The Press.
London, England, 1854-12-16 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

folds of the wet canvas, which beat us about the
head with the greatest fury. Half breathless and
blind, I struggled for the door. Such a sight as met
the eye The whole head-quarters' camp was beaten
flat to the earth, and the unhappy occupants were
rushing through the mud in all directions in chase
of their effects and clothes, or holding on by the walls
of the inclosure as they strove to make their way to
the roofless and windowless barns and stables for
shelter. Three marquees alone had stood against
the blast—General Estcourt's, Sir John Burgoyne's,
and Major Pakenham's. The general had built a
cunning wall of stones around his marquee, but ere
noon it had fallen before the wind, and the major
shared the same fate still earlier in the day. Next
to our tent had been the marquee of Captain de
Morel, aide-de-camp to the Adjutant-General Est-
court. It lay fluttering on the ground, and, as I
looked, the canvas seemed animated by some great
internal convulsion—a mimic volcano appeared to be

opening beneath it, and its folds assumed the most
fantastic shapes, tossing wildly about in the storm.
The phenomenon was speedily accounted for by the
apparition of the gallant owner fighting his way out
desperately against the wind, which was bent on
tearing his very scanty covering from his person ;
and at last he succeeded in making a bolt of it, and
squattered through the mud to the huts. Dr. Hall's
tent, close at. hand, was levelled ; and the principal
medical officer of the British army might be seen, in
an unusual state of perturbation, seeking for his gar-
ments ere he took to flight. Brigadier Estcourt,
with mien for once disturbed, held on, as sailors say,
" Like grim Death to a backstay," by one of the
shrouds of his marquee. Captain Chetwode, in
drawers and shirt, was tearing through the rain and
through the dirt like a maniac after a cap which he
fancies was his own, and which be found, after a
desperate run, was his sergeant's. The air was filled
with blankets, hats, great coats, little coats, and even
tables and chairs ! Mackintoshes, quilts, india rubber
tubs, bed-clothes, sheets of tent-canvas went whirl-
ing like leaves in the gale towards Sebastopol. The
shingle roofs of the outhouses were torn away and
scattered over the camp, and a portion of the roof of
Lord Raglan's house was carried off to join them.
The barns and commissariat-sheds were laid bare at
once. As instances of the force of the wind I may
mention that large arabas, or waggons, which stood
close to us, were overturned; that men and horses
were knocked down and rolled over and over; that
the ambulance waggons were turned topsy-turvey;
and that a large and heavy table in Captain Chet-
wode's tent was lifted off the ground, whirled round
and round till the leaf flew off, and then came to
mother earth deprived of a leg and seriously injured.
The marines and Rifles on the cliffs over Balaklava
lost tents, clothes—everything ; the storm tore them
away over the face of the rock and hutled them across
the bay, and the men had to cling to the earth with
all their might to avoid the same fate.
Lord Raglan's house, with the smoke of its fires
steaming away from the chimnies, and its white walls
standing out freshly against the black sky, was in
deed " the cynosure of neighbouring eyes." Our
generals' marquees were as incapable of resisting the
hurricane as the bell-tents of the common soldiers.
Lord Lucan was seen for hours sitting up to his
knees in sludge amid the wreck of his establishment
meditative as Marius amid the ruins of Carthage.
General Pennefather, Sir R. England, Sir J. Camp-
bell, Brigadier Adams, Brigadier Buller—in fact, all
the generals and colonels and officers in the field—
were just as badly off as the meanest private. The
only persons whose tents weathered the gale, as tar
as I could hear, were Mr. Romaine, Deputy Judge-
Advocate-General ; Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson,
Royal Artillery; and Captain Woodford. The first had,
however, pitched his tent within the four walls of an
outhouse, and secured it by guys and subtle devices of
stonework. They were hospitable spots those tents
—oases in the desert of wretchedness ; many a poor
half-frozen wanderer was indebted almost for life to
the shelter he there received. While all this is going
on, never forget that fuel is nearly all gone here, and
that there are savage fights, even in fine weather,
among the various domestics, for a hit of shaving or
a fragment of brushwood. Never forget that all this
time the storm is raging with increased violence, and
that from half past six o'clock till late in the day, it
passed over the camp, with the fury of Azrail, vexing
and buffeting every living thing and tearing to pieces
&tithing inanimate. Now and then a cruel gleam of
sunshine absolutely shot out of a rift in the walls of
clouds and rendered the misery of the scene more
striking. Gathered up as we were under the old
wall, we could not but think with anxious hearts of
our fleet at sea—of our transports off Balaklava and
the Katscha—of the men in the trenches and on
picket. Alas ! we had too much reason for our
anxiety.
DESTRUCTION OF A RUSSIAN COAST
BATTERY.
The Tribune, accompanied by the Highflyer and
the Lynx, were despatched some time since on a
cruise to the eastward, towards the straits of Kutch,

1183

from which these vessels returned on the 20th ult.
to the Katscha. During the cruise, and when about
eighteen miles to the southward of Anapa, and
within a short distance of the shore, tire was opened
upon them from a two gun battery, which had been
formed close to a windmill. A few broadsides, how-
ever, completely silenced them, and the seamen and
marines landed to destroy the place. On their ap-
proach the Cossacks retreated, and it was determined
to blow the place up. The train not exploding as
soon as antictpated Captain Moore and Lieutenant
Smitbett unluckily approached the place to see if
anything had gone wrong. When close to it, the
powder exploded, severely scorching them, but
happily doing no serious injury.

