Our Sailors Part 6

ATTACK ON VIBORG--13TH JULY 1855.

The _Arrogant_, Captain Yelverton, having been joined by the _Magicienne_, Captain Vansittart, proceeded with the _Ruby_ gunboat along the coast to Kounda Bay, where a large body of Cossack troops were encamped. The _Ruby_ and the boats of the two ships stood in, and dislodged the enemy with sh.e.l.ls and rockets. In spite of a fire kept up on them from behind hedges, they landed; but as it was found that the place contained only private property, it was not injured.

Next morning Captain Yelverton, having driven some soldiers from a station at the mouth of the Portsoiki river, and destroyed some barracks and stores, proceeded off Viborg. Here the ships anch.o.r.ed as close as they could get to the island of Stralsund. An expedition was at once formed to look into Viborg. It consisted of the _Ruby_, commanded by Mr Hale, mate, and the boats of the _Arrogant_, commanded by Lieutenants Haggard and Woolcombe, and those of the _Magicienne_, under the command of Lieutenants King and Loady; Captains Yelverton and Vansittart, with Captain Lowdes, R.M., in command of a strong detachment of marines, going on board the _Ruby_, which steamer towed the boats.

The expedition having opened the bay of Trangsund, a Russian man-of-war steamer, with two large gunboats in tow, was seen not far off.

This novel and unexpected sight of a Russian man-of-war for once clear of a stone wall, and to all appearance prepared for a fair and honest fight, created the greatest enthusiasm among men and officers. The _Ruby_ at once opened fire on her, and compelled her to retire out of range, with some damage. The entrance of the Sound being reached, Viborg was now in sight, and there was a fair prospect of attacking three large gunboats lying with another steamer under an island about a mile off, when suddenly an impenetrable barrier was found to have been thrown across the pa.s.sage. At the same moment, at about 350 yards off, a masked battery on the left opened on the _Ruby_ and boats, which they, however, kept in check by an ably-directed return fire.

The enemy's steamer and gunboats now approached from under the island, and opened fire on the expedition. As it was impossible to get the _Ruby_ through the barrier, Captain Yelverton ordered her other boats to return towards Stralsund,--the enemy's riflemen, who followed along the banks, being kept off by their fire. Unhappily, an explosion took place on board the _Arrogant's_ second cutter, by which the midshipman commanding her, Mr Storey, was killed, and the boat was swamped. In this condition the boat drifted under the enemy's battery, when a hot fire was poured into her.

All probably would have been killed or taken prisoners, had not George Ingouville, one of the _Arrogant's_ crew, though already wounded, of his own accord jumped overboard, and, taking the painter in hand, towed her off the sh.o.r.e. Probably his gallant conduct might not have availed to save the lives of his shipmates, many of whom were by this time wounded, had not the condition of the cutter been perceived from the _Ruby_.

On this, Lieutenant George Dare Dowell, R.M.A., of the _Magicienne_, calling out for a volunteer crew, jumped into the _Ruby's_ gig, where he was joined by Lieutenant Haggard of the _Arrogant_, and together they pulled off, under a fire which grew hotter and hotter, to the rescue of the boat and men. Lieutenant Dowell was waiting at the moment on board the _Ruby_ while his own boat was receiving a supply of rockets. Taking the stroke oar, he and his three companions pulled on, in spite of the shower of grape and musketry which the Russians poured on them to prevent them from accomplishing their object. They succeeded, in spite of this, in taking in three of the cutter's crew, and were mainly instrumental in keeping the boat afloat and bringing her off to the _Ruby_. Two were killed and ten wounded during the whole affair.

Captain Yelverton speaks highly of the conduct of all the officers engaged, where their cool and determined courage enabled them to handle most severely, and to keep in check for upwards of an hour, a far superior force of the enemy. These were perhaps the most creditable acts of individual gallantry performed at this time in the Baltic. Both Lieutenant Dowell and George Ingouville received the Victoria Cross.

It would be scarcely interesting or useful to describe the numberless performances of the boats of the fleets in destroying barracks, stores, and shipping.

It was a stern though painful necessity which demanded this mode of proceeding. The object was to show the enemy the power of the Allies to injure them, and to make them earnestly desire peace, at every cost. In no instance was private property on sh.o.r.e intentionally injured.

The shipping, however, did not escape; and in the two nights of the 23rd and 24th of July, the boats of the _Harrier_, Captain Storey, destroyed in the harbour of Nystad forty-seven vessels, amounting to nearly 20,000 tons.

On the 6th July the first shot was fired at Cronstadt, from a gun slung on board a timber barge, by Captain Boyd.

