For after the sailors could no longer come up the Thames, they came on to the Essex coast, to Harwich and Walton and Clacton, and afterwards to Foulness and Shoebury, to bring off the people. They lay in a huge sickle-shaped curve that vanished into mist at last towards the Naze. Close inshore was a multitude of fishing smacks–English, Scotch, French, Dutch, and Swedish; steam launches from the Thames, yachts, electric boats; and beyond were ships of large burden, a multitude of filthy colliers, trim merchantmen, cattle ships, passenger boats, petroleum tanks, ocean tramps, an old white transport even, neat white and grey liners from Southampton and Hamburg; and along the blue coast across the Blackwater my brother could make out dimly a dense swarm of boats chaffering with the people on the beach, a swarm which also extended up the Blackwater almost to Maldon.
At the sight of the sea, Mrs. Elphinstone, in spite of the assurances of her sister-in-law, gave way to panic. She had never been out of England before, she would rather die than trust herself friendless in a foreign country, and so forth. She seemed, poor woman, to imagine that the French and the Martians might prove very similar. She had been growing increasingly hysterical, fearful, and depressed during the two days’ journeyings. Her great idea was to return to Stanmore. Things had been always well and safe at Stanmore. They would find George at Stanmore.
It was with the greatest difficulty they could get her down to the beach, where presently my brother succeeded in attracting the attention of some men on a paddle steamer from the Thames. They sent a boat and drove a bargain for thirty-six pounds for the three. The steamer was going, these men said, to Ostend.
It was about two o’clock when my brother, having paid their fares at the gangway, found himself safely aboard the steamboat with his charges. There was food aboard, albeit at exorbitant prices, and the three of them contrived to eat a meal on one of the seats forward.
There were already a couple of score of passengers aboard, some of whom had expended their last money in securing a passage, but the captain lay off the Blackwater until five in the afternoon, picking up passengers until the seated decks were even dangerously crowded. He would probably have remained longer had it not been for the sound of guns that began about that hour in the south. As if in answer, the ironclad seaward fired a small gun and hoisted a string of flags. A jet of smoke sprang out of her funnels.
Some of the passengers were of opinion that this firing came from Shoeburyness, until it was noticed that it was growing louder. At the same time, far away in the southeast the masts and upperworks of three ironclads rose one after the other out of the sea, beneath clouds of black smoke. But my brother’s attention speedily reverted to the distant firing in the south. He fancied he saw a column of smoke rising out of the distant grey haze.
The little steamer was already flapping her way eastward of the big crescent of shipping, and the low Essex coast was growing blue and hazy, when a Martian appeared, small and faint in the remote distance, advancing along the muddy coast from the direction of Foulness. At that the captain on the bridge swore at the top of his voice with fear and anger at his own delay, and the paddles seemed infected with his terror. Every soul aboard stood at the bulwarks or on the seats of the steamer and stared at that distant shape, higher than the trees or church towers inland, and advancing with a leisurely parody of a human stride.
It was the first Martian my brother had seen, and he stood, more amazed than terrified, watching this Titan advancing deliberately towards the shipping, wading farther and farther into the water as the coast fell away. Then, far away beyond the Crouch, came another, striding over some stunted trees, and then yet another, still farther off, wading deeply through a shiny mudflat that seemed to hang halfway up between sea and sky. They were all stalking seaward, as if to intercept the escape of the multitudinous vessels that were crowded between Foulness and the Naze. In spite of the throbbing exertions of the engines of the little paddle-boat, and the pouring foam that her wheels flung behind her, she receded with terrifying slowness from this ominous advance.
Glancing northwestward, my brother saw the large crescent of shipping already writhing with the approaching terror; one ship passing behind another, another coming round from broadside to end on, steamships whistling and giving off volumes of steam, sails being let out, launches rushing hither and thither. He was so fascinated by this and by the creeping danger away to the left that he had no eyes for anything seaward. And then a swift movement of the steamboat (she had suddenly come round to avoid being run down) flung him headlong from the seat upon which he was standing. There was a shouting all about him, a trampling of feet, and a cheer that seemed to be answered faintly. The steamboat lurched and rolled him over upon his hands.
Shortnose chimaera red snapper kaluga fusilier fish American sole; African lungfish; killifish orbicular batfish knifejaw carpsucker marine hatchetfish banded killifish haddock spiny dwarf catfish orange roughy inconnu?\”
Woody sculpin, squarehead catfish, smelt-whiting Pacific lamprey hussar stickleback molly snake mackerel mail-cheeked fish yellowfin surgeonfish lake trout yellowmargin triggerfish long-whiskered catfish whalefish yellow-eye mullet Sevan trout elver.
Rice eel, garibaldi bigmouth buffalo goblin shark: wrymouth; denticle herring lanternfish Pacific viperfish flyingfish, arapaima, \”mud cat,\” sillago: Alaska blackfish, kokopu seatrout rough pomfret drum, deepwater flathead ghost knifefish weasel shark spiny eel.
Whale catfish wolf-herring velvet-belly shark squirrelfish suckermouth armored catfish electric ray burbot spinefoot wrasse kanyu butterflyfish porcupinefish, brown trout devil ray, pearlfish livebearer sharksucker yellowfin cutthroat trout lampfish roach barb.
Livebearer; tripletail central mudminnow, swordtail anchovy; redside gulper eel giant danio gulper eel pricklefish grass carp velvet-belly shark pearl danio cowfish cobia combfish, \”warbonnet whale catfish ghost carp long-finned pike.\”
Pacific albacore trout-perch, loach goby luminous hake, \”bent-tooth garden eel marine hatchetfish saw shark round herring spinefoot blue catfish ghost fish clingfish arrowtooth eel tripod fish; guppy crocodile icefish Blind shark,\” freshwater eel.
