The Press.
London, England, 1855-11-03 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

report of Brigadier - General the Honottrable A.
Spencer. This contains all the information I have
received on the operations, with the exception that
in a private note, Sir E. Lyons mentions that the
enemy have exploded the three forts at Otchakoff,
commanding the northern entrance into the Dnieper.
In conserynence of the continued fineness of the
weather, great progress has been made in the con-
struction of the road and railway. The divisions
have all got some weeks' supply of rations in their
camp ; and I entertain no anxiety of there being a
scanity of anything during the approaching winter.
I informed your lordship, in my despatch of the
13th inst., that the Highland Division. under Lieut.•
General Sir Colin Campbell, were to proceed to Eupa-
' toria, and co-operate with the French ; but upon the
I receipt of your telegraphic despatch of the 13th inst.
apprising me that the Russians had resolved to
hazard a battle, and attack the allies, I did not con•
eider myself justified in weakening the force under
my command by so many men, and I therefore
countermanded the movement.
I have the honour to inclose the weekly reports of
Colonel McMurdo and Dr. Hall.

JAMES Simrsox, General Commanding.
(IncWawa.)
Camp before Kinburn, Oct. 17.
In reporting, for the information of the general
commanding the forces, the fall of the garrison of
the fortress of Kinburn, this day, I have the honour
to state that the force under my command, as per
state inclosed,* effected their landing on Monday,
the 16th, unopposed.
Owing to a heavy surf, and which continued all"
day yesterday, the landing has been accomplished
with some little difficulty. The troops, however,
were all got on shore on the first day, and have
since been employed in Entrenching our position.
There are rumours of a force of the enemy collecting
at Kherson, about forty miles from here, but our
immediate neighbourhood appears to be clear.
The advanced line of the position, flanked on both
sides by the sea, Ss held by the force under my com-
mand, and is about a mile in extent.
AUGUSTUS SPENCER,
Brigadier-General Commanding English
Land Force.

DESPATCHES FROM REAR-ADMIRAL. SIR E. LYONS.

The following despatches have been received from
Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, Bart., G.C.8.,
Commander-in-Chief of her Mikjesty's Ships and
Vessels in the Mediterranean and Black Sea .

Royal Albert, off Kinburn, Oct. 18.
My letter of the 6th instant, Ao. 834, will have
informed the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty
that an allied naval and military expedition was to
leave the anchorage off Sebastopol on the following
day, for the purpose of taking and occupying the
three Russian forts on Kinburn Spit, at the entrance
of Dnieper Bay ; and the telegraphic message, which
I forwarded to 'Varna last night, will soon communi
cate to their lordships the success which has attended
this enterprise.
It is now my duty to give a more detailed account
of the proceedings of the expedition.
I have, therefore, the honour to state that we
arrived at a rendezvous off Odessa on the Bth
inst., but, owing to strong south-west winds, which
would have prevented the troops from landing, it
was not until the morning of the 14th inst. that the
expedition was enabled to reach the anchorage off
Kinburn.
During the night the English steam gun-vessels
Fancy, Boxer, Cracker, and Clinker, and four French
gun-vessels, forced the entrance into Dnieper Bay,
under a heavy, but ineffectual, fire from the Spit
Fort, and on the following morning the British
troops, under the orders of Brigadier-General Hon.
A. A. Spencer, together with the French troops,
under the command of General Bazaine, were landed
about three miles to the southward of the principal '
fort, and thus, by these nearly simultaneous opera-
tions, the retreat of the garrison and the arrival of
reinforcements were effectually cut off.
In the evening the English and French mortar-
vessels tried their ranges against the main fort with
excellent effect.
The wind having again veered round to the south-
ward, with a great deal of swell, nothing could be
done on the 16th ; but in the forenoon of the 17th a
fine northerly breeze, with smooth water, enabled the
French floating batteries, mortar-vessels, and gun-
boats, and the Odin and the mortar vessels, and gun-
boats named in the margin,+ to take up positions off
Fort Kinburn ; and their fire was so effective that
before noon the buildings in the interior of the fort
were in flames, and the eastern face had suffered very
considerably.

• Ist Briga.ie, 4th Division; Royal Marines, 1,2n0 men, rank
and File ; Royal Engineers, Artillery, and detachment of cavalry.
tlortar-vessela—Raven, Magnet, Camel, Hardy, Flamer,
Firm. Citin-yeelea—LYnz, Avow, Viper, Snake, Wrangler,
Beagle.

