The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-08 00:00:00

_ .
THE BALAKLAVA. AND SEBASTUPO

RAILWAY.

The following excellent resume of the operations of
the railway and description of the country are taken
from a report addressed to Messrs Peto and Brassey by
their chief engineer. It may not be out of place here to
state that Lord Raglan has been so pleased at the energy
and zeal of Mr. Beatty that he directed Mr. Romaine,
who is acting (honorarily) as secretary to the Railway
Board, to write that gentleman a letter, expressing his
lordship's high sense of his services :
" The bay of Balaklava opens into a wide plain towards the
north. The high hills by which it is bounded on the east and
west are composed of limestone. On the west the rook comes
down steep to the water's edge. On the east, on which the
town stands, the ground rises gradually for some distance to
the foot of the hills.
" The harbour is not approachable when the weather is
rough, but once in, the shipping can ride with perfect safety ;
they are completely land-locked and protected by a point pro-
j ecth .g inside, called the Castle Point, which effectually covers
the entrance.

" It is rather more than a mile from the mouth of the har-
, bour to the extreme end, but one-third of this is shoal water,
and only available for small boats, and little more than half a
mile long by an average of 30U yards wide is available for
ships. In this space were crowded at one time upwards of
200 large vessels.
" There is a landing-place at the north-west side, called the
Diamond-wharf, where most of the heavy guns and powder
have been landed out of boats, but the Baliklava, or east
side, is where vessels discharge their cargoes, and where all
the stores are.
"The valley opening out on the north side of the harbour
continues for some distance beyond Kadikoi, and is composed
of a very rich deposit, and was, when taken possession of by
the British, beautifu.ly planted with vineyards and poplars,
not a vestige of which now remains, except some large poplar
roots, which the tools in possession of the soldiers were un-
able to make any impression on.
" This valley is exceedingly soft, and covered with water
after heavy rains. At Kadikoi the direction changes sud-
denly to the west, almost at right angles, and extends for
about a mile towards the Flagstaff, the lowest point of the
ridge surrounding the plateau on which the army is en-
camped.
. " It is after passing Kadikoi altogether outside the intrench-
ments, and therefore not available for the railway (the Flag- 1
staff is about 660 feet above Balaklava), and extends to Inker-
maa on the right, and to the French camp on the left.
" What strikes a new corner most on his arrival here is the
immense extent of country covered by the allied forces.
From Balaklava to the extreme right is about nine miles in-
side the intrenchments, and the length of defence and attack-
ing works is over 16 miles, so that, instead of being a siege
concentrated against a certain point, it is a series of detached
batteries agaiust batteries. I mention this to show that a few
mils of rails are soon swallowed up in attempting to give
railway accommodation to the army.
" The whole is composed •of lime and sandstone, covered,
except where the limestone crops out, with a light, rich,
luxurious soil, varying from 12 to 18 inches deep, over the
surface, which works into a heavy and tenacious mud after
rain. The whole face of the country changes after 12 hours'
rain from a good bard surface to worse than a newly-ploughed
field.
" The line commences from both sides of the harbour and
proceeds direct up the valley to Kadikoi, where it turns.
sharp to the west round the foot of the hill, on which is
placed the Sailors' or 4-gun Battery, and through the French
camp, thence along the side of the hills to the Flagstaff at the
top of the plateau, and about half a mile from head-quarters.
The line then diverges to the north, and proceeds direct to
the Woronzow-ro id ; this is about seven • miles f. om Bala-
klava. There is also a branch about one mile long to accom-
modate the Third and Fourth Divisions and left siege
train. Before the navvies arrived Lord Raglan placed at
my disposal 2•;0 soldiers of the 39th Regiment, who were em-
ployed in collecting stones • from the several old buildings
and walls between Balaklava and Kadikoi ; these were
placed on the site of the railway to form a base for the
