The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-28 00:00:00

to extinguish-the fire generated on board. They
had some men wounded, one dangerously.- The
Cossack and Cruizer engaged another island, con-
nected with the main by a wooden bridge. The
bridge was first destroyed with shot from these
ships, and then they scoured the island, which was
full of Russian soldiers of the line, with grape and
canister shot, until not a Russian was visible. The
destruction of life on this island was dreadful. The
crew of the Cossack' exacted a terrific retribution
for the massacre off Hangos Head. The French
performed their part bravely, with gun and mortar-
vessels, and also from a sand-bag battery, which
they erected on a rocky island in the course of
the two nights preceding the bombardment ; it
was within good range of the Russian batteries,
and •was mounted with three mortars, besides
other guns of long range. All our mortar-guns
are rendered totally useless ; some of them, indeed,
were split to pieces. lam very confident that if
we had bombarded Cronstadt as we have Sweaborg,
that, literally speaking, not a vestige of it would
be left, for this reason, Sweaborg is by nature a
place of great strength, as its fortifications are cut in
the solid rock, and hard to get at ; whereas Cum-
stadt is solely a work of art that required much
laborious care in its constrution, and consists to a
very great extent of wood and other combustibles."
—Carlisle Journal.

From a Sergeant of Marines on board the Hast-
ings :—" Our little squadron went at it in right
good earnest, with the gun and mortar boats of our
allies opening such a tremendous fire that would
rouse the peaceful inhabitants of your little town ;
and in less than an hour, to our great joy, was the
explosion of a magazine that seemed to shake the
whole place. It was such a report that caused
our seamen and marines to work with more
vigour. Explosion after explosion—fire after fire—
was the order of the day, till night came on, when
the destruction of that most formidable place,
Sweaborg, was clear to all of us. We continued
all night by divisions—the place apparently in one
mass of flames all the following day—making good
fire, good direction, and another tremendous ex-
plosion, which proved to us that we had not quite
settled the job. We continued, however, till about
eleven at night, and another explosion, with huge
masses of smoke and flame. It was indeed awfully
grand. My dear brother—it was indeed a sight. I
could have given the world had you been there. Not
yet satisfied with this, we physicked them with
rockets and shells, giving them abundant proof
that we have some destructive instruments of war ;
and more particularly the mortar and gun-boats—
they are splendid. The Baltic must have them.
Without them we can do nothing—with them
we can do wonders. Sir Charles Napier is the
practical man ; it was him that proposed them ; he
could see their use ; and the opinion of nearly all
the fleet is that he is the man to command
them."

NAVAL OPERATIONS IN TIIII BALTIC

STOCKHOLM, Aug. 20.—Her Majesty's ship Des-
perate, 6, Capt. White, arrived on the morning of
the 13th inst. at Faro Sound, reports that on the
10th inst. the above-named corvette and the screw
block-ship Hawke, 60, Capt. Ommanney, were at-
tacked by 17 Russian gun-boats which came out of
the harbour of Riga for that purpose. The action
was kept up with great spirit, and lasted two hours,
at the expiration of which the gun-boats were with-
drawn, some of them with considerable damage.
On board the Hawke one man was severely
wounded, and the Desperate received six cannon•
balls in her hull. On the afternoon of the same day
the above-named two ships bombarded the fortifica-
tions of Riga. Later accounts from Faro Sound
mention the arrival of the Hawke, which had also
put in there to repair damages.
In the accounts published of the bombardment
of Sweaborg it is particularly mentioned that a
large imperial Russian flag was seen flying on one
of the buildings, but which was not hoisted on the
second and third days. Private accounts received
here from Holsingfors state that the building in
question was the habitation of the Grand Duke
Constantine, who had come down from St. Peters-
burg expressly to be present at the expected attack,
and to excite the ardour of the Russian troops by
his presence. The flag attracted the especial no-
tice of the attacking ships, and particularly served
as a mark for the mortar vests3ls, in consequence
of which the building was speedily reduced to a
mass of ruins, but the Grand Duke escaped
unhurt. From the same accounts, it ap-
pears that the navigation department on board
the fleet was carried on with consummate skill and
an extraordinary knowledge of the intricacies of
the approaches, which reflects the highest credit on
the masters of the different ships. The writer, who
was an eye-witness of the whole affair, in describ-
ing the events, confesses that the Russians were
taken completely by surprise on being attacked
from a side,
.the channel to which had been con-
sidered always impracticable by their own pilots,
and that they were, therefore, not prepared to see
the hostile ships approach from that quarter. This
explains also the hurried attempt to throw up a
battery on the wooded island during the action,
which was, however, successfully interrupted by a
few well-directed shells being thrown in by the de-
tached squadron sent for that purpose, the Rus-
sians abandoning the island with considerable loss.
The writer describes the third explosion on the
9th instant as the great event of the day, which
blew up the principal magazine of ammunition with
a most fearful crash, scattering death and desola-
tion far and wide. Ho says it lasted for fully three
minutes. For some time aterwardsa perfect still-
ness prevailed on board the attacking ship, but
shortly afterwards the deafening cheers of the Bri-
tish sailors were wafted across the water, and
reached the ears of the garrison. On the 11th, at
noon, the whole of the buildings in Sweaborg wcr,)
one mass of flames, and all the attempts made to
put out the fire were of no avail.