The Express.
London, England, 1855-08-15 00:00:00

OF STORES IN TEE

,GREAT

BRA OF AZOFF.

ADMIRALTY, AUGUST 13, 1866.
Despatches, of which the following are copies, have
been received from Rear-Admiral S' Edmund Lyons,
But., 0.C.8., Commander-in•Cbief of her Majesty's
ships and vessels in the Mediterranean and Black
Bea :

(ryo. 613.)
Royal Albert, off Sebastopol,
July 30, 1863.
Sir,—ln continuation of the proceedings of the
steam squadron in the Sea of Axoff, under the orders
of Commander Sherard Osborn, of the Vesuvius, 1
beg leave to enclose, for the information of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, copies of two letters
from that officer, together with the several enclosures
reporting the steps taken to deprive the enemy of
the new harvest, and to cripple his resources of all
kinds, since the proceedings which were communi-
cated in my letter of the 7th inst. (No. 638).
During the time the squadron was detained from
stress of weather, under Berutch Spit, near Ghenitob,
the vessels were, at every break of the weather, ern-
ployed in destroying extensive fishing establishments,
which supplied the army ie the Crimea with fish, u
well as guard-houses, barracks, stores of forage, and
provisions on the Isthmus of Arabat, and the pontoon
or only means of communication between Arabat Spit
and the Climes, at the entrance of the Barran River,
was burnt by Commander Rowley Lambert of the
Curlew. The attack and destruction of Fort Petrov-
skoi' on the 16th instant, by the combined English
and French squadrons named in Commander Osborne
letter, appears to have been aocamplished with the
usual skill and amens which has attended the opera-
tions in the Sea of Azoff; and their lordships will ob-
serve that particular mention is made of Lieutenant
Hubert Campion, senior lieutenant of the Vesuvius,
who commanded the landing party, and rendered
great service. I would particularly beg leave to call
their lordships' attention to the high-minded con-
duct of Captain De Clime, of his Imperial Mejesty'r
steamer Milan, who, on seeing that the bulk of the
squadron was under the orders of Commander Os-
born, to whom he was senior, waived his right to
plan the attack, and placed his ship, as well as the
Mouette, in the positions pointed out by Commander
Osborn.

In the meantime Lieutenant Hewett, in the Beagle,
destroyed an extensive collection of fish stores and
two large granaries full of corn in the neighbourhood
of Berdiansk.
After destroying Fort Petrovskoi, the squadron
proceeded to Olofirs, where some extensive corn and
fish stores were destroyed by vessels under the orders
of Commander Rowley Lambert, of the Curlew; and a
similar service was performed at the Crooked Spit, in
the Gulf of Ault by vessels under the orders of
Commander F. A. B. Craufurd, of the Swallow. In
the meantime Commander Whore, reconnoitered va-
rious parts of the coast as far as Taganrog.
The reports of Commander Osborn are so compre-
hensive that I will only remark that the admirable
manner in which he has carried out my instructions
"to clear the sea board of all fish stores, all fisheries
and mills on a scale beyond the wants of the neigh-
bouring population, and indeed of all things des-
tilled to contribute to the maintenance of the enemy's
army in the Crimea; fully corrobora'es the opinion I
have before expressed, that he is an officer possessing
a rare combination of high qualities, and I beg to re-
commend him to their lordships' most favourable
consideration.—l am, &c.
(Signed) EDMUND LYONS,
Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty, &o.
Her Majesty's ship Vesuvius, Gulf of Azoff,
July 17, 1866.
Sir,—Heavy gales and much sea obliged the
squadron in this sea to take shelter under Berutch
Spit for several days. Coaling, provisioning, and
completing stores were, however, proceeded with, and
at every break in the weather the vessels were
actively,employed destroying some extensive fisheries
upon Berutch Spit, as well as guard-houses, bar-
racks, and stores of forage and provisions, to within
an easy gun-shot of Arabat Fort. The only pontoon
or means of communication between Arabat Spit and
the Crimea, at the entrance of the Kara-en River,
has been burnt by Commander Rowley Lambert,
H.M.S. Curlew, and we have now entire possession
of the spit. A lull in the weather enabled me to put
to sea upon the 13th July, for a sweep round the Sea
of Azof ; the Ardent, Weiser, and Clinker being left
under the orders of Lieutenant Horton, to harass
Genital and Arabat, u well s& to cut off all communi-
cation along the spit.
Delayed by the weather, we did not reach Berdi-
auk until the 16th July. A heavy sea was running,
but anxious to lose no time, the senior officer of
the French squadron (Captain De Cintre, of the Mi-
lan) and myself determined to go at once and endea-
vour to burn the forap and corn stacks upon the
landward aide of the hills overlooking the town.
No inhabitants were to be seen, but the occasional
glimpse of soldiers showed that a landing was ex-
pected, and that they were prepared for a street fight.
I hoisted a flag of truce, in order, if possible, to get
the women and children removed from the town, but
as that met with no reply and the surf rendered land-
ing extremely hazardous, I hauled it down, and the
squadron commenced to fire over the town at the
forage and corn stacked behind it, and I soon had the
satisfaction of seeing • fire break out exactly where
it was wanted. The town was not touched except by
an occasional shell. The wheat and forage being
fired it became necessary to move into deeper water
for the night, and from our distant anchorage the
fires were seen burning throughout the night.
On the 16th July the allied squadron proceeded to
Fort Petrovski, between Berdiansk and Marianpol.
As I approached the plain there were evident symp-
toms of an intones to the fortifications since the
Vesuvius silenced its fire three weeks ago. A redan,
covering the curtain which faces the sea, showed
seven new embrasures, and much new earth led me
to expect some masked works.
Captain De Cintre, commanding the French steamer
Milan, although my senior, in the most handsome
manner surrendered the right of planning the attack,
and keeping alone in view the good of the allied
cause, gallantly took up the position I wished him to
do, followed by Capt. de L'Allemand, in the Mouette.
At 9.30 a.m., all arrangements being made, the
squadron name in the margin' took up their pad-
time. The light draught gunboats taking up stations
east and west of the fort, and enfilading the works
in front and rear: whilst the heavier vessels formed
a semicircle round the front. The heavy nature of
our ordnance crashed all attempts at resistance, and
soon forced not only the garrison to retire from the i
trenches, but also kept at a respectable distance the

