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

DECEMBER 9, 1854.

could be secured. About eighty men were taken off by the
Queen, twenty were on board the Fury, and the Sir:sown af-
forded help to the soldiers in the French transports, who
had defended themselves against the attacks of the Cos-
sacks the whole night. Some field-pieces belonging to the
enemy had been brought down during the night, but dis-
appeared when the steamers went in to clear the beach
with shot and shell.
Such has been the fate of some of the splendid transports
before the Katscha,—all first-class ships, and worth up•
wards of 15,0001. a piece. The men-of•war, whose habit of
making periodical and careful scrutiny of their cables has
here proved of such advantage, rode out the gale with but
trifling damage. Topgallantmasts were all sent down, top-
masts well stayed, and three anchors let go. Some of
them dragged, however, very considerably. The Rodney
was not far off the ground, and the Marengo and Britannia
were at one time in very dangerous proximity. Floods of
water inundated their decks, and the old Britannia was
kept pumping for eleven hours. The Turkish admiral
lost two of his masts, and three French line-of-battle ships
their rudders. The London also has received some damage.
The whole shore off the Eatseha is strewn with wreck,
casks, spars, bodies of men tend horses, and prowling detach-
ments of the Cossacks. 1 regret to say that the hulks of
the Rodeley and the Ganges have been set fire to in a most
mysterious manner. This is greatly to be regretted;
although all the ships are so bilged that no hope remains
of being able to get them off again, still it would have been
perfectly possible to recover Government stores to a large
amount. Few lives, comparatively speaking, have been
lost off the Katscba.
I wish I could give as favourable an account of the state
of affairs at lialaklava and Eupatoria.
lu the former place the greater number of men-of-war
and transports were anchored in deep water outside the
harbour of Balaklava, whose steep sides and tortuous
narrow mouth prevent the ready exit of vessels of any size
iu case of sudden necessity. The di& are steep and abrupt,
falling down directly into deep water, and aflUrding not the
slightest trace of beach or footing for man—an iron-bound
coast, indeed—added to which a rocky bottom and thirty
fathoms of water are not an encouraging anchorage in a
furious gale, with a lee shore. Here eight first-class
transports have become total wrecks, and every soul on I
board them has been lost but thirty persons. Each of these
ships had a company of nearly forty men. To those who
held on great damage has been done to the spars and
upper-works. The Prince steamer, which had lately
brought out the 46th Regiment, has gone down, with, it is
said, three hundred souls on board. I cannot quite under-
stand where this large number could have come from,
unless, indeed, women and children, together with the
sick, had been sent to her. This, I fear, is a auppesition
only likely to be too true. Captain Bayntun, the Admi-
ralty agent, who came out in the Prince, has been drowned.
At Eupatoria, which is a moat exposed anchorage, still
more serious results of the storm have occurred. I am
told that twenty transports have gone ashore. This state-
ment must be received with caution. It is quite certain,
however, that the English despatch-boat Danube is high and
dry ; and that a Turkish line-of-battle ship and the French
Henri Quatre have gone ashore, and cannot be got off.
This calamity is rendered the more crushing by the fact
that, besides the loss of ordinary stores—such as pork
beef, powder, and rum—a great quantity of soldiers' bag-
gage and nearly the whole of the stock of winter clothing
for the troops have been entirely destroyed, thus increasing
the discomforts, if not the horrors, of winter cantonments
in the :ramie Chersonese.
A Russian line-of-battle ship, having drifted from her
moorings to the entrance of the harbour of Sebastopol, has
been sunk there beside the others.
Letters from the camp describe the effects of the
hurricane among the intrenchments and bivouacs of
the army. The following are extracts:—
Nov. 14.—After violent rain, a hurricane similar to those
in the West Indies came on at about eight in the morning.
All operations were suspended, and it was with difficulty
that we could keep our feet. The tents have been blown
down or torn, and melted snow and hail cover the earth.
The hideous winter of Russia has made it appearance.
The fire from the place and that of the besiegers is
suspended. Every one is gathering np all his courage to
struggle against the violence of the elements. The hurri-
cane blows from the south-west, and the guard in the
trenches, which relieved that on duty during the night, was,
so to speak, driven towards Sebastopol. The hurricane
continued up to five o'clock, and did not cease until night.
Nov. 15.—We breathe again like men who have escaped
from a disaster. The tents are being set up again, and the
sun reappears. If we had had two dayslike yesterday. what,
it is asked, would have become of us? What would have
become of the fleet? The vessels-of war, it appears, have
nut much suffered, but those of the merchant service have
done so a great deal. The English have nine vessels cast
Wiese, and we have four. Amongst the latter was one
containing a cargo of oxen, twenty-one horses, and six
Hussars—and all perished. Within the memory of man no
such hurricane has been known in the Crimea ; and what
proves this is, that the buildings of the old monastery on
the coast between Balaklava and Cape Chersonese have
been blown down. Several horses have died from cold in
the bivouac, and about thirty broke loose and ran in the
direction of the quarantine. The advanced posts of the
Russians and the French chased I hem, and more than once
a Chasseur de Vincennes and a Cossack were seen pursuing
the same horse. The works have been resumed in all
points. A strong wind which still prevails has, with some
precautions from us, assisted in drying the trenches.
Nov. 17.—This day is beautifully fine, clear, and brilliant
The fire from our guns won& rfully slackening—eit an
average, about one gun every half hour. Another ship has
been sunk in the harbour of Sebastopol. I have returned
from the 4th and light division camps. We looked into
the town and could see battered barracks, fortifications