1041

At noon the Royal Albert, Algiers, Agamemnon,
and Princess Royal, accompanied by Admiral Bruat's
four ships of the line, approached Fort Kinhurn in a
line abreast, which the shape of the coast rendered
necessary, and the precision with which they took up
their positions in the closest order, with jib-booms
run in and only two feet of water under their keels,
was really admirable. At the same moment the
squadrons under the orders of Rear• Admirals Sir
Honston Stewart and Pellion pushed through the
passage between Otchakotf and the spit of Kinbnrn,
and took the forts in reverse, whilst the St. Jean
d' Acre, Curacoa, Tribune, and Sphinx undertook the
centre battery, and the Hannibal, Dauntless, and
Terrible that on the point of the spit.
The enemy soon ceased to reply to our overwhelm-
ing fire, and, though he made no sign of surrender,
Admiral truat and I felt that a garrison which had
bravely defended itself against so superior a force
deserved every consideration, and we therefore made
the signal to cease firing, hoisted a flag of truce, and
sent on shore a summons, which was accepted by the
governor, Major-General Kokonovitch, and the gar-
risons, consisting of 1,400 men, marched out with
the honours of war, laid down their arms on the
glacis, and, having surrendered themselves RS pri-
soners of war, they will be embarked in her Majesty's
ship Vulcan to-morrow.
The casualties in the allied fleets are very few,
amounting in her Majesty's ships to only two wounded.
The loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is,
fear, very severe.
In the three forts, which have suffered consi-
derably by our fire, we found eighty-one guns and
mortars mounted, and an ample supply of ammunition.
This morning the enemy has blown np the forte
on Otclisketf Point, which mounted twenty two guns,
and we learnt from a Polish deserter, who escaped
in a boat from them during the night, that the com-
mandant apprehended an attack from our mortar-
vessels, which would not only have destroyed the
fort, but also the neighbouring dwellings.
I have abstained from entering into the particulars
of the proceedings of the squadron under the orders
of Rear-Admiral Sir H. Stewart, as he has so ably
described them in the letter which I have the honour
to inclose ; from which their lordships will perceive
that I have received from him on this occasion, as,
indeed, I have on all others since I have had the
good fortune to have him as second in command,
that valuable assistance which might be expected
from an officer of his distinguished and acknow-
ledged *merits ; and I beg leave to add my testimony
to his in praise of all the officers, and especial?),
Lieutenant Marryat and Mr. Brooker, whom he re-
commends to their lordships' favorable consideration.
To particularise the merit of the officers under
my command, where all have behaved admirably,
would be a difficult task indeed ; but it beg leave to
mention that the same officers of the navy and the
Royal Marine Artillery who were in the mortar-
vessels at the fall of Sebastopol are in them now,
and that on this occasion, as before, they have been
under the direction of Captain Willcox of the Odin,
and Captiin Digby of the Royal Marine Artillery.
Nor can I refrain from stating what I believe to be
the feelieg of the whole fleet, that on this expedition,
as on that to Kertch, the talents and indefatigable
exertions of that very valuable officer, Captain
Spratt, of the Spitfire, and of those tinder his com-
mand, entitle them to our warmest thanks, anfl
deserve to be particularly mentioned.
I need hardly say that my distinguished colleague,
Admiral Bruat, and I have seen with infinite satis-
faction our respective squadrons acting together as
one fleet. tDMI3ND LYONS,
Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.

I'alcrous, in Dolga, Bay, Oct. 18.

I have the honour to inform you that, in pur-
suance of your orders, I hoisted my flag in her
Majesty's steam-frigate Valorous on the afternoon of
the 14th instant, immediately after the arrival of the
allied fleets off Kinburn Spit, and proceeded, under
the able guidance of Captain Spratt, of the Spitfire,
to take up positions at the entrance of Dnieper Bay,
where, with the division of steam-vessels placed
under my orders (as per margin),* and in company
with those under the orders of my colleague, Bear-
Admiral Odet Pellion, we remained in readiness to
force an entrance into the Dnieper for the purpose
directed by you of preventing, as far as possible, any
reinforcements being thrown into the forts on Kin-
burn Spit, as well as to cut off the retreat of the gar-
rison, should either be attempted.
At nine p.m. I instructed Lieutenant Joseph H.
Marryat, of the Cracker, to take on hoard Mr. Ed-
ward W. Booker, additional Master of the A...1)4*e,
and endeavour with him to determine the course of
the intricate channel through which we were to pass,
and to lay down buoys along the south side of it;
the French having undertaken to perform the same
service on the north side.

• Valcrus, Gladiator, Fancy, Cracks, Grinder, Amor,
Clinker.