• Venetia. Cam stander Miran Osborn ; Carlow, Cam-
mender Rowley Lambert ; Swallow, Commander F. A. B.
Cramfard Fancy, Llestenat C. G. Grylls ; Grinder. Lieu-
Meant F. Hamilton; Boner, Lieutenant 13. P. Tewnebead ;
Creamer, Lintanat J. R. Ramat ; Wrangler, Lientanaat
H. Barron' ; Lieutenant 3. 8. Hudson; Nag*
L&sass W. N. Rants.

resins faros, fiensiselrg of three strong battalions of
infantry and two squadrons of cavalry.
We then oommineed to fire with caresses, and, al-
though partially enceessful, I was obliged to send the
light boats of the squadron to complete the destruc-
tion of the fort and batteries—a duty I entrusted to
Lieut. Hubert Campion, of the Vesuvius, sedated by
the officers in the annexed list.

Ina short time I had the satisfaction of seeing all
the cantonment, gun platforms, public buildings, oorn
and forage stores on fire, and the embrasures of the
earthworks seriously injured ; and, although the
enemy from an earthwork to the rear opened a sharp
fire upon our men, Lieut. Campion completed this
envies in the most able and perfect manner, without
the lass of one man.

Lient. Campion reports that the fort was fully as
formidable & ens as it appeared from the ships ; the
platforms were laid ready, but the guns either had
not yet arrived or had been withdrawn by the enemy.
Leaving the Swallow, Commander Cranford, to check
any attempt of the enemy to re-occupy the fort and ex-
tinguish the fire until the destruction was oomplete, the
rest of the squadron proceeded to destroy great quan-
tities of forage and some most extensive fisheries,
situated upon the White House Spit, and about the
mouth of the River Berda. By dark the work was
done, and thirty fisheries, numbers of heavy launches,
and great store of salted fish, nets, and gear, as well
as much forage, had fallen into our hands, in spite of
considerable numbers of Cossack horse.
Nothing could exceed the real and energy dis-
played by every officer and man throughout the day ;
and the skilful manner in which the various officers
in command of her Majesty's vessels took up their
positions in the morning, the beautiful accuracy of the
fire, and the care with which the squadron was han-
dled in shallow water, deserve to be called to y iur
favourable notice. The able and cheerful co-opera-
tion of the French throughout the day was beyond all
praise—I have, &c.,
(Signed) SHIPYARD OSBORN.
Commander and Senior Officer.
Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, Bart.,
C1.C.8., Commander-in-Chief.

