The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-06 00:00:00

LONDON, M'ONDAY E VV` NiNG,

HER MAJESTY'S SHIP VHNG] ri•
WOUNDED.

NOVEMBER 6

in• the action, by attacking the outer batteries ot' the
Marine, and particularly that of the Quarantine. T'w9
small batteries close to the latter had ceased firing, am..l
were partly demolished at noon, but the principal bat-
tery continued to fire. The guns used by the Russians
carried to a great distance, and several of the ships were
more or less damaged. Among those which suffered
most were, on the English side, the Sanspareil, which
had 12 killed and 60 wounded ; Albion, nearly the same
number of killed and wounded ; Agamemnon, 4 killed
and 22 wounded ; Queen, 1 killed and 11 wounded,
&c. On the side of the French, the Ville de Paris, 10
killed and SO wounded ; Valmy, 4 killed and 30
wounded ; Montebello, ten killed and 30 wounded.
The four aides-de-camp of Admiral Hamelin 'were
put hors de combat. One of them was cut in two by a
cannon ball ; another, M. Zticle, had his two legs
shattered ; the other two were not dangerously wounded.
At nightfall the fleets suspended theirfiring, and returned
to their anchorage. The result obtained on the land
side is not exactly known. The Russians 'defend them-
selves with an obstinacy bordering on despair. But,
notwithstanding the 3,000 guns mounted on the ram-
parts, the fall of the place is considered certain in the
Allied camp. The resistance, however, will be longer
and more sanguinary than was at first supposed. The
occupation of Eupatoria by the Russians, which caused
so much joy to the Greeks at Constantinople, was cl
short duration. The village was guarded by a few sea-
men and marines, who, on the approach of a consider-
able body of Cossacks, retired on board their ships. The
next day, however, they landed with reinforcements and
drove the Russians out of the place."
Tile ilionitcur of yesterday contains the following
articles :
" The Marshal Minister of War has received from
General Canrobert, Commander-in-Chief of the
Army of the East, the following report, dated from
the head-quarters before Sebastopol, the 18th of
October, and forming a continuation of that of the
13th, inserted in the Moniteur of the 28th of
October :
" 'Monsieur le Marechal,—Yesterday, at sunrise
we opened our fire in concert with the English
army. Matters were proceeding favourably, when
the explosion of the powder magazine of a battery,
which unfortunately was of a serious character,
threw our attack into disorder. This explosion
produced greater effect from the fact that our bat-
teries were accumulated round the point where it
took place. The enemy profited by it to increase
his fire, and, in accord with the General command-
ing the Artillery, I was of opinion that it was ne-
cessary for us to suspend ours in order to make
repairs, and to complete towards our right, by
fresh batteries connected with those of the English
army, the system of our attack. This delay is no
doubt to be• regretted, but we must resign ourselves
to it, and I am taking every necessary step to
render it as short as possible.
" The place kept up the fire better than was
expected. The circle is of such a formidable deve-
lopment in a right line, and comprises guns of
such large calibre, that it can prolong the struggle.
On the 17th our troops took possession of the
height before the point of attack called the Bastion
of the Mat, and occupied it. This evening we
shall raise upon it a masked battery of 12 pieces,
and, if it be possible, also a second battery at the
extreme right above the ravine.
" All the means of attack are concentrated upon
this bastion, and will enable us, I hope, soon to
take possession of it, with the assistance of the
English batteries, which are directed against its
left face.
" Yesterday, about 10 o'clock in the morning,
the English fleet attacked the external batteries of
the place, but I have not yet received any parti-
culars to enable me to give you anjaccount of the
result of this attack.

" The English batteries are in the best possible
condition. Eight now mortars have been placed
in thorn, calculated to produce great effect. Yester-
day there was, in the battery which surrounds the
tower situated to the left of the place, a tremendous
explosion, which must have done much injury to
the enemy. Since then this battery has fired very
little, and this morning there are only two or three
guns which can fire.

" I have no precise information about the Itus.
sian army. There is nothing to indicate that
has changed the position it occupied, where i.
awaits reinforcements.

" ' I have received almost the whole of the rein-
forcement of artillery which I expected from Galli-
poli and Varna. General Levaillant has just arrived
with his staff, which increases to five divisions th e
effective force of infantry which I have under my
orders. Their state of health is satisfactory, and
their discipline excellent, and we are all full of
confidence.'

" The French Government has received from
Vice -Admiral Hamelin the following despatch :
" ' Ville de Paris, before Katcha, Oct. 18.
"'Monsieur le MiniStre,—ln my letter of the
13th of October I announced to your Excellency
that I had embarked with all my staff on board the
frigate Mogador, in order to anchor as near as
possible to the French head-quarters, and arrange
with the General-in-Chief a general attack by the
land and sea forces against Sebastopol on the day
when the fire of the siege batteries should commence.
On the 14th I had an interview with General Can-
robert, whose views were in conformity with mine.
On the 15th a meeting of the Admirals of the allied
squadrons took place on board the frigate Mogador,
and the arrangements for the general attack were
made with common accord, and were then sub-
mitted to the Generals of the land forces, who
heartily agreed to them.