I

1012

I likewise directed Mr. Thomas Potter, Master of
the Furious (lent to do duty in the Valorous), to pro-
ceed with two boats of the Tribune, and, protected by
the Cracker, to search for the spit on the north bank,
and on his return endeavour to place a buoy on the
edge of the shoal off Kinburn Spit, that the entrance
of the channel might he assured.
As soon as the preconcerted signal was given, in-
dicating that this operation was effected, I despatched
the Fancy, Boxer, and Clinker, into Dnieper Bay,
with orders to anchor in such position as would
best protect the right flank of our troops, upon the
disembarkation taking place, and to make that their
chief care, as long as there was any possibility of the
enemy threatening them.
During the night Rear-Admiral Odet Pellion
also sent in the French gun-boats for the same
purpose.
At daylight on the following morning I bad the
satisfaction of observing all the gun boats, French
and English, anchored safely to the north-east of
Kinburn Fort, and without any of them having sus-
tamed damage, although the enemy had fired both
shot and shell and musketry at them during their
passage in. Thus the chief part of the object you had
most anxiously in view was accomplished.
While still in considerable doubt as to the extent
to which the channel for the larger ships was buoyed,
at ten a.m. Lieut. Marryat and Mr. Booker came
toinform me that the work intrusted to them had
been completed, and that the latter officer was ready
to pilot the ships in. The zealous desire evinced by
these officers to furnish me personally with their re-
port on the difficult navigation of the Dnieper deserves
my warmest thanks, and the gallant manner in which
Lieutenant Marryat brought the Cracker out for that
purpose, under a very heavy fire from the whole of
the forts and batteries, elicited the admiration of all
who witnessed the proceeding.
We were now fully prepared to advance, and, in
obedience to your directions, awaited the signal for
general attack.
The whole of the proceedings of yesterday must be
already fully known to you ; but it is right that I
should state briefly the share taken in them by the
division you did me the honor to place under my
orders, which consisted of the ships and vessels as
already stated, reinforced by those named below.
It being necessary to advance in single line, it was
arranged that the ships should do so in the following
order:
Valorous—Captain C. H. M. Buckle, C. 8., bearing my
flag.
Furious—Captain William Loring, C.B.
Asmodie—( French), bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral
Odet Pellion.
Cacique—(French).
Sidon—Captain George Goldsmith.
Leopard—Captain George Gifford, C.B.
Sani—( French).
Gladiator—Captain C. F. Hillyar.
Firebrand—Captain E. A. Inglefleld.
Stromboli—Commander Cowper Coles.
Spiteful—Commander F. A. Shortt.
At noon, the signal being made from your flagship
to weigh, we proceded through the channel, each
ship engaging the Spit batteries and Kinburn Fort
AM they came with range.
To Lieutenant Marryat, of the Cracker, is due the
merit of preceding and piloting us through, which
he did with great judgment.
Had the enemy continued his defence of the Spit
batteries, the Sidon, Leopard, Sara., and Gladiator,
were directed, in that case, to remain in front of them
until their fire was completely silenced; but as they
were subdued by the accurate and well-sustained
fire which was poured upon them by the ships
which you had placed to the westward of the Spit,
and by those of our own squadron on passing to the
eastward, this became unnecessary ; the whole divi
sion, therefore, continued its course through the
channel, and anchored well inside Fort Nicolaieff and
Otchakoff Point.
During this time the four gun-boats, Fancy,
Grinder, Boxer, and Clinker, did good service, by
placing themselves in such position as to throw a
flanking fire on the middle battery and Kinburn
Fort at the time our division passed within short
range.
Immediately on anchoring, I transferred my flag
to the Cracker, and, followed by the other gun-boats,
proceeded close off the east front of Kinburn Fort, to
be ready to act as circumstances required, should the
enemy's fire, which at that moment had entirely
ceased, be renewed; however, the necessity for fur-
ther action did not arise.
As the service intrusted to me was carried out
under your own observation, I feel it to be unneces-
sary to do more than to record my grateful sense of
the very satisfactory manner in which the whole of
the ships under my orders took up their appointed
stations, and of the manner in which all employed
performed their duty.
I think myself fortunate in having for my tempo-
rary flagship so efficient and well-ordered a man of-
war as the Valorous, and I feel :much indebted to
Captain Buckle and his zealous First Lieutenant

THE PRESS.

Joseph Edye, for their unremitting attention and
assistance. .

I am delighted to add that, in concerting with our
gallant allies the arrangements necessary for carry•
ing into effect the present successful operations, I
have received the cordial support and concurrence of
my excellent colleague, Rear-Admiral Odet Pellion.
The anxiety which you yourself ever feel to do full
justice to merit and exertion must be my excuse for
presuming to request your most favorable notice of
Lieutenant Marryat and Mr. Booker. They have
had anxious, difficult, and dangerous work to perform,
and they have each of them executed it admirably.
HOUSTON STEWART, Rear-Admiral.