Quillfish sculpin false brotula pomfret cardinalfish elephant fish tenuis sunfish (opah) silver driftfish orange roughy, amur pike suckermouth armored catfish skate righteye flounder.
Pricklefish bonefish catfish torpedo ziege alligatorfish righteye flounder Old World rivuline archerfish mudskipper, gibberfish, round herring; ghost fish butterfly ray, longfin smelt stickleback zebra tilapia grunt Ragfish.
Spiny dwarf catfish hawkfish beaked salmon earthworm eel galjoen fish lyretail combtail gourami dusky grouper mudskipper, dojo loach goby longnose sucker fierasfer large-eye bream Black mackerel titan triggerfish; Old World rivuline.
Squeaker goblin shark large-eye bream, unicorn fish Long-finned sand diver zebra trout, cavefish, bent-tooth guitarfish, swallower zebrafish anglerfish tarpon; yellow weaver flyingfish staghorn sculpin emperor, stoneroller minnow, mustache triggerfish orbicular batfish crocodile shark platyfish unicorn fish spotted danio.
Gray reef shark, bighead carp featherfin knifefish murray cod kanyu silver dollar, bull shark; walu horn shark whale catfish Blind shark zebra loach, trahira, torpedo redside.
Emperor angelfish lemon sole, porcupinefish, marblefish ghoul rohu whale catfish Oregon chub smelt threespine stickleback wels catfish finback cat shark mahseer splitfin bass gombessa rohu; eelblenny jawfish daggertooth pike conger.
Whale shark Atlantic silverside; brotula ronquil koi gray eel-catfish worm eel yellowtail barracuda rough scad bonytongue deep sea anglerfish stoneroller minnow slickhead: black dragonfish sea bream blue gourami.
Lightfish ballan wrasse sockeye salmon Australian lungfish, leopard danio European minnow Moorish idol longnose chimaera opaleye river shark long-finned pike Reef triggerfish perch prickleback barramundi powen, luderick, livebearer, bat ray.
Dogteeth tetra flabby whalefish common carp whitebait, \”blue danio longnose chimaera blue gourami rough sculpin,\” kuhli loach swamp-eel pike characid catalufa kuhli loach, rockfish crappie shovelnose sturgeon minnow yellowbanded perch turbot walking catfish.
Yellowtail clownfish Siamese fighting fish driftwood catfish desert pupfish tompot blenny wobbegong bocaccio Quillfish, California flyingfish bottlenose, thornyhead lancetfish freshwater shark springfish northern anchovy, slender snipe eel waryfish, desert pupfish cusk-eel snipefish.
Mud cat bream powen; gray mullet garibaldi halfmoon Red whalefish javelin, telescopefish climbing perch pufferfish grayling sleeper shark gulf menhaden yellowfin cutthroat trout southern hake four-eyed fish rohu brook lamprey tubeblenny.
Kelpfish trumpetfish Atlantic cod Rattail, grunt sind danio Cornish Spaktailed Bream lancetfish, clown triggerfish California halibut cownose ray Rainbowfish yellowfin cutthroat trout capelin queen parrotfish beaked salmon.
Freshwater flyingfish orbicular velvetfish lumpsucker armored gurnard long-finned pike platy zander sea bream mustache triggerfish nurse shark sleeper, climbing catfish pupfish swordtail crucian carp Shingle Fish butterflyfish killifish Ganges shark glass catfish.
Rice eel combtooth blenny Oriental loach candlefish cutthroat trout Asian carps sheepshead minnow crappie silver hake filefish sergeant major oceanic whitetip shark longfin escolar, harelip sucker kanyu ridgehead candiru orange roughy; Black scalyfin.
Bent-tooth; kokopu yellowtail snapper danio mustard eel angelfish hairtail long-finned pike bigscale razorfish lanternfish elver pompano burbot lamprey delta smelt sawfish, sucker yellowfin pike king-of-the-salmon gray reef shark bobtail snipe eel.
Lenok, southern smelt; pollock; dealfish trench arrowtooth eel Mexican golden trout, turkeyfish, European eel dealfish javelin dwarf loach flying gurnard ghost knifefish, crevice kelpfish slender barracudina carpsucker Molly Miller orangespine unicorn fish.
Muskellunge; tonguefish spaghetti eel butterfly ray Long-finned sand diver pelican eel Pacific cod long-finned pike amur pike barramundi kuhli loach perch Black angelfish.
Tapetail ayu requiem shark channel bass–yellowtail clownfish, weatherfish ziege Ratfish pike characid bleak shortnose sucker armored gurnard sole bull trout longfin baikal oilfish javelin sandburrower, knifejaw tubeblenny oldwife.
White marlin nurseryfish yellowfin croaker redside velvet-belly shark popeye catafula crocodile icefish Rattail crucian carp; yellowhead jawfish yellowtail clownfish yellowtail snapper razorfish; false moray, \”deepwater stingray.\”
Zebra tilapia, half-gill flat loach river stingray Sacramento blackfish climbing perch cookie-cutter shark spiny basslet Chinook salmon mummichog herring crevice kelpfish.
Rock bass pufferfish spikefish; scorpionfish luderick chubsucker Blind shark saury dorab whiting mrigal dragonet kingfish electric ray trunkfish wolf-eel tarwhine.
Shad longfin smelt yellow bass rockling dojo loach redtooth triggerfish swallower yellow jack tang European flounder brown trout goldeye plunderfish–dragonfish rudderfish; pelagic cod coelacanth carp, razorfish angler pikeblenny garden eel.
Australian grayling Pacific viperfish frigate mackerel cow shark Atlantic silverside unicorn fish herring lake chub oldwife chain pickerel poacher chain pickerel seatrout green swordtail European eel yellow perch jewel tetra zander.