THE PRESS.

and houses ; otherwise the place looked clean, well built,
and white as formerly. Beyond the immediate valley of
lnkermann, in the distant part of it, we saw a large body of
the enemy marching, with what view I cannot say. On
a day like this the scenery of the valley and hills of hiker-
mann, the plains of Balaklava, and the mountains over
them is most enchanting. The Prince was insured by
Government, most fortunately, for the total loss was im-
mense. Warm clothing to the value of 5001. for the 77th
Regiment alone wax lost in her. Many of the French
soldiers have white sheep-skin jackets, with the woolly side
in, that look most comfortable. Warm clothing has been
written for ( gregoo, &e.) to Constantinople, but it is
doubtful that anything near a sufficiency can be obtained
there. In the camp all are making some kind of arrange-
ments against the tierce winter expected, such as small
walls round the margin of tents, and deepening the floors
of the latter.
Nov. Pl.—intelligence has been receited of further
losses to shipping at the Katseha river mouth. The Belle-
rophon, at Eupatoria, has escaped; all her anchors were let
go, and she rocked so that her yards dipped each time in
her rollings into the sea. The Henri Quelre, French man-
of-war, is on shore. What other losses they have experi-
enced I know not; they must, however, have suffrred se-
verely. To-day is again fine and brilliant. It is rumoured,
and I believe it really is the case, that Sir De Lacy Evans
has resigned his command ; he is regularly done up. Sir U.
Brown, likewise,will probably never serve in the field again ;
he is slowly rezovering from his wound un board ship.
General Torrens is gone wounded to Malta. The Duke of
Cambridge, it is thought, will not return. Sir De Lacy
Evans is the greatest loss of them all ; he is now appreciated,
which upon his first appointment in London he was not.
Cholera has reappeared, among the 46th and 62nd chiefly ;
it had never absolutely ceased, though much lessened.
" Croaking " in the army is prevalent, and no wonder, you
will say, at present prospects. Fuel for tiring is daily be-
coming scarcer and scarcer, and where it is to be obtained
for winter use is a problem requiring solution. On the
whole, the prospects of the army are gloomy, but all our
miseries, though they bear ever so hard upon us, will be
borne by us like men.