The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-13 00:00:00

be in every respect superior to the. maritime forces of
Russia, the ships of which they are at present composed
are quite ineffective so far as relates to the bombard-
ment of the enemy's ports, in consequence of their great
draught of water. Not one of the larger class can ap-
proach the north side of Cronstadt nearer than two and
a half miles, a distance ten times too great for the
heaviest shot•they can throw to produce any impression
on the batteries. The class of ships required is such as
can carry four of Nasmyth's wrought-iron guns, now in
course of formation which are to throw shot 14 inches
in diameter of a cylindrical shape, and of a weight of 4
cwt. to 10 cwt,, with 'a maximum charge of powder of
501 b. A dozen of these ships constructed to draw not
more than 10 feet of water in conjunction with an ade-
quate number of steam gunboats, will be able to pene-
trate the narrow channels and creeks, and soon smash
to atoms the strongest works of masonry built by the
bands of man.

An accident, attended with loss of life, occurred on
the evening of the 3clinst., owing to the capsizing of a
small boat belonging to the Pelter. On the afternoon
of each Sunday it is customary to permit those seamen
in the fleet who wish to avail themselves of the indul-
gence to *it any
of the ships. Two petty officers and
a marine, serving in the Potter, hid gone on board the
Magpie, where they spent the afternoon in company
with their friends. On returning to the Potter it is be-
-lieved they were inebriated, their boat owing to mis-
management, was upset, and they were immersed in the
water. Assistance was promptly afforded, whereby the
two petty officers were picked up, suffering no further
inconvenience than a good (lathing, but the marine sunk
and was drowned. The body of the unfortunate man
has not been recovered.

A sudden transition from cold to heat took place on
Sunday. The thermometer, in the shade, rose in a few
hours from 50 deg. to 72 deg. Fahrknheit ; not a breath
of wind was stirring, and the sea Zad scarcely a ripple
on it. The temperature during the night decreased to
52 deg„ The morning was extremely fine, when sud-
denly came on one of the densest fogs of the season,
which continued for three hours, when a breeze sprung
up from the westward and dispersed it. The Firefly
steamer is hourly expected from Dantzic-with despatches
for the Commander in-Chief and the , overland mail.
Letters for England will be sent this evening by the
Bulldog to Dantzic.
THE ADVANCED SQUADRON.
OFF HANGOE, Saturday Morning, May 26.
Her Majesty's screw corvettes Cossack and Esk when
standing in to reconnoitre Hangoe observed four vessels
at anchor among the innumerable islands and shoals
between Hangoe and Ivermine. They immediately got
up steam, and commenced to man and arm boats. As
soon as steam was up they proceeded towards the vessels.
At half-past 8 a.m., the boats being manned and armed,
the Cossack sent five, containing'Bl men ; the Esk four,
with about the same number ; in all, from 150 to 160
men and officers, under the command of the First Lieu-
tenant of the Cossack.
The corvettes, with a boat a-head sounding, steamed
slowly after the boats as far as they could with safety.
About 10 a.m. the two nearest vessels were taken pos-
session cf. One, a schooner, grain laden, was given in
charge of a midshipman and boat's crew from the Cos.
sack. They managed to navigate her through a narrow
and intricate passage, and brought her alongside safely.
The other, a fine brigantine, wood laden, was given in
charge to a midshipman and boat's crew from the Esk.
She struck on a sunken rock, in the same passage the
nchoontr had passed through, and stuck fast.'The Second
Lieutenant of the Cossack -was sent to get her afloat ;
some part of her cargo was thrown overboard, au anchor
laid out, and other means of getting her off going ac-
tively going on.
In the meantime the other boats were pulling to the
eastward to overhaul the vessels seen in that direction,
and were soon hid from the ships by the islands. During
these operations three semaphore stations could be seen
hard at work, telegraphing what was going on, and pro-
bably asking for troops, as well as warning other vessels
to get into places of safety. The nearest station was
so close to the ships that it could have been destroyed in
a few minutes, without risk of any kind, but it was not
allowed !

