The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-09 00:00:00

I c t 1158 and the benefit I derive from his advice and assis tance ; as well as to Captain Gordon, commanding Royal Engineers, Captain Chapman, and the officers of that corps ; and to Major Adye, the Hon. Captain Gage, and Captain Fortescue, the staff officers of the Royal Artillery, to the command of which Lieutenant- Colonel Dacres has succeed by the lamented death of Brigadier-General Strangways, whose aide-de-camp, Captain Gordon, I would also bring to your grace's notice. I profit by this opportunity to render justice to two officers whom I omitted to mention in my despatch of the 2Sth September. The one, Captain Maude, of the Royal Horse Artillery, who has since been badly wounded, dis tinguished himself at the battle of the Alma, as I myself observed ; the other, Captain W. Pitcairn Campbell, became the senior officer of the 23rd Regi ment when Lieutenant-Colonel Chester was killed, and though severely wounded could hardly be per suaded to quit the field. RAGLAN. The following order was issued from Lord Raglan's head-quarters a few days after the last battle : The commander of the forces has reason to think that the advanced sentries are not sufficiently quick in stopping those who approach them from the enemy's side, or in firing upon those who do not answer them in a satisfactory manner. Men, both on foot and on horseback, have come up close to the sentries, and have been permitted to turn away with out being questioned or fired upon. The only persons who may be permitted to approach them from the enemy's side are deserters, and flags of truce ; but these must be made to halt, and not allowed to come forward until a party from the picket has arrived to receive them. When patrols go out in front, or officers go forward to reconnoitre, notice should be given to the sentries, and all this should be fully explained to them when they are posted. From another order, published by Lord Raglan, it would appear that some arrangement has been come to by Prince Menschikoff, which will have the effect of preventing a recurrence of the inhuman proceed ings referred to October 11.—When burying the dead, if the party so employed will hoist a black flag the enemy will not fire on the party. THE HURRICANE OF NOV. 14. The Admiralty have issued the following official list of the ships lost and disabled during the disastrous gale on the 14th ult. : On shore off the Katscha, but crews saved—The Pyre. 'ties, Ganges, Rodwell, Lord Raglan, Tyrnne--Pyrendes was burnt. The Danube' lost near Cape Cherson, but crew saved. At Eupatoria, on shore, with their masts gone.—No. 3, Her Majesty; 53, Asia; 55, Glendalough ; 61, Harbinger; 81, Georgiana. The crews appear to be still on board; two other transports, partly dismasted, bowsprits gone. Gone to pieces on the cliffs at Balaklava.—The Prince, Resolute, Wentworth, Wildwave, Progress, Wanderer, and Malta. At nalaklava, riding comparatively easy at their anchors. —The Melbourne, Pride of the Ocean, Medora, Lady Valiant, Mercia, Caduceus, and Sir Robert Sale. Loss of life great; thirty to forty men hauled over the cliffs. The Victoria, in harbour of Balaklava, lost her rudder. Damage to other ships in the harbour confined to their upper works. Letters from the Black Sea communicate some distressing details respecting the storm and its effects upon the shipping. The correspondent of the Herald writes from Balaklava on the 18th of Novem ber:-- The mere word awful will never convey to your readers an idea of the storm which has just passed over the Black Sea. The loss it has inflicted upon the combined navies and transport fleets is, for some time at least, irreparable. The Henri (lustre, French screw line-of-battle ship, dragged her anchors in the tremendous sea, and went ashore. she instantly became a perfect wreck, went to pieces, and nearly every soul on board was lost. The Jena, 011 guns, also went down with all on board. The small French transports are nearly all destroyed. The English lost eleven fine steam and sailing transports, with immense amounts of property on board. Among the former was the magnificent steam-ship Prince, which had on board a large sum of money for the payment of the troops, the diving apparatus for blowing up the ships at Sebastopol, and clothes for the men. The Retribution, Sunipsmi, and Fury lost all their masts. All the transports went down at their anchors in the tremendous sea. The sailing vessels, it is said, are all, as soon as the weather permits, to be re moved to Sinope. Only the screw liners and steam-frigates will remain with the army. The Chronicle correspondent says in a letter of the same date : On Tuesday, the 11th, the fleet and transports lying at Eupatoria, the Katscha, and Balaklava, were exposed to the fury of a tremendous gale from the westward, which resulted in the loss of at least thirty-five vessels, and the partial injury of many more. The night of the 13th, though louring, gave no sign of the approaching storm, for it was almost a calm in t he middle watch ; but about half•past six in the morning the sky darkened, and a heavy squall burst forth from the S.S.W.; second anchors were immediately let go, and every precaution taken to prevent disaster. The gale freshened, and shortly after eight No. 20 transport, Gauger, dragged her anchors, and fouling THE PRESS. those of No. 1, Pyrenees, both ships drove together, and a few minutes after fouled her Majesty's ship Sampson, carrying away her bowsprit and foremast, which latter in falliug struck the mainmast, the fall of which destroyed the inizenmast ; thus in the space of two minutes render ing her a complete wreck aloft. The two transports then broke away from her, and brought up again at fifty yards distance, about 1,100 yards from the shore. At ten a.m. a small French brig stranded near the mouth of the Katscha, and from this time till darkness hid the scene from our view a succession of terrible disasters followed each other in quick