l.l exploding under the archway of the Bath Hotel had demolished it, and the handsome clock tower at the end of the road had been hurled down and scattered.
Slackening opposite the Scarp, the gunboats and cruisers belched forth shot and sh.e.l.l upon North s.h.i.+elds, aiming first at the more conspicuous objects, such as the Sailors' Home, the Custom House, the tall tower of Christ Church, and the Harbour Master's office, either totally destroying them or injuring them irreparably, while the houses on Union Quay and those in Dockway Square and in adjoining streets, from the gasometers down to the Town Hall, were also swept by sh.e.l.ls. Resistance was made from Fort Clifford on the one side of the town, from a position occupied by a battery of the Durham Volunteer Artillery, who had mounted guns on the hill behind Smith's Yard, and also by the submarine mines of the Tyne Division Volunteer Miners; but it was most ineffectual, and, when night fell, hundreds of terror-stricken persons had been killed, and the town was on fire in dozens of places, the flames illuminating the sky with their lurid brilliancy.
In South s.h.i.+elds tragic scenes were being enacted. Sh.e.l.ls flying about the town from the river on the one side and the sea on the other exploded in the streets, blowing unfortunate men, women, and children into atoms, wrecking public buildings, and setting fire to the cherished homes of the toilers. The congested blocks of buildings around Panash Point were one huge furnace; the Custom House, the River Police Station, and the Plate Gla.s.s Works were wrecked, while a sh.e.l.l exploding in one of the petroleum tanks on the Commissioners' Wharf caused it to burst with fearful effect. The queer old turret of St. Hilda's fell with a crash, the Church of St. Stephen was practically demolished, and the school in the vicinity unroofed. The dome of the Marine School was carried bodily away; nothing remained standing of the Wouldhave Memorial Clock but a few feet of the square lower structure, and the Ingham Infirmary being set on fire, several of the patients lost their lives.
Amid this frightful panic, Lieut.-Col. Gowans and Major Carr of the 3rd Durham Artillery, the Mayor, Mr. Readhead, Alderman Rennoldson, Councillors Lisle, Marshall, and Stainton, the Town Clerk, Mr. Hayton, and the Rev. H. E. Savage, were all conspicuous for the coolness they displayed. Courage, however, was unavailing, for South s.h.i.+elds was at the mercy of the invaders, and all defence was feeble and futile.
Hundreds of the townspeople were killed by flying fragments of sh.e.l.ls, hundreds more were buried in the debris of tottering buildings, while those who survived fled horror-stricken with their valuables away into the country, beyond the range of the enemy's fire.
The horrors of Hull were being repeated. The streets ran with the life-blood of unoffending British citizens.