The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-30 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF NAVARINO.

The Times publishes the following interesting letter
respecting the battle of Navarino. (The battle was fought on
October 20, 1P27, between the combined fleets of England,
France, and Rusts, when the Turkish navy was almost
annihilated. This deatruction of the Turkish naval power was
characteri:od by the Duke of Wellington as an "untoward
event" :

- - -
Sir,—By the intele3ting letter of Geneva Sir W.
Codriugton, in The Times of Monday, the 11th inst.,
he seems to think that Ibrahim Pasha designedly brought
on the Battle of Navarino where General Codrington's
most gallant father was 'Coramander•in•Chief of the

Ibrahim Pasha has sins enough to answer for, but
not this. At the present crisis it is most instructive to
examine what did happen. Of that I was an eye-
witness. In September, 1827, the allied squadrons of
Logland, France, and Russia, having for some time
watched the Turkish fleet in Navarino By, a general
armistice was signed for twenty dais, The Allies dis-
-,rsed, leaving one or two small craft to observ- He

pe _ ie. Aer
Majesty's ship Talbot (repeating ship to the Admiral)
had gone to ZAnte for water. After a hard day's work
we were aroused early in the night by a despatch brig
of war from the Commander-in-Chief, ordering us
instantly to rejoin him and oppose the Turks, who had
troken their armistice and put to sea in very con-
siderable force for Patras. Iu a few minutes we were
undtr way, beat to quarters, and presently found our-
sclves running abreast of the enemy's ships; distinctly
visible from their open ports, fighting lanterns lit, and
stews at their guns,
As (1.. y broke, the enemy appeared two miles to
leeward of u., going free, in a single line, in numbers
about half the Turkish fleet, an inixense disparity of
force in their favour compared to us, the English
Fquadron consisting only of the flagship Asia, 80 guns,
the Dartmouth, frigate, 42 guns, Captain (afterwards
Sir) Thomas Fellowes, K.C,B, ; the Talbot, 28 guns
Captain the Hon. Frederick (afterwards Earl)
Spencer, K.G. ; and a ten-gun brig—l think, the
Philomel—Captain Cotton.
I had then lately enioyed the kelt, thvegh a mem

.. -
mate invaliding home, to be prorabied to his command
of the forecastle quarters of the Talbot; so that I
could see and hear everything, which to a bey of 14
was enchanting. Thus, then, I witnessed in perfection
such a magnificent spectacle of the "pride, pomp, and
circumstance of glorious war," as no man in these
ironclad days probably can or would wish to see
again.
The day was dawning splendidly, even for that
Eastern sea- The sun had just cleared the blue horizon
when our flagship the Asia, with her guns ready for
action, bore down on our weather quarter in all the
graceful beauty of her majestic hull and towering
canvas, spread to a gentle breeze. As the flagship came
within a few yards, the speed of each ship was les-
sened, end.we saw the Commander-in-Chief step out
on th e bulwarks near the poop, where his figure instantly
arrested all eyes. He was a remarkably tall, hand-
some person, with a fine Roman cast of face, gray eyes,
and golden hair; and this steaming slightly in the
wind shone in the reflection bf the rising sun most
gloriously. I thought at the moment I had never seen
so gorgeous a picture. The Corrimander-he chief then
pointed to leeward towards the Turks amid a breath-
less silence broken only by the rippling water under
the two ships' bows, and speaking ma loud, deliberate,'
distinct voice, said, "Captain Spencer, go down to the
Turki,h Admiral. Tell him that if he does not in-
stantly return to Navarino, I will sink him—if lam
able.'
As those few words might be a message of death to
most of us, the supreme solemnity of this moment could
hardly have been heightened. Sir Edward made a
pause before adding If lam able," and gave that
proviso in a still louder tone, so as to take away all
boast from the rest of his speech, which it thus reduced
to a sad, through thrilling expression of an overwhelm-
ing duty, which discipline alone prevented us from
cheering. Sir Edward's voice had scarcely. ceased,
when Lord Spencer's was heard in the usual reply,
"Ay, ay, Mr." Up went the Talbot's helm, round
came our yards, and away we bounded to the Turkish
Admiral, whose long column of beautiful French-built
ships extended far ahead of him' and a long way astern,
while his flag floated in the centre, over a large, heavily
armed vessel, fie first broadside of which ought to have
reduced the Talbot to matchwood.
As our ship's interpreter alone spoke Turkish, he
had the charming task—which I did not think he
seemed quite to appreciate—of delivering Sir E. Cod-
rington's hostile command, so soon as we got within
speaking distance of the Turk, our men all standing at
their double-shotted guns ready to return his tire.
Whether he would attack us or obey us was for a few
minutes doubtful. The interpreter, using his speaking
trumpet, had to repeat his message several times, and
then received for a reply that the Turkish Admiral
would alter his course and return to Navarino. This
we signalled to the Commander-in-Chief, who, to our
great amusement, signalled back, "Talbot, take charge
of the Turkish Fleet and see them into port." While
we we obeying this cammand—our men all day at
their guns, no fires lit, no cooking possible, and only
salt pork for dinner—Her Majesty's ship Dertmouth
edged down to speak to us, and Captain Yellowes
hailed our chief. Here, then, occurred that ourious
incident, explaining, I think, why or how the Battle
of Navarino was afterwards begun.

