It was a
difficult task that many would have judged out of the question.
Everything was lacking; there was nothing on hand.
A writer on naval matters, who has been the historian of the French
Navy in this war, M. Emile Vedel, has painted in the pages of
_Illustration_ an unheard-of and unique picture of what this
preparation of Corfu consisted:
It was nothing less than a question of improvising all means
that were necessary for disembarking; gangways, landing
stairs, roads to and from various points on the island where
the expected troops were to be concentrated; of uniting and
collecting together the numerous boats--large and
small--eighteen tugs (among them the _Marsouin_, _Rove_,
_Iskeul_, _Marseillais 14_, _Audacieux_, _Requin_),
twenty-seven smaller boats, nine barges, and a dozen
mahonnes and small craft of all sizes, without counting the
supply ships, floating tanks, unloading cranes and so
forth--which the rapid unloading and revictualing of the new
arrivals demanded; of isolating the sick who were infected
with typhus and cholera; in a word, of putting on their feet
the diverse offices that come under the heading of direction
of the port, all the machinery of which was yet to be
created.
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