That ship, on observing the firing, endeavoured to close the land, but she grounded, and remained until daylight in a difficult position, but at last got afloat, and returned to Odessa with five out of her six torpedo boats.
Lieutenant Rojdestvenski, the Commander of the No. 2, received the 4th Class of the Cross of Saint George, and three seamen the insignia of the Order of Military Merit.
On the part of the No. 1 and No. 2, this was a most gallant affair, though unsuccessful, but as regards the remainder of the boats the less said the better.
Had the Turkish squadron slipped the instant the alarm was given, and steamed full speed in the direction of Odessa, the _Constantine_ and her convoy might have been cut off. Both the _Moorcademikhair_ and _Feteh Bulend_ were 13 knot ships, and therefore considerably faster than the enemy. But, as usual, the Turks were far too dilatory to take advantage of the occasion.
_The Rustchuk Attack._--The fourth torpedo attack was made on the afternoon of the 20th of June, 1877, on a Turkish monitor off Rustchuk.
The only Russian torpedo boat sent to the attack on this occasion was a Thornycroft named the _Choutka_, commanded by Lieutenant Skrydloff, and accompanied by a celebrated Russian artist, Verechtckaguine by name. The instant the torpedo boat was observed, so well directed and steady a fire was kept up by the monitor that both the lieutenant and the artist were badly wounded, and the electric wires of the torpedo severed, thus obliging the _Choutka_ to beat a retreat. According to the Russian account, the monitor was struck by the boat's torpedo spar, but the above seems the more likely version. This was certainly a most audacious attack, and had the Turks only succeeded in hitting the _Choutka_ with her big gun, it would have ended fatally for the Russians; as it was, the boat was struck by several bullets, but none of the crew were wounded.
_The Aluta Attack._--The fifth attack was made on the 30th of June, 1877, on a Turkish monitor off the mouth of the Aluta, in the river Danube. This attempt, like the last, took place in broad daylight. Four Russian boats were sent forward, but in spite of the captain of the Turkish vessel doing all he could to run the boats down, none of them succeeded in getting sufficiently near the vessel to enable a torpedo to be placed in contact. The captain of the monitor took the precaution to rig his lower booms out, and so managed to keep the enemy's boats at a respectful distance, they imagining that mines were fixed to the ends of the booms. After two hours of this dodging about, the Russians, finding the case hopeless, abandoned the attack.
