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

TII BRITISH ARMY IN THE CRIMEA.

(From the Times Correspondent.)

CAMP BEFORE SEBASTOPOL, JAN. 28.
The destruction of the docks will, it is fully expected,
be completed this week. Only one of them, the western-
most, still partly retains its original aspect ; the others
are mere chasms, partia,:ly filled with roins. Altliongh
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 pf 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 circurn-
terence being a plain stone wall, instead of heavy stone
Steps fit fee- a giant's staircase. The French have done
their share of the work very 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 not bean less thoroughly 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 ihtrusted. I believe the first idea was to blow
up the whole at once, which would probably hal e givei
a more picturesque arid, to appearance' more thorough
ruin. But this plan was abandoned by reason of the
-daintiness of the ground. Water flowed in from the
ravine ie rear of the docks, and rose in the shafts of the
mines. It is probable that, hal the engineers waited to
explode the numerous mines until all of them were corn=
plete, the powder would have 'become damp in many of
them and would nut have ignited ; tio it was resolved to
blow up a little at a time. It is difficult for any one who
has not seen these docks both before and since their
destruction fully to appreciate the magnitude of the ope-
rationsemd the force the% 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 splinters. 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 difficu'ty 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 rock. The basin thus formed was lined with huge
masses of stone, and between rock and stone earth was
filled hi. 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 coueterforts 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, made 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 accOrd-
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
western 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
eog:neers bad blown up the eastern pier, or extremity
of that side of the dock, to which a gate is attached
—one 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, hi 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 ruins. Everything is removed and riven
without being scattered.; and this is the object at which
our engineers have constantly aimed. They have sought
all along, and generaly with much success, 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 topsyturvy), 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, bat 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 roiling them
over each other in a cloud of smoke and dust. There
were probably two reasons for the care with which the
engineers measured their charges. One may be that by
leaving the docks encumbered and filled up with their
own ruins they bequeath a harder task to any future
rebuilder than if they scattered the stone linings far and
wide, and left the chasms comparatively clear. The
second reason may be that by more violent explosions
they would probably have shaken down buildings, over-
thrown the dockyard wail (which already totters and
loses stones from its sumroit.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 eceasionally accurate
enough, ellen after shell falling into the docks, at
others they have made very ba I 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 was
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 infinite alacrityand courage non-cons missioned
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 consequeuce. The former
was insensible, when, supported by his men, he reached
the top of the shaft, and it Was some time before he re-
covered. To sum up the accident ; one man perished,
and 7 or S 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
affected, but have since recovered. A man went down
into mine, after the accident, holding in his mouth
the extremity
lof a tube down which air was primped 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 waaa soldier of the 48th 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 reibbish. It may give some idea of the labour neces-
sary to reconstruct those docks to say that, after clear-
ing away the ponderous ruins, it would be necessary to
dig down some 20 feet below the 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 canted the
every possible means, and I
ouwpnoedrrek sartsitotaonnsbd emt acceleratedhuasttthere.av e b by
was
e then a f
n
replete
expe-
rience to the officers engaged in them.
le
In yesterday's General Orders it was announced that
awilituhrevoarluta two. Themoney-orders, payable at all post towns in the United
Kingdom for sums not exceeding Si., will henceforward
be issued at head-quarters post-office on Mondays and
Fridays, and at Bataklava 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 so rife as in
autumn, is still too prevalent, especially on Sundays.
Mr. E. .1. Smith, chief postmaster at Constantinople,
has arrived here to, superintend the arrangement, and
be present at the opening of the money-order offices.
The weather has been fine since my last, mad the
camp is rapidly drying under the influence of sun
and of rather a high wind. Yesterday was a cloudless
and lovely day, worthy of the month of May, and as
there was little duty to do (it being Sunday), and as the
ground was iu 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
Baleklava, Army Works Corps men; and all manner of
nondescripts, on foot and on horseback, flowed in the