The Russians, in return, endeavoured to injure the vessels of the Allies, and to protect their sh.o.r.es by the employment of infernal machines, as they were then called. We call their much more certain and more dangerous successors submarine mines, and regard them as a regular means of defence. These were intended to explode under water, and some were fired by voltaic batteries, but invariably failed of going off at the proper time; others exploded on being struck; but though the _Merlin_ ran on to one, which went off under her bottom, comparatively slight damage was done her. The articles in her store-room, directly over the spot where the machine struck her, were thrown about in every direction, showing the force of the concussion. Admiral Dundas and several officers with him had, however, a narrow escape, one of the machines exploding while they stood around it examining its structure.

BOMBARDMENT OF SVEABORG.

Among the more important performances of the allied fleet in the Baltic was the severe injury inflicted on the fortress of Sveaborg, one of the strongest belonging to Russia to keep her neighbours in awe in that part of the world.

The fortress of Sveaborg is built on a granite island about a mile in advance of Helsingfors, the Russian capital of Finland. There are eight island rocks connected by strong fortifications, and in the centre is situated the fort in which the Russian flotilla was congregated. It was looked upon as the Gibraltar of the North, and had been considerably strengthened since the commencement of the war. The citadel of this water-surrounded fortress is called Wargon. The allied fleet, consisting of seventeen British men-of-war, fifteen gunboats, and sixteen mortar-vessels, with two French men-of-war, six gunboats, and five mortar-vessels, left Nargen on the 6th of August, and anch.o.r.ed the same night among the islands about five miles from Sveaborg. During the night and next day, some batteries were thrown up on the neighbouring islands; and early on the morning of the 9th, the squadron having taken up their positions,--several behind the islands, where the enemy's guns could not reach them,--the bombardment commenced. The showers of shot and sh.e.l.l told with terrific effect on the devoted fortress; powder magazines and stores of projectiles one after the other blew up, and fires broke out in various directions, which all the efforts of the garrison could not extinguish, and in a short time the whole of the a.r.s.enal was reduced to ashes. Still the mortars continued to play, to prevent the fires which were blazing up around from being extinguished.

Very few men were wounded, and none were killed during the whole of the operations. Although the naval and military stores were destroyed, the fortress still remained intact. The Russians, however, had been taught the lesson that it would be better for them in future not to make aggressions on their neighbours, or to venture hastily into war.

Captains Yelverton and Vansittart had already shown them how little they could rely on their boasted fortifications, by destroying all between Viborg and Helsingfors, Fredericksham, Kotka, and Swartholme.

THE WHITE SEA SQUADRON.

A small squadron, consisting of the _Eurydice_, twenty-six guns, _Miranda_, fifteen, and _Brisk_, fourteen, had been sent in July 1854 into the White Sea, to destroy the Russian shipping and forts on the coasts of Russian Lapland.

On the 23rd of July the town of Novitska was attacked and burned by the _Miranda_ and _Brisk_.

On the 23rd of August the _Miranda_ anch.o.r.ed off Kola, the capital of Russian Lapland. A flag of truce was sent on sh.o.r.e, demanding the surrender of the fort, garrison, and government property. All night the crew remained at their quarters, and no answer being returned in the morning, the flag of truce was hauled down, and the ship, getting within 250 yards of the battery, opened a fire of grape and canister. A party was then landed under command of Lieutenant J. Mackenzie and Mr Manthorpe, mate, who, at the head of a party of bluejackets and marines, rushed up, sword in hand, to dislodge the enemy from the batteries and to capture the guns. A hot fire was opened on them from the towers of a monastery; but they soon drove out the garrison, who took to flight, and it, with all the government stores and buildings, was immediately set on fire and completely consumed.

Kola lies thirty miles up a river of most difficult navigation, with a strong current, and often so narrow that there was scarcely room for the ship to swing. Captain Lyons also had a very uncertain knowledge of the strength of the enemy; but nothing could check his determination, and it was, as we have seen, rewarded with complete success. Taking into consideration the difficulties to be encountered, this was one of the most daring naval exploits performed in the north. The _Miranda_, at the approach of autumn, returned to England, and from thence went out to join the fleet in the Black Sea.

ACTION ON THE DANUBE--JUNE AND JULY 1854.

The blockade of Sebastopol having been established, some of the lighter cruisers were sent along the coast on various detached enterprises, for the purpose of annoying and misleading the Russians, and effecting the destruction of government property.

Two of the cruisers, the _Firebrand_, Captain Hyde Parker, and the _Vesuvius_, Captain Powell, were despatched to destroy the guard-houses and signal-stations on the banks of the Danube, which kept up the communication with the Russian forts. On the morning of the 22nd of June the boats of the two steamers, manned and armed, with a Turkish gunboat, all under the command of Lieutenant Jones, of the _Firebrand_, pulled off towards a guard-house and signal-station about twenty miles north of Sulineh. As they approached, the signal was made from station to station, summoning aid. Behind some banks, close to the beach, were posted bodies of Cossack cavalry, while others were scattered about wherever they could find shelter from the sh.e.l.ls and shot fired from the boats' and ships' guns. They, however, could not stand this long, and fled in confusion.

