The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-30 00:00:00

No, 380.

Brigade Orders.
Camp, Bomarsund, August 17, 1854.

The Brigadier-General-cannot allow the force which he
has had the honoqr to command,
,during the operations
-against the fovtil of Bassi d,,, lickamprtkerkwithout_re
questink the officers, seamen; mars,
and privates of the Royal Sappers and Miners and 'Royal
Marines, to accept his thanks for their good conduct
during the period they have been employed on shore, as
also for the cheerful and willing manner in which they
performed the very la,barions duties which they were called
upon to perform, and which has contributed so greatly to
the successful results which have been obtained.
The excellence and precision of the firo from the two
batteries was the admiration of every one who witnessed
it, and reflects great credit upon the officers in command
of the several guns.
Captain Ramsay, R.N., and Colonel Graham, Royal
Marines, are requested to accept the Brigadier-General's
thanks for the very able assistance they have afforded him
during the period he has had the honour to have them
under his command.
(Signed) H. Sr. GEORGE ORD,
Major of Brigade.

A return of the killed and wounded iu the forces under
the command of Brigadier-General Jones, between the ith
and 18th of August, 1851, at Bomarsund, Aland Islands.
KILLED.

The Hon. 0. Wrottealey ; Henry Collins, private Rail.,
Duke of Wellington.
WOUNDED DANGEROUSLY.

Thomas Baughan, private R.M., her Majesty's ship
Blenheim, ankle joint, by a fragment of a shell ; since
amputated.
WOUNDED SEVERELY.

William Mitchell, A. 8., her Majesty's ship Blenheim,
by splinters of iron.
SLIGHTLY WOUNDED.

William Bridle, gunner's mate, her Majesty's ship
Hogue, by splinters of iron.
SLIGHT CONTUSIONS.

Captain WilliaTUßamsay, her Majesty's ship Hague;
Lieutenant G. F. Burgess, R.N., her Majesty's ship Edin-
burgh.

BURNT.

John McGugan, A. 8., her Majesty's ship Hogue, in the
foot; John MeGriffin, A. 8., her Majesty's ship Hogue,
foot.

A. R. BRADFORD,
Surgeon of her Majesty's ship Hogue, and Medical
Officer in charge of the above force.
Approved, W. RAMSAY, Captain.

No. 381. Bulldog, off Bomarsund, Ang. 19.
Sir,—l have received their lordships' letter of the 7th
inst., approving of all my proceedings and their satisfac-
tion
at Admiral Plumridge's activity and judiciousness.
2. I owe much to Admiral Plumridge for the manner he
placed his squadron to prevent reinforcements being thrown
in ; and I am informed two Russian Admirals were sent
.among the islands to see if it were possible to pass the
blockading squadron, and returned in despair.
Rear-Admiral Plumridge, as second in command, I have
removed into the Neptune ; Rear-Admiral Martin will
hoist his flag on board the Leopard, and take charge of
the Gulf of Bothnia, during the rest of the season, which
will not be long.—l have, &c.
dfIAS. NAPIER,
• Vice-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.

No. 397. Bulldog, Led Sund, Aug. 22, 1854.
Sir,—l aria happy to inform their Lordships, that Rear-
Admiral Chads has conducted three of his line-of-battle
ships in perfect safety through all the intricate navigation
of the channels from Bomarsund to this anchorage.—l
have, &c., CHAS. NAPIER,
Vice-Admiral and Commander•in-Chief.
The Secretary of the Admiralty.

Return of Russian Prisoners embarked in the
undermentioned Ships.
Hannibal—Officers 9, privates 304. wives of officers 1,
wives of men 7, children 2 ; total, 323.
Algiers—Officers 8, privates 409, wives of officers 2, wives
of men 1; total, 420.
Royal William—Officers IG, privates 731, wives of officers
1, wives of men 8, children 8 ; total, 764.
Termagant—Officers 3, privates 199, wives of officers 3,
children 1, servants 1; total, 207.
St. Vincent—Officers 15, privates 499, wives of men 5,
children 2 ; total, 521.
Grand total, 2,235.
(Signed) F. W. GREY, Commodore.

GR,YIA ITE BATTERIES.

(From the Examiner.)