"Spencer," cried Sir Thomas Fellowes, in the hear-
ing of both ship's companies, and pointing with his
thumb to the Turks, "I'm afraid we shan't get these
beggars to fight, after all." "Spencer" laughed, and
answered back, "No, Fellows, I don't think there'll
be any fighting to-day." By nightfall we watched the
last Turkish ship into 7ayarino, and signalled our
flagship accordingly. The armistice having ended,
and the allies finding they made slow progress, decided
on Saturday, the 20th of October, 1827, to sail into
Naiarino with the whole allied fleet and anchor there,
trusting that this demonstration would bring Ibrahim
Pasha to reason. The French and English sguadrons
ran in first together at two p.m.

The Russians, for some cause never satisfactorily ex-
plained, were nearly an hour in the rear and proved
useless wt last. The Dartmouth frigate, Captain Fel-
lowes, *ent in just ahead of us in the Talbot, from whose
forecastle I watched the Dartmoutia anchoring, at the
south east arm of the Bay, near and to leeward of a
Turkish fireship. In a few minutes one of the Dart-
mouth's boats left that frigate and rowed to the fireship,
an English seaaan standing in the boat's bow, holding
in his hand what I took to be a boat hook, but which
Is alleged to have been a boarding pike. On the
instant the fireship fired on the boat's crew who
boarded her notwithstanding, under a fire of musketry
opened from the maintop of the Dartmouth frigate to
assist the boarders. The moorings of the &reship then
appeared to be cut, and she drifted to leeward on,
friend and fee. On all sides, the before placidly-
gazing Turks hurried do vsn from their bulwarks to their
guns. Sir Edward Codriegton, seeing this unlucky in-
cident, quickly despatched his boat and head inter-
preter to the Turkish Admiral in hopes to atop the
fray; but, in defiance of all discipline, some Turk fired
through a porthole and killed the interpreter alongside.
The Turkish flagship herself opened fire on the Asia,
the Dartmouth opened fire on the fireship, four or five
frigates on the north-west side of the Bay, where we
had just anchored, opened fire on the Talbot before we
had any supporters, and a general engagement became
inevitable. In about an hour, to our great disgust, in
sailed the laggard Russians. All their appointed
berths were occupied and inaccessible. One of their
frigates fired a large leaden cannon-ball into the Talbot
and killed one of our midshipmen. Nothing could
exceed the obstinate bravery of the Turks, most of
whom continued fighting long after the flames of
their ships went soaring over their mastheads and blew
up colours flying. All through the night their ships
were burning, their guns going cif as they got hot, and
the burning timbers falling on our decks as they blew
up ; and when the Christian Sabbath dawned—
Trafalgar Day--the Turkish fleet of 100 sail—treasure
ships for tr,ops, tranenorts. and men-of-war—pre-
sented the mere remnants of destruction; all were
burnt, sunk, or wrecks, "as silent as the grave." Our
loss in Her Majesty's ship Talbot amounted to one
man killed and three men wounded out of every 20
souls on board us—a loss exceeded by very few ships at
Trafalgar. From this account, Sir, you will see that
the Battle of Navarino could not have been begun by
Ibrahim Pasha, who tried to smuggle half his fleet (If
to Patras ' • neither could he have suggested to Sir
Thomas Fellowes to anchor Her Majesty's ship Dart-
mouth so close to a Turkish fireship as to render it
necessary to board the latter and cut her adrift in her
own harbour in order to move her. Though Captain
Fellowes failed in the Gulf of Patras, he certainly
contrived to "get these beggars to fight after all" at
Navarino. And herein lies the unconquerable difficulty
of bringing armed men of hostile sentiments into
juxtaposition. By some means or other, sooner or
later, they will fight it out.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your obliged and con-
stant reader. W. J. NELSON NEALE,
Kensington, Dec. 22.