succession. Fortunately the shore in the neighbourhood of the river is terminated by a sandy beach, hence here we have not had to deplore the loss of life as well as property. Nos. 1 and 20 parted for the last time a little after noon, and were soon dashed on shore, where they remained at about ten yards distance from the beach, with the waves frequently making a clear dash over them. At one p.m. her Majesty's ship Terrible parted all her anchors, and the cry rose to every tongue, " the Terrible will be on shore ; " but gradually the noble ship faced round to the wind, and passed majestically out through the fleet. The wind, perhaps, was at its utmost height about 10.30 ; but the wind, after successive squalls, accompanied by sleet and hail, passed to W.S.W. and W., from which none of our anchorages on the Crimean coast afford any shelter, and an awful rolling sea then set in, during which the English transports Bodsley and Tyrone, a Maltese brig, and four more small French transports, went on shore. Meanwhile hordes of Cossacks and cavalry hovered round the wrecks, and, as each of the smaller vessels were thrown up, were seen occupied in examining what the chances of the sea and w ar had sent them. We could see the French sailors led off towards Sebastopol with horsemen before and behind them. Our transports, from their greater burden, were at some distance from the shore ; and the Cossacks rode backwards and forwards, regarding them as we read a hungry fox did some grapes in the days of iEsop. Darkness fell that evening on anxious hearts, and few eyes could have closed that night amid the roaring of the pitiless and unabated storm. Soon after midnight its force was broken, and men thanked God, fur neither hemp nor iron could have stood such a strain much longer. A glance at Enpatoria after the storm showed that it had suffered even more than the Katscha. True, the Bellerophon and Leander rode it out, but the total wreck of au Egyptian line-of-battle ship, and near the beach the tricolour floating mournfully over the Henri Quatre, strong and erect as ever, but we fear never again to carry the flag of France to victory, as well as the stranded transports in front and to the southward of the town, told a dreary story. In front lie the stranded remains of five French merchant vessels ; just beyond it, along the sandy isthmus, between the sea and Lake Sasik, lie what three days ago were strong and well-found ships. I have been given the following as the names of the ships lost in the Bay of Balaklava, very few persons being saved :—The Rip van Winkle, Resolute ( with 900 tons of powder on board), Wild Wave, Kenilworth, Progress, Wanderer, Prince steamer (she only left Constantinople the other day with troops ; they had fortunately already been landed ; six hands saved out of 160), Marseilles, Pallona, and Mary Ann. Dismasted : The Pride of the Ocean, Caduceus, Medora, Melbourne (steamer), Sir Robert Sale, Lady Valiant, and Mercia. The damage done to the fleet is not yet known. Her Majesty's steam-frigate Retribution had to throw her guns overboard. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, who is ill, was on board. Dr. Spence, one of the gentlemen lately come out on a mission from Government to investigate the state of the Scutari hospitals, was lost in the Prince. He was official assistant to Dr. Smith, the head of the medical depart ment. Forty thousand sets of winter clothing for the troops, and a large supply of medical stores, are said to qe lost. The resulting loss in lives, ships, and stores, is thus enumerated more fully by the Times : The total loss of men at the various stations on the coast of the Crimea on the disastrous 1:Ith cannot be less than a thousand, besides those that have fallen into the hands of the Cossacks. The loss of vessels was thirty British and French wrecked and half as many dismasted at Balaklava, and eighteen wrecked or dismasted at the mouth of the Katscha. Our men-of-war, thanks to the precaution of frequently trying their cables, have come off with no further damage than the loss of guns, or of masts, or of rigging, the twisting of their rudders, or the springing some leaks. The French have lost the Henri Quatre, a noble three decker, and a favourite war-steamer. Thus far we have sustained no loss beyond the ordinary drain of war ; but the greatest calamity is that of which we scarcely now know the full extent. The Prince, a magnificent new screw steamer of 2,700 tons, carried out the other day to Balak lava the 46th Regiment, all the winter clothing for the troops engaged in the siege, including 40,000 great-coats flannel suits, under clothing, socks and gloves; beef, pork, and other provisions ; hospital stores for Scutari, and a vast quantity of shot and shell to carry on the siege. These are wholly lost, and nothing remains of the Prince but halfa-dozen of her numerous crew, who managed to get ou the cliffs when she was " broken to powder " against them. The Resolute, with 900 tons of gunpowder, also went to the bottom. Thus, it seems, all the materials for carrying on the siege and providing against the severity of the winter have been carried off at one fell swoop ! and, even if we think to content ourselves with merely maintaining our position on the heights before Sebastopol, it is evident that we are not in a condition to stand our worst foe, the coming winter. Everything seems to have conspired, under a mysterious dispensation of Heaven, to make the loss of the Prince the greatest possible disaster. She could not stop at Scutari to land the hospital stores so greatly wanted there. When she arrived at Belaklava it was blowing fresh, and she did SATURDAY, not venture within the narrow tortuous channel of the harbour. All she did was to land the 46th, though it is said that, besides a very large crew, some suppers and some medical and other officers were still on board. On attempt ing to anchor, the whole of the cable ran out, not being properly clinched. A second cable shared the same lute. The