It was a very anxious time on board, while the boats
were out of sight ; it could scarcely be supposed they
would be allowed to work their will without opposition,
so every instant might be exiected the boom of guns
or the crack of rifles ; to add tc such feelings, one of the
Esk's boats was seen returning with some lone injured,
either by the enemy or accidext ; it turned out the lat-
ter. The sergeant of marines Wonging to the Esk had,
while passing from one part of the boat to another,
struck his revolver as it hung round his'neck by a lan-
yard (cord) against some part of the boat, exploding one
of the barrels ; the ball passed through his chest, shat-
tered the shoulder blade, and lalged under the skin of
the back.

About 3 p.m. two dense colmans of smoke were seen
to arise from behind some Islam's about seven or eight
miles to the eastward, and the look-out reported twb
vessels on fire, much to the eirtiviii of all bands, know-
ing it must be the expected prizes being destroyed ; but
the chagrin was doubled when tl'e brD2antine first taken
was seen to be on fire, and the Lieut,mant and boats'
crews leaving her, more especialy as she was nearly
afloat, and the boats from the eastward wore close to her,
and would soon have bad her off. However, orders must
be obeyed. and signal had been 'lade to set fire to her !
The boats were all on board about 7 o'clock, and re-
ported they chased three vessels—a schooner and two
galliots—which ran on shore, ant, as they had neither
time nor means of getting them quickly off, they burnt
them. When taken possession of they had been de-
serted ; they had no cargo. No opposition was made
to the boats. Had one of the gtn boats been present,
all the vessels might have been get safely off.
SUNDAY MORNING.—Thy captains of the corvettes and
the master of the Cossack in her accompanied by a
cutter, pulled round the anehouge at 11.42g0e, and
brought out a small sloop having no cargo on board ;
after being stripped she was towed on shore on an islet
and set fire to.

About 2 o'clock p.m. we put an officer and four men
on board the grain-laden schooner, and she started for
Nargen, as did shortly the corvette. In about two hours
observed the schooner coming towards the Cossack, as
if to speak her ; the Cossack sent a boat, when the officer
and men in charge left her, and ten minutes after she
went down stern foremost.

LETTERS FROM TEE CRIMEA.

CAMP ABOVE SEBASTOPOL, Jun 2.

Very few events of general interest have occurred
during the last four days in the siege operations, nor
has any change taken place in the condition of the works
beyond the gradual advance of the approaches against
the enemy's more prominent positions. Each day
rumour has asserted that the following day would see
the opening of the new batteries, and the commencement
of the third bombardment ; and each, in turn, by its
stationary quietude, has given the lie to the assertions
of its predecessor. A council of war was assembled at
an early hour of the morning at head-quarters on the
29th inst., when, it is stated, the arrangements were
completed respecting the reopening of the fire, but their
nature has not, of course, transpired. It is not unlikely
that the renewal of the fire will be delayed until matters
are ripe for a connected series of combined movements,
such as will tend to engage the attention of the Russian
forces, if not to detach a considerable portion of the
army from the immediate neighbourhood of Sebastopol.
News from the army at Kertch has been looked for
with general interest, and the probable influence on the
Russian tactics of their losses in that direction has been
a subject of much speculation. On all sides firmer hopes
are now held of a successful issue to the great enterprise
in which the allied armies are engaged ; and this, not
only on account of the vast superiority in fire which will
be brought to be'kr on the town and works as compared
with the former bombardments, but also because it is
argued that the Russians cannot have the means at
hand qf interrupting the operations, about to take place
in the field, or they would not have left the key to the
Sea of Azoff so completely at our mercy.
Our tidings from Kertch extend to the 29th instant.,
and were received here on the 30th By these ac-
counts the military road along the Tongue of Arabat
had been destroyed, and some magazines at Arabat
itself had been blown up. Large stores of corn had
been seized, and three gunboats of the enemy and a
considerable number of merchant vessels, as many as
100, it is said, taken in the Sea of Azoff. More troops
are to be sent at once. The 72d Regiment, which had just
arrived from Malta, received orders not to land, and
put to sea again the night before last. It is said to be
destined for Kertch. The 31st Regiment, lately arrived
from the lonian Islands, and attached to the First Di-
vision at Balaklava, was also named for this service, and
left the same night. The Russians are said to have sunk
several steamers.

