1882 ARCHIVE - Battle Alexandria EYE WITNESS Photos

Manuscript eye-witness account of the Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt, 11-13 July 1882.
16 leaves, 20 page narrative, together with one large photograph of Dutch House in Port Said with HMS Invincible and HMS Alexandra at anchor, one photograph of the Officers and Ladies of HMS Alexandra as well as one photograph of a formation of British Army soldiers as well as 4 further photographs of various Europeans in Egypt. Manuscript and portrait in very good condition. Photographs mounted on card stock and faded from age. Contained in purpose build archival folder for extra protection.

A fascinating archive of material by a Royal Navy Officer and a participant in the Bombardment of Alexandria in 1882. Captain George J. Tomlin was the second of a line of 4 Tomlins who all became Royal Navy Officers. He was on board HMS Alexandra during the British assault on Alexandria and provides a first-hand account of the battle. He writes....'the Alexandra was struck about 30 times to the hull...she had 1 man killed and 30 wounded'. The narrative describes the battle and one is impressed by the immense detail provided in the written manuscript. Tomlin lists the participating ships, their guns, losses, method of attack etc. and also comments on political figures such as Admiral Seymour, Prime Minister Gladstone and Colonel Urabi :... 'during the bombardment 700 out of 1200 [Egyptians] were killed outright...' A fabulous primary source account by a Royal Navy Officer and a participant in the Bombardment of Alexandria, augmented by photographic material. Rare and unique.

The Bombardment of Alexandria (1882) by the British Mediterranean Fleet took place on 11-13 July 1882. Admiral Sir Frederick Beauchamp Seymour was in command of a fleet of about 15 Royal Navy ironclad ships which sailed to Alexandria when a riot broke out and Europeans were killed. The Royal Navy arrived in the port city to protect the lives and property of British subjects. When the forces of Col. Urabi began augmenting their port fortifications, the Admiral issued an ultimatum to stop and when the Egyptians didn't stop fortifying their positions, the fleet attacked. The one-day bombardment of the city was successful in defeating all of the Egyptian forts with no loss of British ships, but the next day a fire broke out and the areas of Alexandria in which Europeans made their homes were predominant burned down.

Meanwhile, HMS Temeraire had taken on the Mex Forts (with Invincible splitting its broadsides between Ras-el-Tin and Mex) and was causing damage to Mex when she grounded on a reef. The gunboat HMS Condor went to her assistance and she was refloated and resumed the attack on the Mex fort. While the off-shore squadron was engaging the forts at long-range, HMS Monarch, HMS Penelope and HMS Condor was ordered into close engagements with the forts at Maza-el-Kanat and Fort Marabout. HMS Condor seeing that Invincible was within range of the guns at Fort Marabout sailed to within 1,200 feet of the fort and began furiously firing at the fort. When Fort Marabout's guns were disabled, the flagship signaled "Well Done, Condor." The Condor's action allowed the ships to finish off Fort Mex. With the Mex Fort's guns silenced, HMS Sultan signaled to Invincible to attack Fort Adda, which she did with the assistance of Temeraire. At 1:30, a lucky shell from HMS Superb blew up the magazine of Fort Adda and those batteries ceased firing.

At about this time, the British fleet began to run short of ammunition. However, nearly all of the guns from Fort Adda west were silenced. HMS Superb, Inflexible and Temeraire focused their fire on the remaining eastern forts until at 5:15, the general order to cease fire was issued. The Egyptians, both outmanned and outgunned had used their firepower to good effect, but the outcome of the bombardment had never been in doubt. The Cairo newspaper El Taif erroneously reported that the Egyptian forts had sunk three ships.

The next day, HMS Temeraire reconnoitered the forts and discovered that the Hospital battery had reconstituted its defences. At 10:30 a.m., Temeraire and Inflexible opened fire and the battery raised the flag of truce at 10:48 a.m. Very soon an Egyptian boat set out to the flagship bearing the flag of truce and a cease-fire was ordered. By 2:50 p.m., HMS Bittern signaled that the negotiations had failed and the bombardment was to resume. Still, most of the forts flew white flags and an irregular cannonade by the British fleet began. By 4:00 p.m. a fire had broken out on shore, and by evening the fire had engulfed the wealthiest quarter of Alexandria, the area predominantly inhabited by Europeans. The fire raged for the next two days before they burned themselves out. Admiral Seymour, unsure of the situation in the city didn't land any troops to take control of the city or fight the fire. It was not until July 14 that British marines and sailors landed in Alexandria.