The Sun.
London, England, 1855-09-05 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

Admiralty, September 4, 1855.
Despatches, of which the following are copies,
have been received at the Admiralty-from Rear-
Admiral the Hon. R. S. Dundas, Commander-in-
Chief of her Majesty's ships and vessels in the
Baltic :

Duke of Wellington, in Nargen,
August 27, 1855.

Sir,—l have the honour to transmit, for the in-
formation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admi-
ralty, a letter from Capt. Warden, of her Majesty's
ship Ajax, encosing a report, detailing the pro.
ceedings of Capt. Henry C. Otter, in her Majesty's
ship Firefly, before Brandon, the sea-port of Wasa,
in the Gulf of Bothnia, which are highly creditable
to that officer, and to the officers and crew under
his command ;. and I beg leave to recommend to
the favourable notice of their lordships the gallant
conduct of Lieutenants Edward Burstal and John
Ward, as well as that of Mr. John A. Bull, second
master, and Mr. James W. Salter, the gunner, on
the occasion.—l have, kc.

(Signed) R. S. DUNDAS,
Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.

Ajax, in Fogle Fiord, August 22, 1855.
Sir,—l have the honour to lay before you the
accompanying report of Cape, Otter, of the Firefly,
lof his proceedings between the 27th July and 11th
'instant, at Brandon, in the neighbourhood of
`Vasa, whilst temporarily occupying that part of the
station, together with a list of vessels taken, and
property and vessels otherwise destroyed ' • and I
'desire to draw your favourable notice to this re-
port, as it bears witness to the zeal and energy of
Captain Otter in the performance of this service.
I have, &c.,(Signed) FRED. WARDEN.
Rear•idiniral the Hon. R. S Dundas,
C. 8., &c., &c.

Her Majesty's ship Firefly, Kersoren
Beacon, August 11, 1855.
Sir,—l beg to acquaint you that after leaving
Fogle Fiord on the 27th ult., I communicated with
her Majesty's ship Harrier, and his Imperial Ma-
,jesty's corvette D'Assas, on their stations, and on
the evening of the 31st despatched her Majesty's
ship Driver to you from Noorskas Light. At ten
la.m., on August 1, I anchored her Majesty's ship
Firefly half-a-mile outside of Korsoren Beacon, and
with the two paddle-box boats and the gig, accom-
panied by Lieut. Ward and Mr. Bull, pushed on
to the south-east ; on our way we got information
of a large barque at anchor to the eastward of
Wasklot, and also that there was a military force
in the neighbourhood.

On arriving within two miles from Brandon, a
Itelecfraph was observed on a small island in Kor-
sham`e' Fiord, signalising with three large balls, and
on pulling in towards it two men in a boat pushed
ofl from the land with a flag of truce ; fortunately
I did not fire, for the flag was so large I mistook it
Ifor the boat's mainsail, and concluded they were
;trying to escape.
This very improper opportunity of using a flag
lot truce could not be recognised, and I ordered the
telegraph to be cut down, but released the men and
their boat.

No time was now to be lost as the signal had
been answered from the main ; I therefore pushed
n with all expedition, aid en rounding the east
point of Wasklot, observed the object of our search
n the mud, which with little difficulty was got off,
• nd towed out of range of any guns that could be
rought to bear. The prize proved to be the Vides,
lof 300 tons, with from 200 to 300 casks of tar on
!board.

At midnight two Russian deserters came on board,
and stated the troops had moved off to Wasa, on
seeing the boats approaching, thinking an attack
was contemplated on that place.
At 8.30 a.m., 2d August, I returned to the Fire-
fly, and immediately got under weigh for Korsoren
Fiord, but the navigation was so difficult that it
was not until 5.30 p.m. I came alongside the prize.
At 3.30 p.m. I weighed, and proceeded towards
Brandon, the seaport of Wasa, and a great ship-
building place ; it had immense magazines on an
island, separated by a very narrow deep water
channel from the town, with a custom-house and
barracks.
At midnight, anchored within 400 yards of the
town, and sprung the broadside to enfilade the
channel and protect the boats, which were sent
under Lieutenant Ward to examine the magazines.
Some of them were opened, and found to be empty;
others contained coal, tar, resin, salt, spars, anchor
and cables, boats, salt fish, hawsers, and numerous
piles of 3-inch deals, but no sails or rigging, as we
were led to expect. On a few of the principal in-
habitants joining us on the island, they were told
that the sails of the barque must be given up, and
they immediately sent to Wasa to Mr. Wolf, a
wealthy merchant and shipowner, but he refused.
I therefore determined to burn the magazines; but
as the wind was blowing' directly on the town I
agreed to wait a reasonable time until a cliae,a
ge,
took place, and gave the inhabitants notice
they were at liberty to remove anything from the
island that belonged to them, except ships
stores.
very
For this forbearance they expressed themse
grateful.
Towards the afternoon, Lieut. discoveredbrought
in a schooner, and reported having
fine barques and two brigs in a creek
half distant. aeinga mile and a
.the shore, and the de-
structiont ble, had the maga-
zinesAs the wind was still on
of the town
hauled close into the
__ , , g Party
been fired, I directedinev
and
ascwhooornkienr to be
island,
thing had the aPPe a ies were
to put some casks ofartaanrcaondofdsenacinsrimttyo. , nelTd. Every_
walking about the beach, parties of pleasure sailing
round the ship, and the people employed taking
I landed to communicate with the first
th!,l.itrsprpo.pme.rty from the island.
lieutenant, and had just visited the sentry placed
on a building platform, when a heavy fire of mus-
ketry, from different parts of the town, was opened
upon the working party and the ship, and was im-
mediately replied to by the latter with shot and
shell, which appears to a
The deck of the schooner have
adones s o
en greatfiia ded execution.tha t i
t
was impossible to get on board for the arms, and