The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-04 00:00:00

THE STORMING OF ACRE,

The following graphic and spirited sketch is given by the
Devonport Gazette, from the letter of an officer of her Ma-
jesty's steam-frigate Gorgon :
" On the last day of September we were despatched from
Beyrout, with three steamers under our command, to bom-
bard this devoted place for three days before the general at-
tack was made, which we commenced on the Ist of October,
by standing in within range, and firing shells as hard as we
could pelt, and they returning two for one. They fell around
us like hail, but, strange to say, not a shot struck us ; our
bombardment was not very successful, as more than half the
shells burst before they reached the shore, owing to the fuses
being badly bored ; all the shells from the steamers failed
alike, a circumstance not very creditable to those who made
them, and sadly disappointing to us. It is not likely they
were ever tried at such a distance before, 4,000 yards. At
half-past four o'clock, (how shall I describe this,) as if by
one consent, all firing ceased, and oh, Heavens ! what a sight !
The whole town appeared as if it was in the air ; so awfully
grand a sight no one can describe. We saw nothing but one
devilish cloud extending thousands of yards into the air and
on all sides, and then we felt an awful shock which gave the
line of battle ships a heel of two degrees, so that you may
judge, from the moment of the explosion, all firing from the
town ceased. The Turkish' admiral, Walker Bey, was
boarded at one o'clock in the morning by an Egyptian colo-
nel, who informed him that they were evacuating the town
as fast as possible. Walker Bey immediately landed with 300
men, and took possession of the town, making 3000 prisoners.
Thus fell this tremendous fortress, which has not been over-
rated by report, for I really think it is the strongest place
(next to Gibraltar) in the world, and I think we should never
have taken it but for the explosion, which was caused by one
of our shells bursting in their main magazine of powder, by
which, to speak within bounds, 2000 souls were blown to
atoms, besides beasts of burden of every description. In all,
the loss of the Egyptians is computed at XlOO killed and
wounded. At daylight what a sight was exposed to our view !
The stupendous fortification, that only twelve hours before
could boast of being among the strongest in the world, was so
riddled, we could not find a square foot that had not a shot.
On the morning of the 4th I went ashore to witness the
devastation ; the sight beggared all description. The bastions
were strewed with dead, the guns dismounted, and all sorts
of havoc. I then came to the spot where the explosion took
place ; it has laid a space of two acres quite bare, and hollowed
it out as if a quarry had been worked there for years. And,
oh heavens, what a sight ! It makes my blood run cold to
write of it. Mangled human bodies of both sexes, strewed
in all directions, women searching for their husbands and
relatives, tearing their hair, beating their breasts, and howling
and crying most piteously ; God forbid 1 should ever see the
like again."