The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-16 00:00:00

LETTERS FROM THE FLEET.

"HANGO BAY, June I.—l have been unable to write
to you fur some time in consequence of our ship being
absent from the fleet. We are now anchored in one of
the Russian ports, in sight and almost within range of
the enemy's guns. The ships here are the Duke of
Wellington, Edinburgh, Austerlitz, St. Jean d'Acre,
Princess Royal, Caesar, Cressy, Hogue, Blenheim, Pene-
lope, Desperate, Dragon, Gorgon, and Alban.
" I have no doubt the good people of England are
expecting to hear .of our doing something in the shape
of a bombardment, but they do not know the difficulties
we have to meet. If the Russian ships were all at
llelsingfors our work would be plain. Suppose we
were to attack Helsingrors and destroy the fleet there ;
in doing so several of our ships would probably be
disabled, and it would be known in St. Petersburg
in a few hours. The fleet at Cronstadt (20 sail of the
line, several 50-gun frigates, and smaller ships) would
come out and attack us with great advantage ; and,
although skill and bravery would counteract a great
deal, still we might lose some of our best ships, and
leave the Russians masters of the Baltic for at least this
year. Sir C. Napier appears to see all these proba-
bilities, or something would have been done ere this ;
besides, the Baltic fleet is not yet complete ; we have
other ships to join. If it is possible to attack Helsing-
fors without disabling too many of the ships, I am of
opinion Sir Charles will do it. Our chiefs are men of
bravery and experience, as are also the chiefs of the
French fleet, and will not allow the Russian ships to lie
quietly at their anchors if it is possible to destroy them.
It will, no doubt, be said—Why not destroy the forts
at Ilango Bay ? What, I ask, should we gain by it ?
If we killed 1,000 of their men, they could soon replace
them, but the destruction of their fleet would be a severe
blow.

"The Hecla left on Saturday with the Russian bark
cut out by her and the Arrogant. The Lightning and
Driver left on Sunday night for the Gulf of Bothnia ;
the Cruiser left this morning for the Gulf of Riga."
"BARD SOUND, June 7.—The Belleisle, hospital ship,
made her number last night. The wind being foul, the
asilisk was sent to tow her in. At 6 p.m. yesterday a
small vessel was observed about five miles from the
squadron, making for an inlet about three miles from
the flagship. Two boats were sent to cut her off, which
they succeeded in doing, and anchored her near the Ad-
miral. Her crew and three or four women, all Finlan-
ders, were taken on board the Duke. The Admiral
treated them very kindly, and gave the women presents,
as also did Commodore Seymour, and then let them go,
much to their astonishment. Sir Charles no doubt sent
the boats to stop this vessel, thinking it a good oppor-
tunity of showing the Finlanders that we are not such
barbarians as Nicholas tries to make them believe. Some
of the deserted huts here have been set on fire by the
boats' crews sent for water and sand, which has
much annoyed the Admiral. He has given an
order that when boats go to the shore they are
to be in charge of a lieutenant and one subordinate
officer, and no one is allowed to land without his
permission. I have no doubt firing these huts has been
Clone for what is termed lark,' but it tends to give
Finlanders a very bad opinion tns, in direct opposition
to the endeavours of the Admiral, who does all he can
to conciliate them. The weather has been very unset-
tled for the last few days ; we expect to leave this shortly
for either Ravel or Helsingfors ; but it is not expected
either of these places will be attacked at present. This
will come via Dantzic, and I hope to be able to send you
another by the same route next week.
" Admiral Corry's division is cruising off Gottska
Sandoe, an island about 30 miles north of Gothland.
The Austerlitz is a very fine ship, and in excellent
order, and when the time arrives will, I have no doubt,
play her part admirably. We are only 70 miles from
Helsingfors. What would the English people say if a
Russian squadron were anchored in one of our ports, 70
miles from one of our arsenals ? Our line of communica-
tion extends from the southern part of the coast of Cour-
land to Revel, and from Aland to Helsingfors,—so that
in the event of the Russian fleet coming out the Com-
mander-in-Chief would soon be aware of it, for all the
ships on detached service are steam-ships. The squad-
ron is ready fur a muve at the shortest notice, and, if
the signal were made, could be at sea in an hour. The
large ships with Grant's galley distill water to fill up the
other ships, so that the squadron is not weakened by