The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-14 00:00:00

THE BALTIC FLEET.

It appears, says the correspondent of a contemporary,
that several masters in the navy have been sent to sur-
vey the Cattegat and Baltic, to endeavour to make
themselves acquainted with the pilotage of those waters,
which is all very proper ; but, in the few weeks that
will elapse before the fleet must sail for the Baltic, much
cannot be done. • Our ships will in all probability visit
the Gulf of Finland, the navigation of which is not
to be trifled with. Rocks, with from one to three
fathoms water on them, whose vicinity is not to be
ascertained by the lead ; currents uncertain, and to-
wards the Finland shore magnetic attractions, rendering
the compasses useless • whilst near some of the islands
thick hazy weather often prevails, even in the best part
of the summer season ; the navigation, therefore, of
those seas ought not to be trifled with. I have no doubt
that every precaution has, or will be taken by the Ad.
miralty, by procuring the most efficient pilots that can
be obtained. I was at Cronstadt in the summer of 1852
with a friend in a yacht. On the voyage up the Baltic
and Gulf of Finland the weather was fine, though gene-
rally too hazy to get an observation. We were several
times puzzled to" account for the finding ourselves much
out in our reckoning. At Cronstadt, meeting with seve-
ral English masters of merchant vessels, some of whom
had been running between that port and Hull many
years, I had a good deal of conversation with them about
the navigation, and found that even those who had been
constantly in the trade admitted they were often thrown
much out in their reckoning. They were clever, intelli-
gent men, and would do no discredit to a warrant as
extra acting master and pilot. The Admiralty should
engage their services in such capacity, if they can, and
each of our ships should have one on board. The
small flag beacons will no doubt be removed from
the rocks and shoals in the gulf, and every-
thing done to deceive our ships if they try those
waters. The entrance to Cronstadt -- which is
rendered intricate by sunken vessels laden with
stone, upon which are placed small flag beacons remove-
able in a few minutes—is strongly fortified, and other
forts were then building. The principal difficulty would
be the getting at them. In the gulf we fell in with a
fleet then exercising. It consisted of eight ships of the
line (two of them three-deckers), and one frigate. I could
hear of but one more ship in commission, and that
was a two-decker as guard-ship at Revel, besides a
few brigs and corvettes. In the Mole at Cronstadt
were lying 17 sail of the line, two or three of them three-
deckers ; nearly all of them had their lower masts in,
rigging up, and topmasts pointed. There were also
two frigates, one of them fitting out ; three or four
steamers of the Magicienne class, and half-a-dozen
smaller ones in the roads, in commission. I could not
see or hear of their having a single screw ship in those
waters. The Russian sailor may coldly face dangers
and death, with the dogged indifference of an ill-fed serf,
but not with the energy of a British tar, whose heart
and soul is in the cause for which he fights.