The belief that the chief places on the peninsular of
Kertoh will be entrusttd to the safe keeping of the fleet,
and that the greater part of the land force sent to Kertch
and Arabat will shortly return to co-operate in a move-
ment towards Simpheropol with Omer Pasha's force at
Eupatoria, and General Canrobert's army in the plain,
is gaining ground. The delay in the opening fire is at-
tributed to the necessity of waiting Wall these move-
ments can be undertaken) tie that all may be done in
concert, and a part of the Russian army on the north
heights diverted from operating at Sebastopol. When
the fire opens the Kamschatka Redoubt on thoMamOloh,
hill, and the quarry work below the ttedan will be the
two principal objects of attack first ; and, after a few
hours' bombardment, it is tinderstoOd tlnat these works
will be assaulted, the former 'oy the French, the latter
by the English troops. No one feels any doubt of the
assault being successful ; the main difficulty *ill be to
retain possession until thedaylight shall have re-appeared.
It will be important that the position on the Mamelon
is secured at the same time that the quarry is crowned,
as there is little doubt that some of the guns on the for-
mer bill bear on the quarry. Whether the quarry is
armed is not known ; its position on the Redan hill pre-
vents this from being ascertained by observation, and as
yet no embrasures have been opened. A discharge' of
shell has been occasionally thrown into the work, to in-
terrupt the proceedings of the enemy within.
The fire has been slack along all the lines during the
last few days. A. new device of the enemy has been
loading some field pieces, which are placed at tho sower

part of the Mamelon-hill, and directed against our ad-
vanced works, not only with the usual round shot. but
also with a quantity of grape. This was very deceptive
at first, for the loud whiz of the round shot prevented
the small grape from being heard in their fight, and
moreover as the chief impetus was given to the shot, it
flew past first, and afterwards, when all danger had appa-
rently gone by, came the pattering of the grape. We
have had very few casualties in the trenches, and such as
have occurred have happened principally from rifle balls.
Orders have been given that a certain number of
marksmen selected from the Rifle Brigade should be
told off daily to act as sharpshooters in front of the ad-
vanced works, and that they should cease doing the
ordinary duty of the trenches. During the siege opera-
tions the soldiers of the Rifle Brigade have not been
doing this duty, for which it might have been expected
they would have been more particularly employed.
They have, therefore, in a great measure ceased to re-
tain their distinctive character, and have taken their
tour of duty in the trenches on the same footing with
the other line regiments.
Now that our trenches are so close to the works of
the enemy, a well-directed rifle fire can be brought to
bear on the embrasures of their batteries with great
effect. The Russians have for some time resorted to the
usual expedient in the Redan and elsewhere of placing
springing screens, or " mantlets," for the protection of
the gunners against our Mini& ; but in spite of these
devices our men, placed in favourable points, by watch-
ing and taking advantage of favourable opportunities,
can keep greatly under control the fire of the guns.
Some mantlets have lately been applied to several of
our foremost batteries.

