firing at them would be very likely to hit the Llangaron, their
directors felt safe on this point.

Three of the foremost ironclads, less than two miles away, were heading
directly for them, and their rams might be used with but little danger
to the Llangaron; but, on the other hand, three swift crabs were
heading directly for these ironclads.

It was impossible for Crabs Q and R to operate in the usual way. Their
massive forceps, lying flat against the top of the cylinder, could not
be twisted. The enormous chains they held could not be severed by the
greatest pressure, and if both crabs backed at once they would probably
do no more than tow the Llangaron stern foremost. There was, moreover,
no time to waste in experiments, for other rams would be coming on, and
there were not crabs enough to attend to them all.

No time was wasted. Q signalled to R, and R back again, and instantly
the two crabs, each still grasping a chain of the cylinder, began to
sink. On board the Llangaron an order was shouted to let out the
cylinder chains; but as these chains had only been made long enough to
allow the top of the cylinder to hang at or a little below the surface
of the water, a foot or two of length was all that could be gained.

The davits from which the cylinder hung were thick and strong, and the
iron windlasses to which the chains were attached were large and
ponderous; but these were not strong enough to withstand the weight of
two crabs with steel-armoured roofs, enormous engines, and iron hull.
In less than a minute one davit snapped like a pipe-stem under the
tremendous strain, and immediately afterward the windlass to which the
chain was attached was torn from its bolts, and went crashing
overboard, tearing away a portion of the stern-rail in its descent.

Crab Q instantly released the chain it had held, and in a moment the
great cylinder hung almost perpendicularly from one chain. But only
for a moment. The nippers of Crab R still firmly held the chain, and
the tremendous leverage exerted by the falling of one end of the
cylinder wrenched it from the rigidly held end of its chain, and, in a
flash, the enormous stern-guard of the Llangaron sunk, end foremost, to
the bottom of the channel.

In ten minutes afterward, the Llangaron, rudderless, and with the
blades of her propellers shivered and crushed, was slowly turning her
starboard to the wind and the sea, and beginning to roll like a log of
eight thousan