Her Majesty's ship Vesuvius,
Gulf of Azoff, July 21.
Sir,—The day I closed my last report to you, the
Beagle, Lieutenant Hewett, was detached to Ber-
dianak.

Lieutenant Hewett rejoined me yesterday, and
reports that one of the Russian sunken vessels was
blown up. Lieutenant Hewett, the same evening,
landed under cover of his vessel's guns, and destroyed
an extensive collection of flab stores, and two large
granaries full of corn.
On the 17th July, in consequence of information
received of extensive depots of corn and forage exist-
ing at a town called Glufira, upon the Asiatic coast,
near Gheisk, I proceeded there with the squadron, so-
oompanied by the French steamers Milan and Bionette.
The Vesuvius and Swallow were obliged to anchor
some distance off shore, I therefore sent Commander
Rowley Lambert (her Majesty's ship Curlew), with
the gunboats named the margin to reconnoitre in
force, and if an opportunity occurred, to destroy any
stores of provisions or of forage, he was to do so.
Commander Lambert found Glofira and its neighbour-
hood swarming with cavalry; the town an open,
straggling agricultural village, and no appearance of
oorn or forage in it ; he therefore very properly con-
fined kis operations to destroying, upon Glofira '
Spit, some very extensive corn and fish atoms, but
spared the town. The skill with which this service
was executed in the face of large bodies of cavalry,
reflects no small credit upon Commander Lambert ;
and he speaks most highly of the able assistance ren-
dered him by the French officers and men under Cap-
tains 1)e Cintre and L'Allemand.

From Glofira I next proceeded to the Crooked Spit,
in the Gulf of Azoff, the French squadron parting
company to harass the enemy in the neighbourhood
of Kamisheva and Obitotchne.
Theuadron reached Crooked Spit the same day
(July 18); and I immediately ordered Commander
Frederick Cranford, in the Swallow, supported by
the gun-boats Grinder, Boxer, and Cracker, and the
boats of her Majesty's ships Vesuvius, Curlew, and
Fancy, under Lieutenants Grylls, Rowley, and Sul-
livan, to proceed and clear the spit of the cavalry and
Cossacks of the enemy, and then land and destroy
the great fishing establishments situated upon it.
Commander Craufurd executed this service with
great vigour, and his report I have the honour to
enclose. The extraordinaty quantity of nets and
stores of fish, and the scale of the works destroyed
fully confirm the statements made by the workpeople
that their occupation consisted in supplying food to
the army in the Crimea, everything going to Sim-
pheropol by the great northern road along the steppe.
Whilst this service was being executed, I reconnoi-
tred the month of the river Mious, fifteen miles
west of Tagaorn, in her Majesty's ship Jasper, Lieu-
tenant J. S. Hudson. The shallow nature of the
coast would not allow us to approach within a mile
and three quarters of what in the chart is marked
as Fort Temenos. The fortification was an earth-'
work of some extent, and ditched but not pierced for
guns. It was evidently of an old date, and as 'could
see no one within it, I again returned to the same
place, accompanied by the boats of her Majesty's
ships Vesuvius and Curlew, and her Majesty's gun-
vessels Cracker, Boxer, and Jasper.
Cavalry in large bodies, armed for the most part
with carbines or rifles, were evidently much harassed
by riding upon supposed points of attack; and when
we got to Fort Temenos, and the usual Cossack
picquet had been driven off, I and Commander
Lambert proceeded at once with the light boats into
the river. When there, and immediately under Fort
Temenos, which stands upon a steep escarps of eighty
feet, we found ourselves looked down upon by a large
body of both horse and foot, lining the ditch and
parapet of the work. Landing on the opposite bank,
at good rifle-shot distance, one boat's crew, under
Lieutenant Rowley, was sent to destroy a collection
of launches and a fishery, whilst a careful and steady
fire of Minis rifles kept the Russians from advancing
upon us. Assuring ourselves of the nonexistence of
any object worth hazarding so small a force any
farther, we returned to the vessels, passing within
pistol shot of the Russian ambuscade. The cool
steadiness of the officers and men in the gigs, toge-
ther with the wonderful precision of the fire from
the covering vessels, distant as they were, doubtless
kept the enemy in check, and prevented serious con-
sequences. To Commander Lambert, Lieutenants
Gillis and Rowley, and Mr. Tabuteau (mate), who
were in the gigs, as well u to Lieutenants Marryatt,
Townshend, and Hudson, who commanded the gun-
vessels, my best thanks are due.
The gig of the Grinder, under Lieutenant Hamil-
ton, had a narrow escape upon the same day from a
similar ambuscade, at a place called Kirpe, 10 miles
east of Marianpol, the very proper humanity of Lieu-
tenant Hamilton in not firing into an open defence-
less town as it appeared to him, having nigh entailed
the loss of a boat's crew when he attempted to land
and destroy a corn store. A heavy fire of musketry
at half pistol shot providentially injured no one, and
Lieutenant Hamilton appears to have most skilfully
escaped.
The 19th Jaly, I reconnoitred Taganrog in the
Jasper gun-boat. A new battery was being con-
structed upon the heights near the hospital, but
although two shots were thrown into it, it did not
reply.
Every part the town showed signs of the injuries
it had received when we visited it under the late Cap-
tain Edmund Lyons, of the Miranda. The long
series of government stores burnt by the Allied
Flotilla had not been repaired, and the only sign of
any communication being now held, by water, with
the Doe, was one large barge upon the beach.
To put a stop, however, to all traffic of this nature,
and to harass the enemy in this neighbourhood, I
have ordered Commander Cranford to remain in
the Gulf of Azoff, with two gun-vessels under his
orders.

