The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-10-22 00:00:00

ATTACK ON LArturrrun ICARBOUR.

The first of a series of attacks upon Langston
Harbour, in pursuance of a programme arranged by
the military and naval authorities, took place on
Tuesday night, having been postponed from the
previous Friday, when a gale was blowing, and a
heavy sea which was running outside made it
dangerous to act with the small craft forming part of
the attacking fleet. On Tuesday night the wpather
was all that could be desired, and after night fell the
Defending Force, which was under the supreme com-
mand of Colonel J. H. Maitland, commanding Royal
Engineers Southern District, was on the alert for the
approach of the enemy. Captain S. Long, of the
Vernon, torpedo schooner ship, was in command of
the flotilla, which comprised the Bloodhound, Kite,
Pincher, Blazer, Mastiff, Ant, and Skylark, with
torpedo boats, pinnaces, rafts, (Cze. The officer acting
immediately under the direction of Captain Long
was Commander Hay of the guardship Asia, and
on board the different craft were a number of
sesmen specially trained in torpedo gunnery and
submarine mining. Although the strictest secrecy
had been observed in reference to the preliminaries,
it was known that the Fourth, Twenty-second, and
Thirty-third Submarine Mining Companies of the
Royal Engineers, under the command of Colonel
Hogg, had laid a number of eleotro-contact mines,
each containing a charge' of 721 b. of compressed gun-
cotton in discs around and in the bed of the channel
at the entrance to Langston Harbour, between Hay.
ling Island and Fort Cumberland, the mine field ex-
tending from the ferry to a point south-east of a
shoal which has proved fatal to many a craft. Across
the channel was a formidable boom, constructed of
timber baulks and wire rope, kept in position by a
large number of 40-pound boat anchors, with mines
in conneotion. It was understood that Captain Long
bad arranged an elaborate system of countermining.
His difficulties were increased by the presence of de-
fenders on either shore of the harbour, where earth-
works had been erected, and quick-firing and other
guns mounted. A small tent was pitched at Hayling
for the accommodation of a portion of the milit try
engaged, and others were quartered in Fort Camber.
land, which commands the narrow entrance to
Langston, but which, for the purposes of these opera-
tions, is considered to be non-existent.

The Defenders were, of course, ignorant of the
time at which the attack would be made, but although
the state of the tide would not admit of the larger
craft endeavouring to force the passage until a late
hour, it was concluded that the small boats would be
sent in at a much earlier period, and accordingly the
electric search light was set to work on both sides of
the harbour, and the seaward approach was swept for
a long distance. It was nearly nine o'clock before the
firing of those guns notified that the enemy was at
hand. The approach was carefully noted by a number
of officers who had been appointed to act as umpires,
and whose duty, among other things, was to ascertain
the results of the mining and counter-mining, and to
pay particular attention to the part played in the
defence by the Brennan torpedo. As the enemy
neared the harbour the booming of the heavier
ordnance, the rapid discharge of the machine guns,
and the rattle of musketry along the shores, accom-
panied by the penetrating glare of the electric light,
rendered the operations exceedingly realistic. By
express orders from head-quarters the public were
kept a long distance from the shore, strong pickets
being thrown out forming a complete cordon round
the area of operations. The attack wAs conducted
with great vigour, and the operations lasted until close
upon micinw,E

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