The machine-gun on the end of the western
pier had been put out of action by the motor-boat's torpedo, but from
other machine-guns at the inshore ends of the pier, from a position on
the front, and from machine-guns apparently firing over the eastern
pier, there converged upon her a hail of lead. The after-control was
demolished by a shell which killed all its occupants. Upper and lower
bridges and chart-room were swept by bullets, and Commander Godsal,
R.N., ordered his officers to go with him to the conning-tower.
[Sidenote: The _Vindictive_ prepares to turn.]
They observed through the observation slit in the steel wall of the
conning-tower that the eastern pier was breached some two hundred yards
from its seaward end, as though at some time a ship had been in
collision with it. They saw the front of the town silhouetted again and
again in the light of the guns that blazed at them; the night was a
patchwork of fire and darkness. Immediately after passing the breach in
the pier. Commander Godsal left the conning-tower and went out on deck,
the better to watch the ship's movements; he chose his position, and
called in through the slit of the conning-tower his order to starboard
the helm. The _Vindictive_ responded; she laid her battered nose to the
eastern pier and prepared to swing her 320 feet of length across the
channel.
[Sidenote: A shell strikes the conning-tower.]
It was at that moment that a shell from the shore batteries struck the
conning-tower.
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