On the boats reaching the sh.o.r.e, the seamen and marines landed, and, forming on the beach, advanced in skirmishing order towards the Cossacks, who, mounting their horses, fled in all directions. The guard-houses were immediately burnt, the signal-staff destroyed, and the men returned to their ships in admirable order. Several other stations were destroyed on that and the following days; and on one occasion, on the night of the 27th of June, Captain Parker surprised the garrison of Sulineh, whom he put to flight, after capturing the officer in command and others. The officer was forwarded to Lord Raglan, who obtained some important information from him.

The _Firebrand_ and _Vesuvius_ now kept up a strict blockade of the Danube, and the crews were allowed to land without opposition; but at length Captain Parker suspected that the gabion battery attached to the quarantine ground was occupied, and, for the purpose of examining it, entered the river on the 6th with the boats of the two ships. Nothing was discovered until Captain Parker's galley arrived opposite the gabion battery, when a single rifle-shot was fired, which pa.s.sed through the boat, and this was followed by a volley, piercing the boat, grazing the captain's elbow, and severely wounding one man. Captain Parker on this ordered the boat to pull round, and, as she retreated, with the greatest coolness he discharged his rifle at the enemy, who were now pouring in a galling and heavy fire on all the boats. The pinnace, being in advance, was especially exposed, and unhappily grounded within fifty yards of the battery.

On seeing this, Captain Parker leaped on sh.o.r.e from his galley, exclaiming, "We must storm--follow me, my men!" and gallantly rushed forward, followed by all who had then come up. Parallel with the river, and at about fifteen yards from it, ran a line of high canes growing in a marsh. He advanced along this, and having fired and knocked down a Cossack, he was reloading, when a volley of bullets came flying round him, one of which pierced his heart, and he fell dead into the arms of his c.o.xswain, Mr Everard, a naval cadet, being at the moment by his side.

Commander Powell, who succeeded to the command, ordered a heavy fire of sh.e.l.l and congreve rockets to be opened on the battery, under cover of which the marines and seamen stormed the place, and drove out the Russians, who took shelter in the marsh, where they could not be followed.

Captain Parker was a most gallant officer, and his loss caused deep regret among all his brother officers.

On the 13th, the _Spitfire_, Lieutenant Johnstone, towing the boats of the _Vesuvius_, crossed the bar at the Sulineh mouth of the Danube, and, having driven off the enemy, the marines and bluejackets landed and totally destroyed the town of Sulineh, by setting it on fire in every direction.

BOMBARDMENT OF SEBASTOPOL--17TH OCTOBER 1854.

We have now to give an account of the chief naval exploits of the war, when the wooden walls of Old England were to try their strength with the stone ramparts of Russia. While the heavy artillery of the Allies opened fire on the city from the newly-erected batteries on the neighbouring heights, it was arranged that the fleets should attack from the sea. The fleet was to form a semicircle before the harbour's mouth; the French to engage the forts on the south, the English the forts Constantine and Alexander and the Stone and Wasp forts on the north.

The morning was actively spent by the crews in preparing for action.

At fifty minutes past ten the signal for weighing was made; and the fleet, the fine old _Agamemnon_ leading, stood towards the batteries.

She was followed in order by the _Sanspareil_, screw, the sailing--ships being moved by steamers lashed alongside,--_Albion_, by _Firebrand; Queen_, by _Vesuvius; Britannia_, by _Furious; Trafalgar_, by _Retribution; London_, by _Niger; Vengeance_, by _Highflyer; Rodney_, by _Spiteful; Bellerophon_, by _Cyclops; Arethusa_, by _Triton_; while _Samson, Tribune, Terrible, Sphinx, Lynx_, and _Spitfire_ acted as look-out ships, and were allowed to take up independent positions.

Besides the stone fortifications, the enemy had thrown up numerous earthworks, and placed guns along the cliff to the north. To one of these forts the seamen gave the name of the Wasp; to another, the Telegraph battery.

The French weighed first, a little before ten, and proceeded to their position, on the south of the line, when the enemy opened fire on them.

The Turks took up a position in the centre; and now the magnificent _Agamemnon_ steamed on, with the gallant little _Circa.s.sian_, commanded by the brave Mr Ball, piloting the way, sounding as he went, and marking the position the larger ships were to take up.

At half-past one the _Agamemnon_ began to draw in close with the land, when, to try range, she opened fire from her large pivot-gun on the Wasp battery, which instantly returned it; and in a short time Fort Constantine commenced firing with terrible effect, the _Agamemnon_ suffering fearfully.

