The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-08 00:00:00

DESPATCH FROM ADMIRAL LYONS

( Rom a Supplement to the Landon Gazette of r;day.

ADMIRALTY, DEO. 7.

Despatches, with enclosuro, of which the follocs,iug
are copies, have been received from Admiral Sir Edmund
Lyons, Bart , G.C.8., Commander-in-Chief of her Ma•
jesty's Ships and Vessels in the Mediterranean and
Black Sea.

REPORTED DESTRUCTION OF CORN, &C., IN GREISK
LIMAN.

Royal Albert, Kazatch Bay, Nov. 24.
Sir,—Their lordships are aware that when the small
gun-boats were no longer required at Kinbourn I sent
them back to Captain Osborn, to afford him the means
of destroying, at the latest p?riod of the season, the har-
vest of this year, which I understood to be collecting in
the neighbourhood of Gheisk-Liman, for the purpose of
being transported in the whiter months, partly to the
enemy's army in the Crimea over the frozen Gulf of
Azoff„ and partly to his army in the Caucasus by the
military road.
2. The enclosed copy of a letter from Captain Osborn
will show their lordships that in this, as on many former
occasions, he has fully justified the confidence I have
placed in Lim. The skilfulness of the arrangements made
by him, and the admirable manner in which they were
executed by himself, by Commander Kennedy, of the
Curlew, and by the officers and men under their orders,
completely frustrated the efforts of the large force that
was brought against them in defence of the stores,
which the enemy appears to have considered safe from
any naval attack, in consequence of the shallowness of
the water.

3. The effects of this brilliant enterprise, in the de-
struction of so much corn and forage at the commence-
ment of winter, cannot fail to be severely felt by the
Russian armies b.th in the Crimea and the Caucasus.
4 Commander Kennedy, in reporting his large share
in the proceedings of the day in the command of the
Curlew, states to Captain Osborn that at one place alone
the rows of stacks were six deep and extended two mils-,
and it appears that for economy in transport and stor-
age the straw was cut sear to the ears of the corn.
5. As the ice is now forming on the shores of the
Sea of Az9ff and the squadron is withdrawn, I feel it
to be due to Captain Osborn to record that, under cir-
cumstances of great difficulty, occasioned by unusually
tempestuous weather, he has most ably continued
through the summer, and brought to a successful close
in the autumn, operations successful in their nature and
extremely detrimental to the enemy, which commenced
auspiciously in the spring under the direction of the late
Captain Lyons of the Miranda ; nor is it too much to say
that both commanding officers were supported through-
out, by as dashing and as intelligent a baud of young
officers, seamen, and marines, as ever shone in the
British navy.—l am, &c.,
(Signed) EDMUND LYONS,
Rear-Admiral and Commander-in Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty, London.

lI.M. steam•slocp Vesuvius, off Gheisk, Nov. 7.
Sir,—After dark on the evening of the 3d instant, the
squadron under my command was assembled and
anchored in 1G feet water, off Gheisk-Liman, and I
made arrangements for the morrow to operate against
the extensive collection of corn, forage, and fuel, belong-
ing to the enemy, stacked along its shores, so as to
dis-
tract the attention of the large force which, from pre-
vious observaton, I knew to be in the neighbourhood.
Under Lieutenant Ross, of the Weser, I placed the
Curlew in the temperary charge of Lieut. Miall, and
the Ardent in charge of Mr. Tilly, Second Master, each
vessel having sufficient men left in her to weigh an
anchor, or fight a gun, and man a few boats, giving
orders to Lieut. Ross to close in on the northern face
of Gheisk, and to be prepared to co-operate with me in-
side the Liman.

