The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-09 00:00:00

THE RUSSIAN PRISONERS.

The Royal William, "120, Capt. Kingcome, arrived in the
Downs, from the Baltic, at nine o'clock on Thursday even-
ing, and remained there till yesterday morning, when she
proceeded down Channel with a fresh easterly wind,
having received orders to proceed to Brest with the Rus-
sian prisoners.
The Algiers, 91, screw, Captain Charles Talbot, ran into
Sheerness Harbour yesterday at three p.m., and dis-
charges the 450 prisoners, together with seven women
and five children, on board the .Benbow, her Majesty's
prison-ship. Only one prisoner died on the passage.
The Sphinx, steam-sloop, at Sheerness, Captain Wm.
J. C. Clifford, arrived at 8 p.m. yesterday, from the
Downs, with Russian prisoners brought home in the St.
Vincent. The following Russian officers arrived by the
Sphinx :—Lieut. Niketin, Commissaries Jverskoj and
Porhinsky ; Ensigns Dalin, Grotenfelt, Backman, and
Leistedt ; with 251 soldiers, all Russians : also the under
mentioned Finnish officers :—Major Grahn, Captain von
Essen, Captain Sneliman, Lieutenants Hook, Dalin,
Grotenfelt, and Bollfras ; also 122 Finnish soldiers,
10 wives of soldiers and three children, making a total of
356. The Sphinx left Lodsund on the 20th ult. in com-
pany with Commodore Grey's squadron ; on the same day
took the Royal William in tow, and towed her into a
fair wind off the island of Gothland, then proceeded to
Elsinore to coal ; left Elsinore on the 281 h ult., and took
the St. Vincent iu tow the same evening. She anchored
off Foreness on the 31st. On the Ist inst. received the in-
telligence of the death of Captain Mansell, caused by a
diseased heart, after eight days' illness; same day took
the St. Vincent in tow, kept her in tow until the 4th,
towing her through the Great Belt. On casting off, the
following melancholy accident occurred :—At about ten
p.m. Captain Clifford was standing on the starboard side
of the upper deck between the after eponson bollard
timber and the mainmast, the 14-inch towing hawser
being passed round the mainmast from the turns on the
atter bollard, in consequence of the foremast bollard in
the after sponson having been carried away on towing the.
St. Vincent on her outward passage to the Baltic, which
prevented them getting proper turns over the two bol-
lards for security. On Captain Clifford giving the order
to veer away the hawser from off the mast, the end with
a sudden jerk ran round the mast and struck him across
both his legs just below his knees; he fell to the deck,
and upon the surgeon examining him after he was
placed in his cabin, it was found that both legs had
received simple fractures. A seaman, named James
Brooks, who was standing near the captain, received a
slight contusion on his left foot. We are happy to say
he is going on very favourably under the medical care
of the surgeon, Mr. John C. Sabben. On the day after the
accident she took the St. Vincent in tow, and anchored in

the Downs on the 6th inst. Ou the 7th the St. Vincen

tranferred her prisoners into the Sphinx and Janus, and
they arrived at Sheerness on the Bth at 8 p.m. with the

Janus—the Janus having the following officers and men
prisoners on board, all of whom have been put on board
the Benbow prison ship (under charge of the Commander
and officers of the Devonshire, assisted by Lieutenant
Everest) :—C. Kerman, surgeon of the Artillery Company
in the forts at Bomarsund ; 132 Russian soldiers, 9 women,
and 13 children ; 20 of these prisoners were convicts des-
tined for Siberia, but sent to Bomarsund to assist in work-
ing the guns in the principal fort. They are reported to be
most depraved characters, and have been condemned to
Siberia, many of them for murders, and others for detest-
able crimes, and many of the latter have undergone the
first part of their sentences by being unconditioned as men
for their future lifetime by the Emperor's order. The
Sphinx was commissioned on the 24th of May. She con-
veyed and landed French troops at Bomarsund, and took
a very prominent part in the bombardment of the forts at
that place. Generally speaking the crew have been very
healthy, thanks to the continued and prompt attention of
Dr. Sabben, who has been indefatigable in his watchful-
ness over every officer and man, as need required, in check-
ing the premonitory symptoms, by which actual cholera
has been kept in chock throughout the ship. Strange to
say, three fresh cases, of a very virulent nature, broke out
among the prisoners just as they were being put on board
the Devonshire yesterday.
Yesterday, at 2 p.m., Captain Lord Frederick Kerr,
. Flag-Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, came on boar(
• the Devonshire, and informed them that their applicatim
for subsistence-money had been granted, and that the
Adrairolty bid oont an order down to the Cemmander.in.