rails, and very well they have acted. After 24 hours of the
heaviest rain I ever saw, the portion of the line on which
these stones are placed, with a sprinkling of ballast over
them remained uninjured; whereas the whole surface of the
camp was next door to impassable. We have also been so
far fortunate as to find a large bed of tolerable ballast close
to the town, which has been of great service in making the
road travellable over the soft valley as far as Kadikoi and
elsewhere, where we had not sufficient stones to foi m a base.
" Beyond Kadikoi there is no ballast, except what coines
out of the cuttings which are in sandstone rock, soft at top,
but about six feet down it becomes very hard and compact.
Between the French camp and the Flagstaff there are a few
small excavations, unavoidable from the nature of the ground,
and which, although they required some little time to get out,
were available and necessary for ballast, as the horses cannot
travel on the surface for any length of time, the soil working
into a tenacious and deep mud.
" From the Flagstaff to the Woronzow-road the line follows
the surface for upwards of a mile. There are a few small cut-
tings (sandstone) necessary, from the nature of the ground, in
this portion, but they will be all out and ready for laying the
read through as soonNas the materials are advanced that far.
The branch to siege train will also be chiefly on the surface.
"As regards the labour furnished by the army, I men-
tioned that 150 men of the 39th Regiment (afterwards in-
creased to :!00) had been placed at my disposal for a short
time (from the 27th of January to the 6th of February) ; they
were of the greatest assistance, as far as they went, in forming
the line, and were be 4 omiug very fair navvies, but, unfor-
tunately, were removed before they had time to be of much
real benefit to us. I took a great interest in these men ; the
officers seemed to take a pride in their work, and I was
almost in despair when they were taken away.
" Two hundred Croatians were given me on the Ist of
February ; they were at first literally useless, except as
beasts of burden, and were only employed is carrying stones
for the road. The Want of interpreters who could speak
English was also a great loss to us at first ; however, by dint
of perseverance, we have at last broken about 30 of them to
handle the spade and shovel and wheel a barrow. The re-
mainder have been and arc still engaged unloading the ships,
for which they aro extremely well qualified.
" With the exception of these 200 Croats and 200 sailors
lent by Captain Lushiugton for about 10 days, we have had
no a-sistance iu labour from the army ; indeed the Quarter-
master-General told me from the first that he could not
spare any soldiers, and I do not believe ho could. The
amount of fatigue duty and work in the trenches had fully
occupied every available man in the army; and I feel quite
certain that General Airey, from whom I have lately re-
ceived the greatest kindness, would have willingly afforded
me military aid if he could ; but the truth was, until we
began to convey goods by rail, and relieve the army of their
daily trudge into Balaklava, the trenches were not half
manned. From Balaklava to the summit the line has been
completed some time ; now it is comparatively down hill.
and the labour of transport is reduced to a mere nothing. To
give one instance—six horses can now take 30 13-inchshells
from our depot at head-quarters to the advanced trenches in
one day ; before it was as much as ever they could manage
when the weather was fine to take 6 13-inch shells from
Balaklava to the siege train.
" TI e railway was commenced on the Bth of February by
the navvies ; it conveyed commissariat stores to Kadikoi on
the 23d, and on the 26th of March it conveyed shot and shell
which,to tle summit
m nAe Diamond
tat he w
a quath•taerfrs
branch, m i
aens
df
the double
dßoaulabkl
el a vline
;
from Balaklava to Kadikoi, makes upwards of seven miles of
rail laid down 'n less than seven weeks^; and now I approach
the most important question of the whole—what has the
railway done, and what is it calculated to do ?
" First, I will give a list of the stores to be sent up to the
front daily, as furnished by the commissariat officer, Mr.
Bailey. This is exclusive of the Highland Brigade or cavalry,
who have, long since made use of the line for getting up their
stores : •
" Mom. daily supply of provisions for the front :
lbs.

