The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-11 00:00:00

CAMP BEEORE SEBASTOPOL, JAN. 28.
The destruction
,of the docks will, it is folly expected,
be completed this week. Only one of them, the western-
most, still partly retains its original aspect ; the ethers
are mere chasms, partially filed with ruins. Although
to most persons the general aspect of these docks has
probably become well known from descriptions and
drawings, I will briefly- explain their position and ar-
rangement. , They extend nearly due north and south (a
little to the east of north and west of south), and consist
of three inner docks, a basin, and two outer docks, with
a lock between them. The French undertook the de-
struction of the outer docks the lock, and the northern
half of the basin ; the English that of the inner docks
and the southern half of the basin. The lock, although
capacious, was easier to destroy than a dock, its circum-
ference being a plain stone wall, instead of heavy stone
steps fit for a giant's staircase.' The French have done
their share of the worlvery,effectually, and I see nothing
that, remains for them to destroy.. For various reasons
the English works were more gradual in their pro-
gress, but have net been less thoronghly carried
out, and, if a non-professional, but highly-interested
observer may express an opinion, they do great credit
to the scientific skill of the engineers to whom they
were intrusted. I believe the first idea was to blow
up the whole at once, which would probably hake gives
a more picturesque andi to appearauce' more tborough
ruin. But this plan was abandoned by reason of the
dampness of the ground. Water flowed in from the
ravine in rear of the docks, and -rose in the shafts of the
mines. It is probable that, had the engineers waited to
explode the numerous mines until all of them were come
plete, the powder would have becomellesup in many of
them and would-not haVe ignite& rIK it was reiiolred to
blow up a little at a time. Ais difficult-for any one whits
has not seen these *ditscks looth befola and -since their
destruction fully to appreciate the magnitude of the ope-
rations and the force that• must have been applied to
root up and utterly overthrow such massive construc-
tions, such huge blocks of granite so firmly cemented,
such mighty timbers, which lie snapped asunder like
reeds or rent into huge splinter,. A stroll about the
environs of Sebastopol, and the sight of the enormous
cannon-balls and fragments of monster shells that strew
the ground in all directions, impress one with a respect-
ful idea of the power of powder ; but the respect is vastly
increased by a view of the havoc it has played in such
stupendous works as the docks—structures formed to
last for ages, and to the duration of which no limit
could be assigned. The difficulty of destruction was
enhanced in the case of the docks allotted to the
English by the fact that these were in part hewn out of
solid lock. The basin thus formed was lined with huge
masses of stone, and between rock and stone earth was
filled in. The engineers availed themselves of the soft
interval for their mines, and blew the walls and counter-
forts inwards, but the rock remains, marking in places
the outline of the docks. The counterforts were of pro-
digious strength and thickness. Then there was a deep
covered drain outside the docks, for the purpose of
emptying them when desired, of which the engineers, of
course, mode use. Greatly incommoded at first by the
water that flowed down the ravine in their rear, they
overcame this difficulty at no small expense of labour.
Their mode of operating against the docks varied accird-
ing to circumstances, but seems to have consisted in great
measure of regular mines, with shaft and gallery. Two
of these shafts, down which I yesterday looked, are about
30 feet deep. They are situated one on each side of the
weetern dock, and in one of them, which is at about 50
feet from its entrance (between it and 'the-centre dock),
an unfortunate accident occurred on Saturday 'last. The
engineers had blown up tit) eastern pier, or extremity
of that side of tae dock, to which a gate is attached
—ono of the jaws of the dock, as I may say, which
are closed by the gates ; and this explosion seems to
have been as complete in its effect as any that have taken
place. The huge mass was lifted up and dislocated, and
the enormous transverse beams, masses of black timber
of incalculable strength, were torn from their fastenings,
snapped in twain, and remained with their splintered
ends resting against each other, in the shape of a house-
roof. Below the pointed- arch thus formed is a black
chasm, and heaped around are piles of displaced stone
and dusty rags. Everything is removed and riven
without being scattered ; and this is the obj have
at which
our engineers have constantly aimed. They have sought
all along, and general;y with much succesp, so to pro-
portion the charges of their mines that, while every-
thing should be overturned, rooted out, and thrown into
the utmost confusion (literally topsytnrvy), as little as
possible should be thrown out of the crater. And ac-
cordingly most of their explosions have not had the ap-
pearance which would popularly be anticipated from
the letting off of two, three, or more thousand pounds
of powder. There was no diverging gush of stones,
but a sort of rumbling convulsion of the ground ;
a few blocks and fragments' were cast up to a mo-
derate height, but the effect upon the spectator
was that of some gigantic - subterranean hand just
pushing the masses a short distance out of their
places, turning them upside down, and rolling them
over each other in 8 eiOUti-Or'lsMtdarandk- duet', Then

were probably two reasons for the earn with which the
engineers measured theie ehaiiite. One may lie that by'
irduatinrndts 4
left
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The
andhre
e
leaving the docks encumbered and filled up with their
ownrwe bdi
ei i ,
second reason may be that by more violent explosions
Vey would probably have shaken down buildings, over-
thrown the dockyard wall (which already totters and
loses stones from its summit when a mine is let off),
and perhaps have caused accidents. As it is, these
operations have been the occasion of extremely little
loss of life or injury to limb. The Russians have fired
a great deal at times, but their shots have not told,
and, although their fire has been occasionally accurate
enough, shell after shell falling into the docks, at
others they have made very bad practice, shells
intended for the inner docks, falling near the shears,
or in other directions wide of the mark. A couple of
men of the 18th Regiment were killed, .a Sapper war,
wounded a few days ago, not very severely, and I
think there have been one or two other men hurt.
