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The U. S. S. Concord, gunboat, 1,710 tons, speed, 16.8 knots. Battery: six 6-inch rifles, two 6-pounder, two 3-pounder rapid-fire guns, two 37-millimetre Hotchkiss cannon, and two Gatlings. The U. S. S. Petrel, gunboat, 892 tons, speed, 11.7 knots. Battery: four 6-inch rifles, one 1-pounder rapid-fire gun, two 37-millimetre Hotchkiss cannon, and two Gatlings.
Sixty men of the 49th Grenadiers, under the command of Captain Dennis, and Captain Halt's company of militia advance with a light 3-pounder gun against the first division of the enemy, under Colonel Van Renssclaer, who has formed his men on the beach and is waiting the arrival of the next boats.
As for the actual levies, they would solemnly man prepared positions within easy range of even a 3-pounder when we visited their tinpot ports, relying on us not to fire, and telling their compatriots what they would do if we did.
The Cornwallis, which was launched at Blackwell in 1901 and completed in 1904, had a displacement of 14,000 tons, length of 405 feet, beam of 75-1/2 feet, and draft of 26-1/2 feet. Her indicated horsepower was 18,238, developing a speed of 18.9 knots. She carried four 12-inch, twelve 6-inch, ten 12-pounder, and two 3-pounder guns, as well as four torpedo tubes.
Petrel Fourth-rate cruiser, 890 tons. Speed, 13.7 knots. Guns, four 6-inch, two 3-pounder rapid-fire, one 1-pounder, and four machine guns. Commander E.P. Wood. Concord Gunboat, 1,710 tons. Speed, 16.8 knots. Armor, 3/8-inch deck. Guns, main battery, six 6-inch rifles. Commander Asa Walker. Hugh McCulloch Revenue cutter, light battery of rapid-fire guns. Zafiro Auxiliary cruiser: supply vessel.
The Angamos then slowed down a little, and a few seconds later the Miraflores overtook her and discharged every available gun into the cruiser, killing several more men, and dismounting one 32-pounder and two 3-pounder quick-firing guns. But the cruiser's people had meanwhile again loaded their guns on the port broadside, and were not slow in avenging the death of their comrades.
Kishenganj, too, made its voice heard, harassing our right and sweeping the Sabzi Mandi and Hindoo Rao's with its incessant fire. During the bombardment our casualties amounted to nearly 350 men, the enemy causing great loss at No. 2 Battery through the fire of a 3-pounder served from a hole broken in the curtain-wall.
The guns in use at that time were very little better than those which had been used during the Napoleonic wars; and Mr. Armstrong devised a new one, which was made at his workshops. It was a 3-pounder, complete with gun-carriage and mountings, and is still to be seen at Elswick.
Unluckily, as it seemed for this was the boat on which my father was training our 3-pounder this threw her into momentary confusion at a range at which he would not risk firing, and allowed her mate to run in first and close with us.
In its flight it also struck a box of 3-pounder ammunition, exploding one shell, which in turn slightly wounded one of No. 4 gun’s crew.
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