Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-03-30
FORCING THE pARDANDELLEs
Wonderful Spectacle Described by
Eye Witness Correspondent.

Eye Witness Correspondent.
A correspondent who, from the
shore, witnessed the terrific assault
that was made against the Darda-
nelles forts on March IS, and which
resulted in the sinking Of several
ships, told the story as follows:
The action lasted nearly seven
hours, during which time there was a
terrific cannonade from the ships and
the forts. The fire from the warships
at times was exceedingly severe, but
the Turkish gunners maintained their
precision wonderfully, even when lit
terally buried in the earth and debris
which the exploding shells from the
warships threw broadcast over their
positions.
The allies put in an appearance at
about half past II in the morning,
THROWN their first shells into the town
of Chanak-Kalessi. Their vessels at
this hour numbered four French and
five British battleships. A little later
five other British warships entered the
bay and the b~ombardment rapidly be-
came wonderfully terrific and spectac-
ular.
The correspondent Of the Associated
Press had taken shelter in Fort Chi
menlik, but he was driven out by shells
to a position on a hill outside the town.
Even this hill already was burning in
two places as a result Of exploding
shells.
In the beginning the range Of the
British and French gunners was ex-
cellent. The correspondent saw a shell
land fair on a corner Of Fort Kale-
Sultanie tower and tear out a large
hole in the masonry. This routed out
a party of newspaper correspondents
While they were traversing Chanak-
Kalessi several houses were knocked
to pieces by exploding shells. The trip
to the town was accelerated by the
we'll directed shots. While the cor
respondents were On the water front
several large shells exploded 100 yards
away and splinters from them filled
the air.
This attention from the British gun
ners was due to the fact that the par
ty Of correspondents was moving along
in the center Of a body Of soldiers.
The fire from the warships soon be-
came general. One shell buried itself
in the ground close to the group OF
observers; fortunately in exploding II
did no damage.
The hillside toward which the cor
respondents were making their way
finally was reached at about half past
IL. It then was seen that the British
had conferred their fire on the forts
The noise of the explosions and re-
plies Of the Turkish batteries were
d%eafening. The area Of fire was sc
extended that at times the c%orrespon-
dents were unable to find cover any
where. A certain vantage point, how
ever, finally was decided on, and from
this position the observers looked up.
on a wonderful assault; the concen-
trated attack Of a large group Of mod
ern battleships against we'll built ano
we'll defended land Notifications. Al
times the smoke was so thick that !,
completely blotted out the horizon and
totally %enveloped the particular Turk
ish forts under fire; but time and again
the smoke cleared and showed the
Turkish position virtually unchanged
The fire Of the Turks was rapid ano
accurate, so much so that the fire from
the warships began to be erratic. Many
shots flew high, while others fell short
One result was that the town Of Cha
max Kalessi, behind forts Hamidieh
and Cheminlik had wide avenues cut
through it. Fire broke out in the Greek
quarters and destroyed a considerable
number Of houses. Turkish soldiers
formed into fire brigades. were success-
full in keeping the flames down.
The bombardment reached it's great
est intensity at 3.15 in the afternoon
when suddenly the French battleshiI
Bouvet was observed to be riding low
by the stern. The next minute sh
swung a little to port, then her after
deck disappeared under water. Fol
about two minutes she held In this po'
sition, then settled completely by the
stern her bows clear Of the water
The next instant the waves closed ovel
her. On shore it vas believed she
had struck a mine. Boats rushed tc
the rescue, but only a few men were
saved.
A few minutes later a large Turkish
shell was seer to strike the deck OF
a British vessel. When the smoke OF
the explosion had cleared away, II
was seen hat the vessels foremas1
had been cut off near the bows nes'
and bent to one side. The same sho'
apparently also damaged the machin'
cry, for it could be seen the vessel was
experiencing difficulty in gaining the
open sea.
This hardly was over when another
vessel was struck heavily on deck ano
was obliged to retire.
But the greatest tragedy came at !
in the afternoon when a British war
ship was so badly damaged that she
was obliged to run ashore within range
of Turkish guns. For one hour
other warships stood by and protected
their stranded companion with a heavy
fire on the forts, but the coming OF
night obliged them to withdraw, leav-
ing behind them the fated vessel. The
Turkish gunners directed an accurate