At the moment when some of our contemporaries
were reprobating in language most severe and unmea
sured the indiscretion of those who advocated in Parlia- ,
ment or the press a rather more vigorous action on the ,
part of our fleets in the Black Sea and the Baltic, and
at the tune we were told, on the authority of an admiral
who had seen Cronstadt from the top of a lighthouse,
that " the batteries were of solid granite, to attack
which would be certain destruction, on the authority of
S:r Charles Napier," we ventured to remark :
" Cronstadt is no doubt as strong as it can be made,
but if it has any extraordinary look of solidity, such as
to strike an observer of cannon-shot range at the top of
a tower, it is to he suspected that such a show is false,
that it is postichc, that the place is padded out, that
it is an impostor of a fortress, or in one word, Russian,
which expresses every mystification."
Well, as far as Cronstadt is concerned, the accuracy of
our guess remains to be verified. But we have had a
specimen of Russian fortification at Bomarsuud. The
batteries there were also pronounced to be granite, and
we were told to prepare for a siege of seine duration,
because the ground is extremely unfavourable for dig-
ging trenches and approaches ; and of course the line-
of-battle-ships, though carrying guns of larger range
than the fortress, were not to be risked against the
granite batteries. So the siege is commenced by laud,
and in clue form. But how unlike is the attack to that
upon Silistria! The form is very soon neglected—the
French speedily grow tired of being methodical, and
do the work allotted to them by assault—the English
meanwhile have dragged six 32-pounders by main
force over rocks and ploughed fields, without making
a single zig-zag to a point whence the guns
can be directed at pleasure against the towers
or the principal fortification. Captain Pelham takes
a line of his own, and places a ten-inch gun
in a wholly irregular, but very annoying position. There
is a moment when Sir Charles Napier has made up his
mind to rush to certain destruction, but he is restrained,
and the fleet merely throw a shot and shell every five
minutes, by way of diversion for the Russians.
Now mark the consequences, as related in a private
letter published by the Standard. It is Captain
Pelham's fire.
Three or four shots set the great stones visibly chattering
as I could mark by a pocket telescope ; one block then fell
out, then another, then a third, fourth, &c., and these were
followed by an avalanche of loose rubbish, just as you see
macadamising stones pour out from the end of a cart when
the back-board is removed.
Next as to the face of the fort exposed to the distant
fire of the ships, not one of which appears to have been
damaged.
The large blocks of granite that formed the face of the
fort, and which in appearance offered an immense resist-
ance, fell out in masses, and the rubble with which the
wall was filled in, tumbled out in heaps. The Edinburgh.
the Ajax, and the steamers fired at long range on the Bo-
marsund fortress, while at the same time the Leopard at-
tacked the fort of Presto, on the other side the narrow
channel. At 12-30 a flag of truce was held out at an em-
brasure at Bomarannd, towards the fleet ; a boat, with an
officer, was sent on shore, and at about half-past twelve
the governor surrendered.
Now, supposing that Fort Menschikeff had been ex-
posed for a forenoon, not to a shot and shell every five
minutes, but to the sustained fire from the broadsides of
five or six line-of-battle ships, is there not a strong pro-
Lability that the solid granite would have been " ma.
cadatnisecl" into the loose blocks of rubble to which
the Bomarsund forts were reduced by the employment
of a twentieth part of the means supposed ? Possibly
Fort Menschikoff might have surrendered as nimbly es
Fort Presto himself.
The construction of granite towers is in fact a return
could
r it was speedily per-
ceived no io
ernger be relied upon.
p
fect as they were
to a wholly obsolete method of fortification. When ar-
in their infancy, produced a speedy revolution in the
* Fras. A. Close, lieutenant; Leveson Wildman act'ne construction of fortified places. The lofty towers and
bTahl
e e st
"ginstwh tr e
n stone superseded
crwa cakl l
cracks of
s
by
w artillery,aimperfect
mat©; John Farrell, chief boat's mate and captain of high walls of the c
gun. 1 &Ale disappeared, to be replaced by

F. GRAHAM,
Colonel, Royal Marines, A.D.c
in
command of Brigade in Camp'.
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Napier. K.C.B ,
Commander-in-Chief.

Head-Quarters, Bomarsund,
August 19, 1854.
Sir, —I beg leave to enclose a copy of a Brigade Order
which I directed to be issued previous to the seamen and
marines, who have been employed on shore, returning to
their respective ships, and it affords me great satisfaction to
state that the discipline observed merits my warmest appro-
bation ' • nist a single complaint has bean addressed to me on
the part of the inhabitants against any individual of the
force employed on shore under my orders.
I beg leave to bring to your notice the valuable assist-