Austria had suffered heavy losses too. All four artillery forts had been destroyed, and nearly all of the dozen-plus artillery teams hidden along both shores had been wiped out. The harbor was a sea of flames, and every military and civilian facility on the docks had been destroyed.
For a fleet of more than two hundred ships, the British losses were a mere drop in the bucket. But old Edward Hobart Seymour had grown furious. He had never suffered such heavy losses in his life.
"Have the soldiers on the gunboats transfer to the transports. Then use the gunboats to clear a path. We must take Crete today!"
The Austrians had laid a great many drifting mines, but if the fleet concentrated its ships in a small area, it might still be able to clear a channel.
Besides, even if a light gunboat struck a mine and sank, it wouldn't become a reef blocking the ships behind it, as a large vessel would.
And so the British fleet, which had nearly escaped the trap, turned around and charged back in. Old Edward Hobart Seymour's tactic proved highly effective. When the gunboats ran into a dense cluster of drifting mines, a single explosion triggered a chain reaction, setting off the entire minefield at once.
The Austrian soldiers on the docks frantically threw drifting mines into the water, but the British ships weren't going to sit idle.
With the artillery forts and firing positions on both sides destroyed, the British ships could safely spread out into attack formation. A broadside volley erupted, and countless black cannonballs flew toward the docks through clouds of smoke.
High-explosive shells were no secret. The Austrians had them, and so did the British. A dense rain of shells slammed into the docks, unleashing a series of explosions.