The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-06-29
VERY BRILLIANT EXPLOIT.
.Fhe blowing up Ofa Turkish Monitor
by the misunderstanding Scene
Of Excit ement and Danger-rhe
Terrible Destruction Wrought
by Two TOrPeOes-Escape
of the Assailants.

by Two TOrpeoes-Escape
of the Assailants.
from the London News.l
Ploiesti, May 3l.-The destruction,
of Il Turkish monitor the other night
by torpedoes seems to have been Il
most brilliant aud daring exploit. Two
steam launches, with a handful of men,
steamed boldly into the midst of the
Turkish fiotilla, placed two torpedoes
under one of the monitors, and succeed
eel in blowing it up and completely
destroying it. The little expedition
which succeeded in blowing up the
Turkish monitor was composed of four
small steam launches, two OF which
were to make the attack, and the two
Others to hold themselves in readiness
to render assistance in case, as was
probable, of IN accident to either of the
attacking ones. The two launches
which were to make the attack were
commanded by Lieut.. Dubasotf, and
manned, one by fourteen, the other by
nine men. The crews were protected
by an iron screen or awning, which
covered the boat cOmplently over from
stem to stern, and which was sutticien-
tly thick to stop a bullet. This screen,
AS we'll as the boat, was painted black,
SD ds' ~ O0 oCdICCIy ~
night, and the crew were thus protect
cd against the fire OF small arms, ex-
cept the man at the wheel, who direct
Ell the movements of the boat, and who
who was necessarily exposed.
The crews embarked in the boats a
little after II O'Clock on Friday night,
at distance of about seven miles from
where the Turkish monitors were ly-
ing. The night was dark and rainy,
and the clouns completely obscured the
moon, which nevertheless prevented
the night from being one of complete
pitchy darkness. There was just
enough light to enable them to distin-
guish the dark masses of the Turkish
gunboats without themselves being
easily seen. After an hours steaming
they came within the immediate neigh
borhOOd of the enemy'S t1Otilla. The
engines of the launches were so con-
structed as to make very little noise,
and when they were slowed down all
the sound they made was a dull kind
of throbbing noise that was almost
drowned by the continual croaking of
the frogs, which are very numerous
along the marshes of the Danube.
Nevertheless, the quick ear of Tur-
kish sentinel caught the unusual sound
and cried out, ssWho goes there "' in
Turkish. The boats advanced without
replying. The sentinel again called
out and and again remained without an
answer. He called out the third time,
and as it was becoming evident that
the ship would be alarmed, Lieut..
Dubasotf replied in Turkish, "Friends!''
and continued to advance. The senti-
mel, however, was by no means satisfi-
ed, and after calling out again two or
three times he fired. Then the Rus
slams, who were by that time very near
the doomed monitor, heard u noise in
the ship. There was a scutfeing of feet,
the rushing about of sailors, cries and
shouts, and the voice of an officer COM
manding them to prepare the guns tor
action. They heard the order given
for the gun in the bow to be fired.
They heard it given three times, and
three times they heard the click of the
hammer, showing that an attempt had
been made to fire, and that the gun had
refused to go off. Finally, the third
time the order was given a globe of
flame leaped over the side of the gun
boat and a shell went whistling over
their heads. They were evidently seen
by the Turks. One of the boats, that
of fShestakoff, now drew off, while that
of Dubasoft continued to advance.
Each boat was armed with two torpe-
does, attached to the end of a long spar
that projected from the bow. These
spars were arranged to move ON pivots,
and could be swung round so as to de-
scribe a half circle. The torpetloes were
so placed that they could be detached
from the spars at any moment, and, in
addition to this, long, light chains were
attached to them, by which they were
to be tied on to any projecting part of
the attacked ship, and they were con-
nected with the boat by u fine flexible
wire about 100 hundred yards long.
The officer in command carried IL small
electric battery fastened round his
chest.
A lively fusilade had now been Open
ed upon the boat by the Turks, but, in
spite of this, the launch of Dubasoff shot
under the bow Of the monitor, the
chain which was fastened to the torpe-
do was flung round chain or rope that
was hanging form the bow of the ship,
the torpedo was dropped from the
spar, and the current of the river car
ried it against the bottom of the ship.
The launch then shot away again until
the full length of the electric wire had
been reached. The officer applied it to
the battery round his chest and at the