As the staff, however, were entering the town, they were astonished by four shells falling close to them.
The "Agamemnon," which was lying outside, at once opened fire, and the fort immediately hung out a flag of truce.

The garrison consisted only of the commandant and sixty men.

The officer, on being asked why he should have opened fire when he knew that the place could not be held, replied that he did so as he had not been summoned to surrender, and felt bound in honor to fire until he did so.
The British ships at once entered the harbor, and the disembarkation of the stores and siege-train commenced.

The harbor of Balaklava was but ill-suited for the requirements of a large army.

It was some half mile in length and a few hundred yards broad, and looked like a little inland lake, for the rocks rose precipitously at its mouth, and the passage through them made a bend, so that the outlet was not visible from a ship once fairly inside.