The rifle and machine-gun fire became heavy and unceasing.  But the enemy were not going to be allowed to have matters all their own way with their artillery.  Seven warships had moved in close to the shore, while the Queen Elizabeth, further out, acted as a kind of chaperone to the lot.  Each covered a section of the line, and when the signal was given opened up a bombardment of the heights and valleys beyond which can only be described as terrific.

Turkish infantry moved forward to the attack.  They were met by every kind of shell which our warships carry, from 15-inch shrapnel from the Queen Elizabeth, each one of which contains 20,000 bullets, to 12-inch, 6-inch, and 12-pounders.

The noise, smoke, and concussion produced was unlike anything you can even imagine until you have seen it.  The hills in front looked as if they had suddenly been transformed into smoking volcanoes, the common shell throwing up great chunks of ground and masses of black smoke, while the shrapnel formed a white canopy above.  Sections of ground were covered by each ship all around our front trenches, and, the ranges being known, the shooting was excellent.  Nevertheless, a great deal of the fire was, of necessity, indirect, and the ground affords such splendid cover that the Turks continued their advance in a most gallant manner, while their artillery not only plastered our positions on shore with shrapnel, but actually tried to drive the ships off the coast by firing at them, and their desperate snipers, in place of a better target, tried to pick off officers and men on the decks and bridges.  We picked up many bullets on the deck afterward.

Some Turkish warship started to fire over the peninsula.  The Triumph dropped two 10-inch shells within a few yards of her, whereupon she retired up the strait to a safer position, from which she occasionally dropped a few shells into space, but so far has done no damage.

The scene at the height of this engagement was sombre, magnificent, and unique.  The day was perfectly clear, and you could see right down the coast as far as Sedd-ul-Bahr.  There the warships of the first division were blazing away at Aki Baba and the hills around it, covering their summits with a great white cloud of bursting shells.  Further out the giant forms of the transports which accompanied that division loomed up through the slight mist.  Almost opposite Gaba Tepe a cruiser close in shore was covering the low ground with her guns and occasionally dropping shells right over into the straight on the far side.  Opposite the hills in possession of the Australian and New Zealand troops an incessant fire was kept up from the ships.  Beyond lay our transports which had moved further out to avoid the Turkish warships’ shells and those of some battery which fires persistently.

Beyond all, the Queen Elizabeth, with her eight huge, monstrous 15-inch guns, all pointed shoreward, seemed to threaten immediate annihilation to any enemy who dared even to aim at the squadron under her charge.