" ' This general attack was fixed for the 17th,
the day of the opening of the fire of the siege bat-
teries.

" ' With respect to the squadrons, they were to
effect what follows :—The French squadron un-
dertook to place itself towards the rocks to the
south, and at about 7 cables' length to operate
against the 350 guns of the Quarantine Battery,
the two batteries of Fort Alexander, and the bat-
tery of the Artillery.
" The English squadron had to attack towards
the rocks to the north, at about the same distance,
the 130 guns of the Constantine Battery, the Tele-
graph Battery, and the Maximilian Tower to the
north.

" 'lf your Excellency would imagine a line
traced along the entry to Sebastopol from the east
to the west, that line would separate into two parts
the locality of the attack which devolved upon each
squadron.
" ' The Turkish Admiral with two vessels, all
that he retained at the time, was to cast anchor to
the north of the two French lines—that is to say,
in an intermediate position between the English
and French vessels. On the morning of the 17th
the attack of the siege batteries commenced ;
but, as the weather was calm, it was necessary to
attach the ships of the line to the steam frigates
before developing against Sebastopol the line of the
26 ships of the allied squadrons. Nevertheless, in
spite of this difficulty, and the separation which had
taken place between the ships of the allied squad-
rons, a part of which had anchored at Kamisch
and part before the Katcha, I have the satisfaction
to announce to your Excellency that the ships of
our first line advanced about half-past 12 in the
day under the fire of the batteries of Sebastopol,
which they stood against at first during more than
half-an-hour without replying. A few minutes
afterwards they replied vigorously to the fire,
which did not fail to incommode them, from their
small number. Afterwards the other French and
English vessels successively arrived, and the attack
became general.
" Towards half-past 2 o'clock the fire of the
Russian batteries slackened ; it was stopped at the
Quarantine Battery. This was the exact object
desired by the French squadron, but our firing was
redoubled and continued without interruption till
night.
" ' At the time I am writing to your Excellency
I am not aware of what was the success of our
siege batteries, whose fire had commenced before
ours, and which attacked the Russian fortifications
on the land side.
" If the Russians had not closed the entrance
to Sebastopol by sinking two ships of the line and
two frigates, I do not doubt that the vessels of
the squadrons, after the first fire, would have been
able successfully to enter the port and place them-
selves iu communication with the army. Perhaps
they would not have lost many more men in doing
this than we have now to regret ; but the extreme
measure which the enemy adopted of sacrificing a
portion of his ships forced us to confine ourselves
to attacking for five hours the sea batteries of
Sebastopol, with the'object of silencing them more
or less, of occupying a great many men of the gar-
rison at the guns, and of giving thus to our army
material as well as moral assistance.
" To-day, the 18th, I have only time to give a
-hasty sketch to your Excellency of this affair,
which, in my opinion, does great honour to the
French navy.
" ' I subjoin to this sketch a list of the men
killed and wounded on board of each ship. With-
out delay I ohm scud you a, detailed report 11141 A

both ships and batteries, and frequently prevented
either side from seeing anything. From about
2 till dark (nearly 6) the cannon, it.de raged most
furiously.
Towards 4 o'clock Fort. ConstamEine, as well as
some of the smaller batteries, sit aened some-
what in their fire.;" but ' towards- dusk, as some
of the ships began to haul mid, the Rus-
sians returned to their guns, and the fire
Seemed as fierce as ever. There was one ex-
plosion just behind Fort Constantine, which ap-
peared to do, much damage. At dark all the ships
returned to their anchorage. The change was
magical from a hot sun,. mist, smoke, explosions,
shot, shell, rockets, and the roar of 10,000 guns
to a still, cool, brilliant starlight sky, looking down
upon a glassy sea, reflecti:n,g in long tremulous
lines the lights at the mast. Leads, of the ships re-
turning amid profound silence.
What damage has been done the forts we don't
yet know. Three of our ships l'iave been roughly
handled, and the killed and wounded amount to
46 English killed arid upwards of 250 wounded.
_Lieutenant Chase, of the Albion, has fallen, and
Lieutenant Lloyd, commanding the Vesuvius, and
Mr. Footer, midshipniAn on board the Sanspareil,
are seriously wounded, No captains have been
hit. The blue jackets showed all their ancient
valour. Eight or nine men were swept away at a
forecastle gun on board tll,l Sanspareil by the ex-
plosion of a shell. The two remaining men coolly
went on loading, with their sponge and rammer,
as though nothing had happened.