ough they again
returned, it was to find that a large number of them had been
dismounted, while the upper part of their works were crumbling to pieces
from the effects of the fire from the British ships. From their lower
batteries, however, and from various forts on the heights, so hot was
the Russian fire, that the _Albion_ and _London_, terribly shattered,
were compelled to haul off. The _Sanspareil_ also brought up so close
to the _Agamemnon_ as to be unable to use her foremost guns, and had to
get under way to take up a better berth, and for a time the _Agamemnon_
stood the brunt of the battle in her part of the line. The
_Sanspareil_, however, again quickly came to her support, and the
_Albion_, having repaired some of her damages, returned; but as the
_London_ was unable to do so, the admiral signalled to the _Rodney_, the
_Queen, Bellerophon_, and _Arethusa_, to come to his assistance. A
short time afterwards the _Queen_, set on fire by a shell, was compelled
to retreat, and the _Rodney_ got on shore at the end of the bank; but a
large portion of her crew having joined the naval brigade, she had but
few men on board, and therefore fought only her main-deck guns, and
though in so exposed a position, escaped with comparatively little loss.
For five hours the whole fleet kept up perhaps the most tremendous
cannonade that has ever been fired from British or any other ships, when
night coming on, the _Agamemnon_ made the signal for the fleet to
retire, she herself being the last to leave her station. Though during
that time the upper portions of some of the Russian batteries had been
knocked away, and a large number of people killed and wounded in them,
the furious cannonade which had been so long kept up produced no result
to compensate the British for a loss sustained of 44 killed and 266
wounded, besides the damages received by many of the ships, two of
which, the _Albion_ and _Arethusa_, had to go to Malta to be repaired.
Though the French ships suffered more than ours, they lost under 200 men
killed and wounded. The steamers had gallantly performed their part in
towing the ships in and out of action, notwithstanding the showers of
shot and shell directed at them. Altogether, the admirals came to the
conclusion that it was useless attempting to batter down the stone walls
of the fortifications, or to again expose their ships to such a fire as
they had that day endured.

A portion of the allied fleets still