The Vesuvius I left in the offing, denuded of every
available person ; embarking officers and men as in the
a.lnexed list, from the Vesuvius, Curlew, We,er, and
Ardent, with their boats, we left 4 daylight, towed by
her Majesty's gun-boats.
Recruit, Lieutenant G. Day.
Boxer, Lieutenant S. P. Townsend,
Cracker, Lieutenant J. H. Marryat.
Clinker, Lieutenant J. S. Hudson.
By 6.30 a.m. the flotilla was off Vodina, three miles north
ofGlotira ; here long tiers of corn-st Eeks and mush fuel
was stored along the coast, with a Cossack guard for its
protection ; I immediately detached Commander Ken-
nedy with the boats, covering him with the gun vessels,
and in a short time all was in flames, and the party
cleverly re•etubarked at the moment that a large body
of Cossacks rode up from Lazalnite.
The town of Glofira, became the next point of attack ;
it was greatly changed in appearance since visited by
Captain Rowley Lambert in July last. Clrn-stacks,
for some miles in extent, might now be seen along its
southern and eastern face, placed close to the water's edge
ready for transport ; and between the rows of houses
tier on tier were to be seen.

An entrenchment had been cut along the edge of the
cliff commanding the spit ; large bodies of dismounted
cavalry were seen lining it, and armed men showed in
the rear of every house.

To endeavour to flank the defences, as well as destroy
the corn stacks stored on a high hill east of Glofira, I
despatched Commander Kennedy, with the boats of her
Majesty's ship Curlew, a paddle•box boat and cutter of
the Vesuvius, the whole towed by the Clinker, Lieut.
Hudson, with orders to turn the spit end, and then attack
in that direction, alter giving a certain time to allow the
enemy's attention to be divided by the other attack.
The gun-boats Recruit, Grinder, Boxer, and Cracker
opening fire on the entrenchments with Shrapnell shell,
and on the corn ricks with carcases.

As the enemy eonld only be dislodged from the ex-
treme west, and the carcases did not well answer, and
moreover endangered the whole town, I despatched
Lieuts. Day and Campion with the small force of marines
available, a howitzer boat and two rocket boats, to aid
more effectually in carrying out my object.
Lieut. Campion, with Mr. Verey, gunner, charging
at the head of the marines, supported by Lieut.
mDakyarc:
the seamen, all being under a sharp fire of 9sety.
succeeded in driving the enemy, with considerable loss,
out of their trench work, and capturedback, with logs, a small brass
piece, and then steadily forced them
from store to store, until the whole of the vast quantity
of corn, stacked ready for thrashing and transport, was
in flames.
The gallant manner in which Lieut. Campion led the
marines deserves to be brought under your notice.
Seeing the enemy collecting beyond
my for
ca e ravine
had
on
to charge our men if they i a
m a number of men, ready
lrveacncleledd
the east face of the town,
the satisfaction of seeing all embarked, with, and
only one
man wounded.
The vessels off Gheisk were now seen to be engaged,
Lieut. Ross,of
the Weser, having placed them in capi-
tal; )
positions and as the enemy moved down large bodies
of troops,
especially cavalry, to resist his landing, and
he ve unwillingly had to fire on
opened fire on him,
themry
the town, to dislodge .
The proceedings of Lieut. Ross were ably executed,
and he fully succeeded in keeping in check a heavy body
of cavalry which might have much incommoded the small
force under Commander Kennedy, who, by the most
strenuous exertions, had reached his position, and find-
ing the cliff too steep to scale in the face of a large num-
ber of troops, who were firing on him from its crest, he
very judiciously executed the duty I had entrusted to
him with the gun and the carcase rockets of the ship's
boats, setting every store in flames except one large Go-
vernment building considerably in the rear.
Commander Kennedy speaks in the highest terms
of his party, for the shallowness of the water obliged
the crews of the boats to be rowing and wading through
the water from noon until midnight, the season too be-
ing now very cold.
Throughout the night the stores were burning fiercely,
a sheet of flames extending fully two miles,
but the town
of Glofira, except where the troops had used the houses
against us, remained untouched.
At an early hour on the Gth November we weighed
and proceeded into the Liman, steering towards Gheisk ;
the valuable services of Mr. George Perry, Acting
Master of the Vesuvius, and Mr. Parker, Second Master
play ; and, at an early
of the Recruit, came here into