The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-13 00:00:00

TILE ADVANCED SQUADRON OF TBE
BALTIC FLEET.

On Saturday morning the 31st ult. the advanced
squadro , of the Baltic fleet had entered the Kattegat
and sighted the island of Anholt ; a separation was then
ordered, the senior officer. Captain Watson, taking the
route through the Great Belt to Kiel with the Euryalus
and Conflict. and the remainder, under Captain Yelver-
ton, proceeding on direct through the Sound to Elsinore ;
the Imperieuse, Euryalus, and Conflict, to Kiel ; the
Arrogant, Amphims, Tartar, Cossack, Esk, Desperate,
and Archer, to Elsinore. At tike same time the Despe-
rate was detached to Wingo Sound to ascertain the state
of that anchorage, and send on the colliers (if any
there) to Elsinore. On Sunday morning the ships
under Captain Yelverton anchored off Elsinore, having
encountered much opposition from the floes of loose
ice in passing up the Sound. The harbour of Elsinore
was completely blocked up, and no opening could he
seen in the direction of Copenhagen. The ice continu-
ing to move down in increasing quantities, the steam
I was ordered to be kept up ; the pressure on the ships
soon became too heavy for either anchors cr cables, and
of the four ships, three—viz., the Arrogant, Esk, and
Tartar—parted from their anchors ' • the Arrogant's was
lost in the attempt to weigh it ; but the others were
fairly dragged away, and carried down some miles in the
ice-field before they could clear themselves. The ships
then anchored a few miles to the northward, behind
Kullen-point ; but during the bight considerable quan-
tities of ice continued to pass them, without, however,
occasioning further damage, and this morning (April 2)
soon after daylight they again weighed, and proceeded
under steam, with as much speed as the circumstances
would permit, through the Sound to Landscrona, aomaji
but secure harbour on the coast of Sweden, about 12
miles distant from and within sight of Elsinore. Here
they arrived on the afternoon of the 2d inst., and with
the assistance of the harbour master and pilots all
r were (notwithstanding that the ice in the harbour
was still unbroken) got inside and safely moored
head and stern ; the harbour itself, enclosed between
an island and the mainland, is very small, but in no part
less than five fathoms of water ; once inside, the ships of
the largest size can lay in safety, let the wind blow from
whatever quarter it may ; but the approach is intricate,
and the difficulty of getting in much increased when ob-
structed by ice. The Desperate rejoined the squadron
from Wingo Sound on the morning of the 2d, having
been unable to get inside on account of the ice. Two or
three vessels, supposed to be colliers, had contrived to
get in, but with considerable damage, and one had been
totally lost. The Desperate has been again sent away
with despatches for the senior officer.
The Sound is at present pretty free from ice as far as
can be seen from this (Landscrona), but the pilots and
the people here say that for the next 10 days it will be
constantly passing in immense floes, which no amount of
steampower would enable us to resist. The Belts are
also, they say, full of ice, and Kiel harbour completely
blocked up_ In fact, great surprise is expressed at our
having come out so soon, as for some weeks nothing can
be done in the Baltic, and our remaining here must be
attended with more or less risk.