At two p.m. she anch.o.r.ed, head and stern, in a quarter less five fathoms, 750 yards off Fort Constantine, on which she immediately opened her fresh broadside. At five minutes past two, the _Sanspareil_ and _London_ anch.o.r.ed astern, and ably seconded the gallant Sir Edmund by the fire which they poured into the Star Fort and the smaller forts on the cliff. At twenty minutes past two, the _Albion_ anch.o.r.ed, and engaged the Wasp, to take off the fire from the _Agamemnon_, which, from her position, exposed to a cross fire, was suffering more than the other ships. The _Britannia_, now in fifteen fathoms water, and some two thousand yards off, opened fire, and the action became general.

The commander of the detached steamers determined that they also should play their part. The _Terrible_ and _Samson_ dashed on inside the other ships, and engaged the northern forts in the most gallant manner.

Nothing could exceed the steady way in which the _Vesuvius_ carried her huge consort into action, nor the spirited manner in which the _Albion_ engaged Fort Constantine. The _Arethusa_,--a name long known to fame,-- urged on by the little _Triton_, well preserved the renown her name has gained, by boldly engaging the huge stone fort, at which, in rapid succession, broadside after broadside was discharged, the crew of the _Triton_ coming on board to a.s.sist in manning her guns. At length, with her rigging cut to pieces, and numerous shot-holes in her hull, and eighteen killed and wounded, and five wounded belonging to the _Triton_, she was towed out of action.

The _Albion_, though farther out than the _Agamemnon_, was in reality suffering far more than that ship, and she at length was compelled to haul off, with one lieutenant and nine men killed, and three other officers and sixty-eight men wounded. The _London_, also, with four killed and eighteen wounded, was at the same time taken out of action.

All this time the gallant Sir Edmund Lyons refused to move; indeed, his ship was suffering more aloft than in her hull, and, notwithstanding the tremendous fire to which she had been exposed, she had only four killed and twenty-five wounded. This was owing to the vice-admiral's bravery in going so close to the sh.o.r.e; the majority of the shot, flying high, struck her rigging instead of her hull. Still she was struck 240 times, and became almost a wreck,--her hull showing gaping wounds, her main-yard cut in two places, every spar more or less damaged, two shot-holes in the head of the mainmast, and her rigging hanging in shreds; the ship also having twice caught fire,--once when a sh.e.l.l fell in her maintop and set fire to the mainsail, and another having burst in the port side and set fire to the hammock-nettings. The _Rodney_, however, suffered still more in masts and rigging, she having tailed on the reef, whence she was got off by the gallant exertions of Commander Kynaston, of the _Spiteful_. The _Albion_ and _Arethusa_ suffered greatly in their hulls.

At length one ship after another had drawn off; and the fire of the forts being concentrated on the _Agamemnon_, Sir Edmund despatched one of his lieutenants in a boat, to summon the _Bellerophon_ to his aid.

The appeal was n.o.bly and immediately answered, and she contributed greatly to take off the fire which the Wasp and Telegraph batteries were showering on her. As the _Agamemnon_ was the first to go into battle, so she was one of the last to haul out of the engagement, which she did soon after six p.m., but not till darkness had compelled the combatants on sh.o.r.e to cease from firing. The action lasted altogether from half-past one to half-past six,--the loss being 44 killed and 266 wounded.

A naval brigade had at this time been formed, and a considerable number of officers and men belonging to the different ships were consequently serving on sh.o.r.e. Owing to this circ.u.mstance, probably, the casualties were lessened. The admiral had also left all the spare top-masts and spars on board the _Vulcan_, with the sick and prisoners, at the anchorage off the Katscha; so that the ships were soon able to repair the damages they had received aloft. No sooner had the fleet once more anch.o.r.ed in safety, than the captains went on board the _Agamemnon_, to pay their respects to Sir Edmund Lyons, as did the French on the following day, all declaring that his ship had held the post of honour.

Still, many other ships were not behind his in the gallant way in which they were fought.

The French ships were also fought with great courage and judgment, and suffered even more than the English. The Turks, from being much farther out, escaped with slight damage.

The result of the action, bravely as it had been fought, was not satisfactory. It was a trial of strength between stone and wood, and the stone was undoubtedly the victor. Probably a considerable number of Russians were killed and wounded, and it served as a diversion to the land attack; but next day not a gun the less frowned from the batteries of Fort Constantine, and but a trifling damage had been done to the stonework.

However, the diversions caused by these attacks from the sea were of much consequence; and on other occasions the smaller steamers, gun and rocket-boats, were sent off the mouth of the harbour during the night to distract the attention of the Russians.

CRIMEAN NAVAL BRIGADE.