Prince then steamed out, while a third cable was got up from the hold, and with this she was brought, to, though with a smaller anchor than those she had lost. This answered for a while. On the dreadful morning of the 14th, however, it proved utterly inadequate. The Prince cut away her masts, and put on her steam • but the wreck of the mizenmast fouled the screw , and the noble vessel, becoming helpless, immediately drifted against the rocks. Figures are but feeble language for the description of such a catastrophe, but the value of the Prince, as she floated, is put at 150,000/., and her cargo at half a million. There must have been nearly 200 souls on board. The thirty transports utterly lost, with most of their crews, at Balaklava, are put down at 15,0001. each. $o here at once a million of money went to the bottom, in a form of which money conveys but a faint idea. The other losses enume rated above, the French ship-of-the-line and war -steamer. the transports lost on the western coast, the many vesses of all kinds disabled, make up another million to be added to the naked pecuniary estimate of the loss. But the true way of stating it is, that the army is utterly disabled for the present, and left to no other protection than Heaven and that valour which the British soldier is ever sure to display in the face of the greatest difficulties, the direst privations and the most overwhelming numbers. The Crimean correspondent of the same journal, writing on the 17th, describes the incidents of the day as viewed from the shore From Monday morning, the 13th, until the afternoon of Thursday, the 16th, the most terrible gale ever known in this part of the world has been raging throughout the length and breadth of the Black Sea. Pilots accustomed to the . navigation of the Euxine cannot remem ber a tem p est so violent as the one which has just passed over us. The prevalent wind was from the south-west, with occasional shills to other quarters. It commenced about seven o'clock on Monday morning, and, with the abruptness common to this sea, soon lashed itself into a perfect hurri cane. Ever and anon through the gale fearful gusts CBlllO sweeping down the wind, blinding meu with hail and mist, snatching strong ships from their holding-ground, and snapping the iron cables like bands of tow. Whenever this " scud" lifted, another and again another hapless craft was seen dashed miserably upon the inhospitable shore. It was impossible to give them help of the faintest kind in the midst of the resistless ss ell of that wild surging sea and the mad howling of the teruptesuous wind. The first mishap which occurred in the anchorage off the Katscha (where the commander-in-chief is stationed, and the larger number of the allied vessels) was to her Majesty's ship Sampson, which, together v. ith other steamers, had got up steam the moment the gale began. This unfortunate ship fell foul of the transport Pyrenees, and was dismasted by the concussion. The latter vessel, however, in consequence of the accident, snapped her re maining cable and slowly drifted ashore, where she struck with great force upon the beach, and her roosts instantly went over the side. Her master managed to tind for her a most' comfortable berth," if such an expression is not a contradiction in terms. The Pyrenees was followed during the day and the succeeding night by the Rodsley and the Ganges. The Lord Raglan also went ashore lower down the bay and nearer the mouth of the Katscha. Eight French brigs, freighted with horses and men, were also cast away, and several of them went to pieces at once, or were pounced upon by the Cossacks, who, ever at hand, quickly discovered the disaster, and prepared to turn it to the best account. Information was also speedily sent to Sebastopol, and in a few hours a carriage drawn by four greys was seen coining over the downs, containing evidently an officer of high rank. To his presence probably may be ascribed the humane treat ment the shipwrecked mariners experienced at the hands of the masters of the cliffs, who might easily have destroyed every soul, by firing over the cliffs upon the ships below. These, although for the most part armed, were perfectly helpless, the guns being impracticable and the powder saturated with sea water. The Russian officers came to the top of the cliffs and lifted their hats, beckoning to the sufferers to come on shore—an offer which, for the most part, was respectfully declined. On Wednesday aftern of a lull occurred, and Comm ander Franklyn, the agent transports, put off in a boat to attempt to reach the admiral's ship, a feat which he fortunately accomplished with safety. At the same time Captain Michell, of her Majesty's ship Queen , req uested b y signal perm on toissi send assistance to the wrecks . This was readily g of a ranted, and three boats from the Queen, under t he char g e lieutenant, at great risk, succeeded in fetching the Pyrenees, in spite of the surf and heavy sea. A boat from the Britannia put off, but I believe was nearly lost in the attempt, and an officer and boat's crew from the Ville de Paris, who had gallantly endeavoured to aid their com patriots, were all made prisoners by the Russians, the sea having forced them on shore. Abont forty or fifty men and two soldiers' wives belonging to the 95th Regiment were. rescued on Wednesday evening, and taken on board the Queen. The Cossacks en the beach, seeing a portion of their expected booty (slipping through their fingers, fired on the retreating boats, and a bullet, passing through the bonnet of one of the women, killed a seaman of the Queen. The enemy closed the (lay by firing a smart volley upon a bark round whose yawning sides twenty or thirty men were desperately clinging. fear their sufferings and suspense were thus summarily put an end to. The next morning, Thursday, the gale having completely broken, a large number of boats.from all the ships were employed in bringing off the remainder of the crews and such personal property and valuables as r