Another battery was completed in the right attack
last night, and in both attacks every arrangement is now
completed for the opening of fire. The stores of shot,
shell, and ammunition are enormous ; the rounds for
each gun were completed some days since to 800 per
gun, and the shells for each 13-inch mortar now reach
the number of 300. There was an explosion of gunpowder
on the railway on the evening of May the 29th, but
only two kegs of powder and a few friction tubes were
destroyed. One man was slightly injured.
Captain Owen, of the Royal Engineers, who suffered
amputation of a thigh, about a month since, in conse-
quence of a severe injury from a rifle-ball, has left camp
to proceed to England. • Before coming out he had been
appointed and was acting as secretary of the British
committee for the Paris Exhibition, and he voluntarily
gave up this post to-join his corps before Sebastopol. He
has been much liked by every one of his comrades and
by the Sappers, the latter of whom volunteered to carry
him from camp to Balaklava, to prevent the jolting of a
wheeled.vehicle. This was accomplished, the men being
in three relays, and he arrived at the port without any
fatigue from the journey.
Miss Nightingale has also left, still very debilitated
and suffering. A few days before her departure she had
a relapse of fever, which seriously interrupted her pro-
gress towards convalescence. Lord Ward placed his
yacht at her disposal.
I regret to say that, although cholera has nearly dis-
appeared among the troops encamped before Sebastopol
it has increased among thceforces at Balaklava, and se-
veral fatal cases have daily occurred among the regi-
ments of the Guards quartered in that neighbourhood.
A nephew of Admiral Boxer, a young man, and acting
as his secretary, was attacked at an early hour in the
morning, and died at 1 p.m. of the same day. - He had
been quite well, and actively engaged the day before in
assisting to arrest a fire which had broken out in one
of the vessels in the harbour. Capt. King, of the 32d
Regiment, who had seen considerable service in India,
has also died from cholera, after a short illness. He was
staying with a brother in the Artillery near Balaklava.
He came as a volunteer, and brought high testimonials
to introduce him to the notice of the Commander of the
Forces. The weather has continued dry and fine, but
the heat is very oppressive, more especially in the plain.
KABIARA, May 29.
The allied troops on the Tchernaya front remain very
much in the position they occapied on the 28th inst.—
the day of the advance from the lines of Balaklava. The
Sardinians are still on the extreme right, the Turks on
the right, and the left wing, stretching to the plateau of
Sebastopol, is composed of French and Turks. Turks,
too, slightly intermixed with French troops, form a re-
serve in the rear. The French cavalry has advanced up
from the plain and taken up its position in the centre.
The Sardinian Lancers on the right are encamped in the
rear of the contingent. In the evening they advance to
do picket duty against Tchorgoun—a task in which they
are assisted by our own cavalry, whe, for that purpose,
march up nightly from the lines of Balaklava. Though
the position of the troops is the same in the main, still
there has been a good deal of shifting and arranging
of camps ; and the last few days, though they were
poor in events, have not been idle. It seems to
be General Canrobert's intention to bring his en-
campments into perfect line of battle, and to push
the troops on the enemy from the positions they
occupy on the hills commanding the valley of the Tcher-
naya. There is also reason to believe that the next ad-
vance, whenever it shall be made, will be made with th•
assistance of British troops, for the Guards are under
marching orders, and the Light Divisioz: are preparing
to move from the post which, for seven long months,
they have held in the Sebastopol front. Up to the pre-
sent the 31st Regiment alone represents the British in-
fantry among the troops that are to unlock the gates of
the mountain fortress upon which we look down.
The Russian lines, which the army under General
Canrobert is about to take, are very strong by nature.
We know enough of the Russian engineers to suppose
that they have availed themselves of all the advantages
of the position on our extreme left at Inkerruan ; the
steep chalk rock rises at some distance from the Tcher-
naya, and appears almost as if nature, in a fit of military
engineering, had fashioned the rock for defence. The
Russians, still remembering Alma, appear to think
that our chief advance will be made from our left,
where inaccessible mountains are to be climbed and
batteries to be taken. All this day they were busily
engaged to still more add to the advantages of their posi-
tion, by the digging of rifle-pits to command the bridge
and fords of the Tchernaya. They seem to think that
an attack upon their left, the passing through the defiles,
and crowning the heights of Tchorgoun, requires a de-
gree of generalship of which the allied armies, up to the
present, have given no evidence. We on the other hand
rely upon General Canrobert and our own African bri-
gadiers to whom this mountain war is familiar ; we look
hopefully upon the vast numbers of light troops that are
at General Canrobert's disposal ; we expect much of the
Zouaves, much of our light division, and perhaps still
more from the skill and agility of the Sardinian Rifles.
Whenever these troops advance from their present posi-
tion, it is hoped that the burden of the attack will rest
upon Tchorgoun.
The Sebastopol front has been remarkably tranquil,
with the exception of Saturday morning, before day-
break, when the Russians for some hours kept up a tre-
mendous cannonade on all parts of our lines, and those
of the French. Of course, all the guns we had in work-
ing order answered. It was a general bombardment
from Inkermann to Kamiesch, but I cannot learn that it
did much execution on either. The greatest activity in
Placing and repairing still prevails in our trenches, and
it is confidently asserted that all the preparations are to
be completed to-morrow, and that the third bombard-
ment of Sebastopol is to commence on Wednesday morn-
ing. If so, it will most likely take place at one and the
same time with the battle of Tchorgoun.