Biscuit, 300 bags, 1121 b. each .................. 33,6 ,0
Salt meat, 100 casks, 4501 b. each ............ 45,060
Groceries and extras—say ........ . ........... 30,000
Corn— say, 500 bags, 1501 b. each ............ 75,0''0
Hay, 120 bales, 150 .............................. 18,00
Fuel, wood, and charcoal—say .................. 45,000

246,600

Total
" Say, 112 tons daily.

" BAILEY.
" Up to last night the railway has taken up as nearly as
can be 1,000 tons of shell and shot, 300 tons of small armsdes
,
3,ti00 tons of Commissariat stores (fuel and forage), besi
upwards of 1,000 tons of miscellaneous—viz., guns, plat
forms, huts, Quartermaster-General's stores, &c.
" The biscuit, salt meat, and groceries, Commissary-
General Fildcr has not made any arrangements abotit issuing
at head-quarters as yet. I have volunteered time after
time to take everything up for the Commissariat, and at
one time it was settled everything should go by rail, but this
was countermanded. The Commissariat have now at their
disposal every day 30 waggons or more, and these might be
filled on the average twice a-day, sufficient to take up every-
thing in the shape of stores ; but the Commissariat men will
not work before Bin the morning nor after half-past sin the
evening, aud the Commissary-General does not seem disposed
to tal,.e any steps, by inducing them to work later in the
evening or earlier in the morning, to make any further use of
the railway—in fact, he will not put himself out of the way
one step to forward the comfort of the army as far as the
railway is concerned. Lord Raglan is, I believe, quite aware
of this, and has strongly urged him to the point, but ho is
immoveable ; so that, as regards the food of the men, unless
the divisions send down men, and draw their own rations at
Balaklava, and get them up by rail on their own account, the
Commis-ary-General will net assist them.
" In addition to the amount stated above, we have taken
up all the railway materials for extending the line, forage,
commissariat huts La. our own people, fuel for engine, So. ;
and this, until the arrival of the 65 horses per the City of
Norwich, was all done by 35 of our own horses and 20 Com-
missariat mules ; so that if the success of the railway has not
come up to your expectations at home, it is not owing to any
want of labour or energy on the part of the expedition ; but,
in addition to what has been done in reality, it has had an
inconceivably good moral effect on the army. It has shown
them that everything that can possibly be done to assist them
and lighten their labours will be done. It has enabled the
siege to open again by the immense quantity of shot
and ammunition taken up. It has relieved the artillery
horses of the killing journey up hill from Balaklava to the
camp, and enabled them to pick up their condition, which
was deplorable in the extreme. It has—l say it without hesi-
tation—been the means of clearing Balaklava of the wretched
and filthy Tnrks who possessed the place and made it a per-
fect pesthouse, and, by the example afforded by the navvies,
has shown the army how to work ; aud I am convinced that
50 soldiers will do more than double the number would two
mouths ago.
" Now, as to what it is likely to do : —lt will show the army
that there aro other and better means of transport than on
ordinary roads ; that without infringing on the prerogative o:
Military men they may yet derive some assistance from the
skill and science of civilians ; that a railway—one of the n3os,
improved means of transport—can be laid over an ordinary
country as easily and quickly as a common road ; that an im-
mense amount of tonnage can be removed in one-fifth of the
time required on common roads.
" I am happy to say that the Royal Engineers are very
friendly. I have been of some assistance to them in furnishing
them with timber for their gun platforms and other purposes,
and they reciprocate this accommodation by giving me every
information and assistance they can --indeed I may say that
every department works cordially with us.
" Colonel M`Murdo is organising the Transport Service into
an efficient corps, and I find him a good and energetic man of
business.
" Now, with regard t,) the men to be sent home :—lt will
require very nearly all the navvies to work the line.
must be a breaksman to each waggon, then we must furnis
drivers for the mules supplied by the Land Transport Corps ]
the remainder will be barely sufficient to maintain the road—
in fact, I do not think that a single good navvy can be sent
•