Letters from Admiral Dundas to the Admiralty
give the following official narrative of the affair. The
admiral w►ites :

Britannia, off the Katscha,
November 22. .

I beg you will lay before the Lords Commissioners
of the Admiralty a copy of a letter I have received
from Captain the lion. S. T. Carnegie, of the Tri-
bune, detailing the proceedings of that ship, the
Highilyer, and the Lynx, during their late cruise.
The attack on, and destruction or, the enemy's
force and battery appear to have been planned and
executed with skill and judgment. The uncertain
and heavy weather prevented further operations on
the coast; indeed, it was with great difficulty that
Captain Carnegie got the people off after destroying
the tower and battery, although perfectly smooth
sea when they landed.
J. W. D. DUNDAS, \gee-Admiral.
(ENCLORIIIII.)
H.M.S. Tribune, Straits of Kertch, NOT. 17.
Sir,—l have the honour to acquaint you that on the
forenoon of Sunday, the Nth instant, whilst standing in
for the coast of Circassia, about ten miles to the N.W. of
the Fort of Anapa, guns were observed to be fired from a
large marten() tower, situated at a spot which commands
the coast road from Anapa to Kertch, and which is marked
on the charts by the word " Daheinetie." Her Majesty's
ships Tribune, Ilighflyer, and Lynx stood in as far as the
depth of water would allow them, anchored at a dis-
tance of nine hundred yards from the beach, and opened a
fire upon the place, which in a short time compelled the
garrison to leave it.
Some of the seamen and marines were immediately
landed, and completed the destruction of the place by
fire.
The tower, with two guns, ammunition, &0., was blown
up under the direction of Captain Moore, of her Majesty's
ship Higliflyer, and I regret to add that in the performance
of this service that officer was slightly, and Lieutenant M.
E. Smithett, of her Majesty's ship Tribune, severely,
wounded by the explosion.
The landing was effected without trouble, but the surf
rose with such rapidity afterwards that it was with dint-
culty our boats were enabled to rejoin their ships.
'l' he officers who landed behaved with skill and ability;
and I wish to bring under your notice the exertions of
Captain Moore, Lieutenant Luce, commanding the Lynx,
Lieutenant M. E. Smithett, of her Majesty's ship under
my command, and Lieutenant Armytage, of the Higlytyer,
whose conduct in getting the boats over the surf was most
conspicuous.
(Signed)
THE BALTIC FLEET.
Sir C. Napier in the Duke qf Wellington, and ac-
companied by the chief part of the British Baltic
squadron, left Kiel on the 7th on their return to
England. Two ships were then left, the Edinburgh,
with the flag of Rear-Admiral Chads, and the
Eurya/us, which also weighed anchor from Kiel on
Monday last. The Princess Royal, flag-ship of
Rear-Admiral Seymour, arrived at Plymouth on Sun-
day froth the Baltic.

S. T. CARNECkti, Captain.

SIEGE LIFE.
The agrentem of a siege life are strikingly depicted
in a letter from the camp, published by the Tines
Let the reader imagine the bleakest common in all
England, the wettest bog in all Ireland, or the
dreariest muir in all Scotland, overhung by leaden
skys, black as ink and lashed by a tornado, sleet,
snow, pelting drizzle, and rain—a few broken stone
walls and roofless huts dotting it here and there,
roads turned into torrents of mud or water across it,
and then let him think of the condition in which men
and horses must have been placed in such a spot on
a November morning, suddenly deprived of their frail
covering, and exposed to bitter cold and wet, with
empty stomachs, and not the remotest prospect of
obtaining food or shelter till the storm ceased. Think
of the men in the trenches, the covering parties, the
patrols, and outlying pickets and sentries, who had
passed the night in storm and darkness, and who
returned to their camp only to find fires out and tents
destroyed, These were men who dared not turn their
backs for a moment, who could not blink their eyes,
on whose vig.lance the safety of our position de •
pended, and many of whom had been for eight or
ten hours in the rain and cold. These are trials
which demand the exercise of the soldier'u highest
qualities. A benighted sportsman caught in a high-
land storm thinks no misery can exceed his own, as
fagged and drenched and hungry he plods along the