Appropos of Tchorgoun, when we occupied the village
for a short time on Friday last, the French got posses.
sion of the Russian mail bags that had just arrived, with
numbers of letters for officers and some few for soldiers.
The bags were taken to the French headquarters, where,
no doubt, the letters have been opened. Their contents,
if interesting, are likely to transpire, and everybody looks
with great interest to the revelations of the intercepted
Muscovite letters.

The glorious news from Kertob reached the camp first
in the shape of two rumours. One was that we bad
taken the town and 50 guns, without the loss of a single
man. The other, that the allied forces bad been hotly
engaged, that they took the town at the cost of 2,000
casualties, and that Sir G. Brown was among the killed.
Yesterday the authentic news of the taking of Kertch
and the complete result of the expedition was published
in general orders and read to the troops on parade. They
received the announcement with enthusiastic cheers.

The weather is most favourable to the carrying on of
military operations.
The Sardinians, who are extremely strict, and who,
strangers yet to the various uniforms of the armies, are
full of suspicions, stopped and almost arrested a couple
of Guards officers, who on Saturday last rode up to exa-
mine the new position. This morning they arrested two
navvies who had been found strolling near the Sardinian
lines. Our new allies were positive these navvies must
be Russian spies. Picture the indignation of the men in
red jackets and linen trousers at those foreigners mis-
taking them for Roossians and spies. " They be Roos-
sians ! No, not they—they'd scorn the haction." In
spite of their protests, they were marched to Lord
Raglan's headquarters, and handed over to our military
authorities, who, of course, set them free. On the other
band, I should net wonder if the very admirable uniform
of the Sardinian line regiments did not lead to awkward
mistakes--at a distance they are so much like the
Russians

RELEASE OF PRISONEBS.—On Monday a number of
the men bhitight home in the prizes from the Baltic, and
pilt on hdaili her Majesty's ship Crocodile, off the Tower,
were released and put ashore at the Tower.wharf, with
the whole of their personal effects.
THE NEW YORK, NEWFOUNDLAND, AND LONDON
TELEGRAPH COUPANY.—This company have, through
the medium of one of their directors, been in commu-
nication with parties in Cork, to obtain information re-
specting that harbour, with a view of having Cork estab-
lished, if possible, as a "port of call" for the Collins line
of steamers during the present summer. The company's
telegraphic line will, it is stated, be very soon com-
pleted from the continent of America to St. John's,
Newfoundland, and the object sought to be attained is
to bring intelligence direct from that point by the
steamers to Cork, whence telegraphic communication
with Liverpool and London already exists. "The mat-
ter is so feasible," observes the Cork Reporter, "that we
have every hope in the present session to see this port
made a transatlantio ' port of call,' its fitness for which
we have so frequently contended for,"