Note 35 — Chapter XII · EVENTS ON SHORE.

This wanton and useless work of destruction was repeated at all the forts bearing on the sea. The light guns (6-1/2 inch S.B.) were hove off their carriages, and the rifled guns treated with gun-cotton. Hundreds of tons of gunpowder were ruined, and scores of valuable guns rendered useless. The object of this destruction is hardly evident. It is the more incomprehensible as on the 13th July Admiral Seymour had received a despatch from the Admiralty in the following terms: "Opposition having ceased, do not dismantle forts or disable guns."