The real struggle evidently commenced in grim earnest on Wednesday last, when the fleet made a prolonged and direct attack upon the vital and most difficult point in the Straits, the area known as the Narrows, which is commanded by very powerful fortifications.
The battle, for such the engagement that ensued may fairly be termed, is described with a good deal of graphic detail in the cablegrams of this morning.
The bombardment from the sea may well have constituted the most terrible fire to which land forts have been subjected in the history of naval warfare.
It lasted apparently for some six hours, or till nightfall descended upon the scene, when it was interrupted only to be resumed next morning.
So far as can be judged by the details as yet to hand, the forts of the enemy suffered much greater damage than they proved themselves capable of inflicting, despite the circumscribed area in which the warships had to manoeuvre.
The fleet appears to have been handled with ability and daring, the French squadron rendering valuable assistance to the larger and more powerful British squadron.
It will not have been expected by the commanders themselves that a direct attack of this kind could be made from the sea without more or less severe losses on their side, and this anticipation has unfortunately been realised.
For the news of this morning reveals not only the magnitude but also the nature of the risk to which the bombarding vessels were exposed.
With the gun fire from the forts they were capable of coping, and in all the circumstances they seem to have suffered considerably less damage from it than might have been expected, although the British battle-cruiser Inflexible and the French capital-ship Gaulois were put out of action for the time being by shells which struck them.
But the most serious menace to the allied fleet and the source of the most serious injury it sustained were the drifting mines that were encountered in an area which the mine-sweepers had previously swept clear.
It is most regrettable to have to record that these undiscernible death-traps, floating and yet submerged, accounted for the loss of three battleships, the Irresistible, the Ocean, and the Bouvet.
While in the case of the two British vessels there was time to save practically the whole of the crews, the French warship unfortunately sank so rapidly that a very small percentage of her crew could be rescued.
• A good turn, that was greatly appreciated, was performed by the members of the Dunedin West-Central Battalion of Boy Scouts on Saturday.
The Scouts were paraded for the purpose of visiting the Hospital and distributing flowers to the inmates.
Punctually at 2.45 p.m., after the Scouts had been photographed at the entrance to the Hospital, the members entered into the various wards and began their mission of kindness.
Each Scout brought a bunch of flowers, and these were handed, as far as possible, to all the patients.
In some wards, where permission had been obtained, the boys sang ''Tipperary'', and gave cheers to the inmates of the Hospital, whose smiling faces betokened their pleasure at the novelty of the idea.
The chief scoutmaster of the corps was asked to bring the boys again, and one of the nurses informed him that visits such as these greatly cheered the patients.
The Rev. Mr Pybus, Mr Parry (chaplains), and Scoutmaster Wilkinson assisted with the parade, of which Chief Scoutmaster Darracott was in command. - ODT, 22.3.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
