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Show II HAMMERING OF I . DARDANELLES Imbros Island. April 29 The following fol-lowing are the notes in a correspondent's correspon-dent's diary of the bombardment which preceded t lie landing of the allies at the Dardanelles. -Monday, 10:45 a m. A vast fleet of warships and transports lies in the Aegean sea The chief gathering point is the mouth of the straits. Two battleships are in the outer basin and behind them are minesweepers', torpedo tor-pedo craft, then more battleships, then more transports crowding up eager to enter Still more transports are out toward the Gulf of Saros and more again are under the lee of this L inland. A seaplane comes circling from over the narrows and descends on the parent ship Ark Royal. Immediately Immedi-ately afterward an observation balloon! rises and hangs at a height of 1,000 feet Three ships at the entrance of tlie straits are firing heavily with their principal armament and shells are bursting in prodigious numbers on the peninsula, a quarter of a mile from L. Seddel Bahr Vast clouds of smoke and dust drift toward the fleet on the northeast breeze. Queen Elizabeth Goes In. 12 lu p. m Two of the battleships inside the straits have become the marks for a furious bombardment The enemy's shells generally fall short The Queen Elizabeth is steaming steam-ing slowly toward the Gulf of Saros 12:20 p. m The duel between the two battleships and the forte has Increased In-creased In fury. Tongues of flame perpetually quiver at the mouths of the ships great guns and the noise f like continuous and distant thun der. It is now bursting also from the Asiatic side, where the Turks are trying to get the range of the torpedo tor-pedo craft with shrapnel. 12 30 p. m. The two battleships '-i in the straits are retiring. A volcano seems to have broken into an eruption erup-tion near Sedd-el-Behr, which belches yellow smoke. Shrapnel Bursting on Land. 12:35 p. ra. Three ships outBide the mouth of the straits have joined in the battle and are slowly advancing, advanc-ing, while the brown balls of smoke at a dozen spots on the peninsula show where their shrapnel Is burstnig 1 p. m. A few minutes ago eight black objects, probably field guns (though they have no horses) dashed from the region rapidly northeast raising huge clouds of duBt Have the allies effected a landing at this point or are the Turkish batteries retiring? retir-ing? At this distance it is impossible impossi-ble to say. 1:30 p m. The Queen Elizabeth has opened fire on the forts In tho narrows across the peninsula. She 1b eight miles away. 1:45 p. m. I can see the Queen Elizabeth's shells bursting. The clouds I of smoke and debris must be many hundreds of feet high. Three shells have exploded oer the field batteries which were on the move half an hour ago 2 p in. The field guns are on the move on the Asiatic side Shrapnel bursts in front of them. It is likely that the allies have landed guns and are attempting to advance. The rat tie of machine gun fire confirms this ! impressio.i The enormous French I six tunneled cruisers are engaged i nearby firing rapidly and the Queen I Elizabeth is busier than ever. 2 45 p. m Several battleships have passed out of sight up the straits. ' This coincides with the deepening j roar behind the low hills The forts ' are firing heavily. 3:15 p. m. A vast column of smok? ' has just risen near Chanak. follow : ing firing by the Quen Elizabeth, i 5 p. m There is no diminution in I the volume of metal being poured by ! the ships onto the forts and the bat teries This surely is the most vlo lent and long sustained naval bom hardment in history 7 p m It is now possible to obtain ob-tain a glimpse of the straits up to the half turn in the narrows There are vessels moving upon it, presumed to be British, which must mean considerable con-siderable progress or tin3 risk of another an-other attack at close quarters. 9 p. m. The moon is nearly at its full, lighting up the battle scene. The picture is as beautiful as it is tern ble. There is no sign of the fire slackening With nightfall the flash-) es from the ships guns appear like flashes from a series of lighthouses of prodigious power. Sometimes they are so rapid they might be mistaken for Morse code signals The reply of the forts creates a glow in the heavens like summer lightning 10.45 p m One hundred and tlftj shells have been fired by the fleet during half an hour. All were from the big guns. Most of the work is being be-ing done by the three ships immediately immedi-ately apposite the mouth of the straits Midnight They are still hard at it. Tuesday, 5 a m. The guns had ceased when I awoke half an hour after sunrise Many more ships have now arrived. |