That the squadron has not been idle I trust this
report will show; and, without entering more into
details than I have done, I can assure you, sir, that
from Ohenitch to Taganrog, and thence round to
Harnlsheva, we have kept the coast in a state of con-
stant alarm, and their troops incessantly moving.
The good service done by the gun-boats in this way
has been very gnat.
The total amount of provisions, corn, fisheries,

• Faure, Orisder, Boxer, Cracker, Jasper, Witagler,
Mats of Veravisi ssd Miaow.

forage, and boats destroyed has been somethin
111011111011114

Nothing can excised the seal and activity of the
alone or good conduct of the men oonstituting this
squadron; and constant work does. not, I am happy
to say, appear as yet to impair their health.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) SHEPARD OSBORN,
Commander and Senior Officer.
Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons,
But., G.C.8., &c.
Her Majesty's ship Swallow, off Crooked hit
Sea of Azoff, July 15, 1865. .
Sir,—ln compliance with your orders, I proceeded
in her Majesty's @team gunboat Grinder, with Creek.,
and Boxer, and boats of the squadron, to reconacitre
the Crooked Spit.
Having cleared the spit of some mounted troops
who occupied it, I ordered a detachment of boars.
with their respective officers, to land and destroy the
immense fishing establishments and nets found upon
the point of it. The country seemed swarming with
cavalry, but, by the able management of the diem
in command of the gun-boats, and by their good fire,
they were effectually driven off the spit some distaace
inland.
Having reconnoitred as far into the land v we
could see from the mast-head of the Grinder, all
the boats were ordered to land and set fire to very
large and extensive government stores upon the
upper pert of the spit, including large fishing
establishments, an enormous quantity of nets, hay.
stacks, and several large houses used as gevera-
meat stores. I learnt from a Russian fishermen,
that the fish caught on this spit, and cured here, wee
immediately forwarded to Simpheroool, for the use of
the Crimean army; and I conclude that a very severe
blow has been iafiicted upon the enemy by the
amount of property which was destroyed, Including
spars, timber, fish, nets, and boats—apparently the
most extensive fishing establishment in the Sea of
Azoff ; and I am happy to say without a casualty.
My thanks are due to Lieutenants Hamilton, of
Grinder, and Townsend, of Boxer, as also to Lieute-
nants Rowley, of Curlew ; Orylls, of Fancy; Sullivan,
of Vesuvius; Mr. Aldrich, Master of Swallow; Mr.
Deere, Gunner of Curlew; and Mr. Windsor, Gunner
of Swallow; who all and each by their zeal and
activity rendered great service in destroying so large
an accumulation of stores and houses in so short a
space of time.—l have, c.,
(Signed) FRED. A. B. CRAUFERD,
Commander.
Commander Osborn, Senior Wham.