ut the easiest thing had been done. The most difficult was about to
begin. It was not only a question of occupying Corfu; it was also a
matter of arranging to receive a worn-out and decimated army. It was a
difficult task that many would have judged out of the question.
Everything was lacking; there was nothing on hand.

A writer on naval matters, who has been the historian of the French
Navy in this war, M. Emile Vedel, has painted in the pages of
_Illustration_ an unheard-of and unique picture of what this
preparation of Corfu consisted:

It was nothing less than a question of improvising all means
that were necessary for disembarking; gangways, landing
stairs, roads to and from various points on the island where
the expected troops were to be concentrated; of uniting and
collecting together the numerous boats--large and
small--eighteen tugs (among them the _Marsouin_, _Rove_,
_Iskeul_, _Marseillais 14_, _Audacieux_, _Requin_),
twenty-seven smaller boats, nine barges, and a dozen
mahonnes and small craft of all sizes, without counting the
supply ships, floating tanks, unloading cranes and so
forth--which the rapid unloading and revictualing of the new
arrivals demanded; of isolating the sick who were infected
with typhus and cholera; in a word, of putting on their feet
the diverse offices that come under the heading of direction
of the port, all the machinery of which was yet to be
created. At the same time it was necessary to maintain and
repair the booms of the harbor, to test the channels, make
arrangements concerning piloting, anchorage, and new
supplies of water, provisions and coal for the always
hurried transports which arrived, unloaded and sailed away
at all hours of the day and night; constantly to clear out
and drag the waters near the island; establish observation
posts around it, station batteries in suitable positions,
and finally to protect the channels around Corfu and the
Albanian coast, in which the English aided us effectively by
sending a hundred drifters (a sort of little fishing boat
which we call "cordiers" at Boulogne), which, beating
against the wind under full sail, dragged a cable a thousand
meters long to snare submarines. Thanks to a pair of
floating docks, which were placed between the extreme end of
Corfu and the neighboring coast,