The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-05-25

been selected, the syndicate's fleet start
ed for that place The crabs were ele
waited to cruising height the repellel
taken in tow, and by the afternoon Of
the next day the fleet was lying off Caer
daft. \ note was sent on shore to the
officer in command, stating that the
bombardment would begin at 10 O'Clock
in the morning of the next day but one
and requesting that information of the
hour appointed be instantly transmitted
to London When this had been done,
the fleet steamed six or seven miles of
shore, where it lay to or cruised about
for two nights and day.
AS soon as the government had Sc
lected Caerdaf for bombardment imme-
date measures were taken to remove the
small garrisons and the inhabitants of
the fishing village from possible danger.
When the syndicate's note was received
by the commandant of the fort he was
already in receipt of orders from the war
Office to evacuate the Notifications and
to superintend the removal of the fisher
men and their families to point of
safety idItiN up inc CodSt.
Caerdaif was place difficult of access
by land, the nearest railroad stations be-
ing fifteen or twenty miles away, but on
the day after the arrival of the syndi-
Gates fleet in the oiling thousands of
people made their way to this part of the
country, anxious to see-if perchance
they might find an opportunity to safely
see-what might happen at 10 o'clock
the next morning Officers of the army
and navy, government officials, press
correspondents in great numbers, and
curious and anxious observers of all
classes, FASTENED to the Welsh coast.
The little towns where the visitors left
the trains were crowded to overtlowing,
and every possible conveyance by which
the mountains lying back of Cardiff
could be reached was eagerly secured,
many persons, however, being obliged
to depend upon their own legs. Soon
after sunrise of the appointed day the
forts, the village and the surrounding
lower country were entirely deserted;
and every point of vantage on the noun
tains lying some miles back from the
coast was occupied by excited spectators,
nearly every one armed with field
glass.
a few Of the guns from the fortifca-
tons were transported to an overlooking
height, in order that they might be
brought into action in case the repeller,
instead of bombarding, should send men
in boats to take possession of the evacu-
ated Notifications, or should attempt any
mining operations. The gunners for this
battery were stationed at safe place to
the rear, whence they could readily
reach their guns if necessary.
The next day was one of supreme i'm
portance to the syndicate. On this day
it must make plain to the world, not only
what the motor bomb could do, but that
the motor bomb did what was done.
Before leaving the English channel the
director of Repeller No. II had received
Geographic advices from both Europe
and America indicating the general drift
OF public opinion in regard to the recent
sea fight; and, besides these, many Eng
lish and continental papers had been
brought to him from the French coast.
From all these the director perceived
that the cause of the syndicate had in
certain way suffered from the manner in
which the battle in the channel had been
conducted. Every newspaper urged that
if the repeller carried guns capable of
the bombs which the syndicate
to use there was no reason why
every ship in the British fleet should not |
have been destroyed. But as the repeller |
had not fired a single shot at the fleet, and |
as the battle had been fought entirely |
by the crabs, there was every reason to |
believe that if there were such things as
motor guns their range was very short,
not as great as that of the ordinary dyna-
mite cannon. The great risk run by one
Of the crabs in order to disable dyna-
mite gunboat seemed an additional proof /
Of this.
1t was urged that the explosions in the
water might have been produced by tor
pedoes; that the torpedo boat which had
oeen destroyed was SO near the repeller
hat an ordinary shell was sufficient to
the damage that had been
lone.
To gainsay these assumptions was i'm
oerative on the syndicate's forces. To
irmly establish the prestige Of the in
Simultaneous motor was the object Of the
var. Grabs were of but temporary SER
ice. Any nation could build vessels
ike them, and there were many means
If destroying them. The spring armor
vas a complete defense against ordinary
artillery, but it was not defense against
submarine torpedoes. The claims Of the
iyndicate could be firmly based on moth
ng but the powers of absolute annihila-
ion possessed by the instantaneous mo-
5or bomb.
To be Continued