The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-08 00:00:00

COOLNESS OF AiiilttAll 4AMELIN.

A letter in the Gazette du Midi 066 the following ac-
count of the effects of the shell which bur's! !trt the poop
of the Ville de Paris :—" This shell blew up negily the
whole of thepoop, on which were standing at the time AA.;
iniralHamelinand fmir of his aides-de-camp. The admiral
was thrown some feet up luta the air, but without being
hurt. After having glanced at bia aides-de-camp, one
of whom was cut in two, another had hig two legs car-
ried away below the knee, and a third was slightly
wounded, he merely exclaimed, 'Poor fellows 1' and re,
sumed the command with as much coolness as before.
The son of Osman Pasha, the Egyptian admiral who
perished at Sinope, and who was serving on board the
Ville de Paris as aspirant, was one of the first killed—
sad victim of the fatality which appears to pursue his
family."

THE BELLEROPHON IN ACTION.
The following is an extract of a letter received by
the friends of an officer of the Bellerophon !---
" We got our • topgallant-masts, studding ,
booms down, bound our yards up, and made
everything ready. We were towed by the Cyclops.
She was lashed alongside of us—the port side, as
were all the steamers. The fleets were well away by
11 o'clock. The French led the way, then the Turks,
and the English last. At 1 o'clock we cleared for action
(our starboard guns). The French and Turks anchored
off the south forts, but they were not half near enough.
It was a splendid sight to seo as we were going in the
ship and forts firing ; a tremendous fire
th was
Gran kepv ilt
.ulep.
I was looking out. of the bow port, wi,
when we heard a sharp repot% close to iv+, the pieces
of the shell fell within 10 yards of us.
We anchored
within about 1,200 yards of Fort Constantine, one
of the heavy entrance forts (the Agamemnon was ahead
of us). We had hardly commenced firing, when Admiral
' Lyons sent his flag-lieutenant on board to ask Lord
George to come to his assistance, as he had four forts
bearing on him. We of course immediately weighed,
yards
and steamed in to within eight hundred-
Wasp fort and some mud batteries on the top °i of'
the
Wasp e
hill. We were the closest ship in. The firewektept
up was splendid, the men were so co
that one of our shots were thrownol.l do not believe
away—not one fired
till he got his object exactly on. We soon silenced
Wasp Fort, and then turned our attention to the mud
batteries, which had got our
, range to a T. The Aga-
memnon made the signal Well.ss
a w
done,
eßellerophon,'had three
it
and then went out and left u
forts playing on us. I can tell you got rather hotter
than I liked. The shells were coming against us like

hail ; one came through and burst over the almond gun
in my quarters. I secured a piece immediately after it
burst. A. few minutes afterwards we caught fire for- _
ward on the lower deck, so we had to cease firing and
extinguish the fire, which was done in about ten
minutes. I could not sec a, yard before me ; the
smoke was so thick. It got so hot at last that Lord
George gave the order to ship the cables. Whilst the
men were over the port side shipping the cables, a
shell and shot came in forward.. It must have cleared
two guns' crews away had they been at their guns.
When we shipped the cable we found that the anchor
had never been on the ground, so we had been drifting
in towards the forts all the while, and, what was worse
than all, we had got a shoal ahead and astern, so the
steamer could not go ahead. Luckily the Spitfire was
within hail, so she towed our head short round, and we
got out. We were the last ship, and we hauled out at
7 o'clock. Two shells had burst on the main deck, and
one on the upper deck, which I am sorry to say killed
poor little Forster. No doubt you remember him. He
was standing under the poop, tie port side, when the
skell came in, and burst close to him. He was as black
as a coal. A piece of his skulf was knocked out ;
he also had severe wounds on his lice, and luckily he
died 24 hours afterwards, but was not sensible. We
anchored in our old digging with our side and rigging
beautifully cut up. We had five men killed idsixtc.heen
wounded, besides several bruiseswithsplinters. The
Albion was the worst cut up. She had a narrow escape ;
a shell burst in the handing room of her magazine. She
has gone down to Constantinople, to be docked. She had
lieutena et killed, and three officers wounded, and ten
men killed. 'We are about the fourth worst ship. The
Britannia, Trafalgar, Queen. Vengeance, London, and
Rodney, are hardly touched. Our sides are awfully
rpped up. We had the first gun on the lower deck
disabled, and two ports nearly knocked into one.
Our wheel was knocked away. I think we are
hulled about fifteen or twenty times. Our main tope
mast was shot through. The total loss in the English
fleet is 45 killed and 256 wounded. Ido not know
the loss of the French. The Turks had only one man
wounded. Fort Constantine was nearly silenced ;it is
cracked right down, and has been since propped up with
spars. Most likely we shall go in again when the troops
storm the place; I never expected to get through it
without a scratch. I had four shots en the lower deck,
and I know they were good ones. Poor Forster was
buried on Thursday. 'attended his inneral. You can-
not think how we miss him : he was universally liked.
The Britannia has the name of Navy-back given her.
I have not time or room to enter into further details."

THE ALBION BEFORE FORT GONSTA.NTINE.
Extract of a letter off Sebastopol, Oct. 18, H.M.S.
Albion :
" It is a very difficult and laborious task to get
the guns up the heights, as the enemy is continually
firing, night and day. Day after day we have been
waiting impatiently for the army to begin, as that
was to be the signal for attacking the forts. Yes-
terday morning the Allies opened a tremendous can-
nonade on the inner forts, and down went the fleet,
each ship having its allotted post for the battle—ours
was the Waif battery, which is to the north of Fort
Constantine : it mounts about twelve guns, and is on
very high ground. The French line-of-battle ship
(Screw) Napoleon, with the Agamemnon, began the
fight ; we had to pass Fort Constantine, and in so '
doing got within range of their guns, so we had the
Waif battery and Fort Constantine, with about 100
guns, bearing on us, through some mistake of the
steamer who towed us. The Admiral had been mis-
informed, or we should not have been within two
fires. However, we opened on Fort Constantine,
which they returned, but it was too much for us ;
we were on fire in three places, and the enemy poured
in grape and canister in quick succession. We are
fearfully knocked about, and report says we go
to Constantinople to repair damages. The other
ships kept up their fire till dark, when they all hauled
off. I think the Arethusa and ourselves have suffered
most. If the Russians had managed their guns well
they could have sunk us easily. The forts were so
high we could not depress the guns on the lower deck
sufficient to reach them, being so close under their bat-
tery.