Of accidents occurring from
,the explosions I have
heard of none, except the one on Saturday last, re-
ferred to above, and which was of a particular nature.
The explosion by the dock-gate had taken place, and
some Sappers were busy at the bottom of a shaft 40
or 50 feet off, when a noxious gas generated by the
explosion entered the gallery, filtering through the in-
tervening earth. The effect was gradual—one after an•
other the men became giddy, and some of them insen-
sible. With infinitealacrity and courage noncommissioned
officers and soldiers descended the shaft, braving a dan-
ger which seemed the greater because its extent and
nature were unknown, to succour their comrades, and
as they got down they in turn were overpowered by the
offensive' gas. Major Nicholson and Lieut. Graham also
went down, and suffered in consequence, The former
was insensible, when, supported by his men, he reached
the top of the shaft, and it was some time before be re-
covered. To sum up. the accident ; one man perished,
and 7 or 8 were seriously affected, but have since re-
covered, A man went down into the mine, after the ac-
cident ; one,man perished, and 7 or 8 were seriously
effected, but have since recovered. A man went down
into the mine, after the accident; holding in his mouth
the extremity of a tube doyen which air was pumped to
him, and he walked about with perfect impunity and
collected the men's caps and things they had left
,behind.
The man who died was a soldier of the 4811 Regt. Two
surgeons were on the spot, and tried every means to re-
cover him, but in vain.
The destruction of the far-famed docks of Sebastopol,
which has been for some weeks in progress, and is now
on the point of termination, is an event in the annals of
military engineering. A regulary diary of the opera-
tions has been kept by the officers engaged, and this,
should it ever be published, cannot fail to be most inter-
esting. War has
stern necessities, but there is some-
thing lamentable in seeing such great and magnificent
works as these 'docks were thus pitilessly destroyed. All
that yesterday afternoon remained (worthy of mention)
was the walls of the western dock, and their fragments ;
before the week is out these will be added to the mass
of rubbish. It may give some idea of the labour neces-
sary to reconstruct these docks to say that, after clear-
ing away the ponderous ruins, it would be necessary to
dig down some 20 feet belowthe original,bottom—so
much has the earth been disturbed by the successive ex-
plosions—to drive piles and use concrete, and form an
entirely new foundation.
The French explosion I men-
tioned in a recent letter as having been effected by sink-
ing in the water a huge iron vessel full of powder was
intended to destroy the bottom at one of the entrances,
and appears to have succeeded better than was sup-
posed, a chasm eight feet deep having been ascertained
by sounding. The works of our engineers have been
very successful and creditable to their skill and fore-
sight. Few mines, out of the large number that have
been fired, failed to explode. The strong report of im-
mediate peace that prevailed the other day caused the
works to be accelerated by every'possible means, and I
understand that there was then a failure or two. The
operations must have been replete with valuable expe-
rience to the officers engaged in them,
In yesterday's General Orders it was announced that
money-orders, payable at ail-post towns in the United
Kingdom for sums not exceeding 51., will henceforward
be issued at head-quarters post-office on Mondays and
Fridays, and at Balaklava on Wednesdays and Satur-
days, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. This is an excellent
measure, and can hardly fail to tend to the diminution
of drunkenness, which, although not 50 rife as in
autumn, is still far too prevalent, especially on Sundays.
Mr. E. T. Smith, chief postmaster at,Constantinople,
has arriv ed here to superintend the arrangement, and
be preser It at the opening of the money-order offices.
The vreather has been fine since my last, and the
camp is rapidly drying under the influence of sun
and of r ;ether a high wind. Yesterday was a cloudless
and lov ply day, worthy of the month of May, and as
there was little duty to do (it being Sunday), and as the
ground was in an improved state for riding and walking,
the country was covered with ramblers of all ranks.
Innumerable groups of officers rode into Sebastopol after
church service, and a stream of soldiers, sailors from
Balakf ava, Army Works Corps men, and all manner of
,11900 cripte, on foot and on Ilereebaok, flOiTell in the