The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-16 00:00:00

SEBASTOPOL.

(Prone the Gazette of last Evening.)
WAR DEPARTMENT, FEB. 15.
Lord Panmure has this day received a despatch and its
enclosure, of which the following are copies, addressed to
his lordship by General `air Wm. Codriugton, K.C.B.:— ,
" HEAD-QUARTERS, SEBASTOPOL.
" My Lord,--The destruction of the docks of Sebastopol
is now completed ; the sides of the last dock wore blown
in yesterday morning, small parts of the wall here and
there only remaining. Thus the whole of the canal of en-
trance and north docks in charge of the French, the basin
in our mutual charge, and the south docks in English
charge are separate but shapeless masses of dirt ; heavy
broken atones, split beams of timber, and shattered gates
protruding from the heap of confusion.
" The labour of destruction has been difficult ; those
fine works were formed in the middle ravine at its outlet
in an inner and sheltered part of the harbour, one of the
nature' watercourses from the plateau on which we are en-
camped. This end of the ravine, about 700 yards from its
mouth, seems to have been filled in so as to create a great
artificial dam of earth, which, with the steep banks on
each side, form three sides of a raised enclosure looking
down upon the docks. A solid stone wall, much struck
by shot, crowns thi.s sort of natural square ; the fine but
shattered barracks standing still higher on the left, with
the shads and dockyard buildings, the wasting Efeeers, and
a long quay to Fort Paul in front jutting interthe harbour,
show how well adapted all was for its purpose. It is now
a picture of destruction, desolation, and silence; there
against the quay the half sunken hull of a vessel, and in
the harbour beyond the only things breaking the su face ,
of the water are the lower masts of sunken ships of war.
" The dreinage of the water of the middle ravine must,
however, pass through to the harbour somewhere, and it
was this that so neuee impeded the shafts : for the water
from rains often stood two feet high over the if ior of the
docks, and thus of course fillet the shafts themselves.
Some details of the execution of these are given in the en-
closed summary from Colonel Lloyd, Cefamanding the
Royal Engineers, the immediate executive officers being
Colonel Gordon and Major Nicholson.
" Amid great difficulties of cold and wet, very severe
frost at one time, and perpetually recurring pressure at
another, the work went steadily on ; and great raise is
due to all those concerned—the Engineers and sappers,
parties of the Royal Artillery, the 18th Regiment, and
latterly of the 4Sth Regiment. These parties return to
their duty to-morrow after constant and laborious work.
" Thu casualties have been but six, of which two only
have been fatal, and one man of the 4Sth Regiment was
lost by foul air in a shaft ; after several vain attempts by
Major Nicholson, other officers, and num—themselves de-
scending at grout risk—the poor fellow's body was brought
up, but life was gone.
" Your Lordship will see that Colonel Lloyd expresses
his obligation to Mr. Deane and the chief engineer of her
Majesty's ship Royal Albert for their assistance.
" The voltaic bettery, we must confess, did not always
succeed ; it seems to require great nicety in preparation ;
but in those cases in which I saw it succeed the effect was
perfect—ignition and its result, the shake of the ground,
the heaving np of the mass seemed to lie instantaneous.
" The destruction of other things will continue.
" I have, &c.,
" W. J. CODRINGTON, General Commanding:
" The Lord Panmure, Sze."

Head-Quarters Camp, Sebastopol, Feb. 1, 1856.
Sir,--After a period of three months' unceasing labour
in the dockyard, for the destruction of the docks, in com-
pliance with Lord Panmure's orders, it affords me very
great satisfaction to ref ort, for your Excellency's infor-
mation, the termination of our exertions in the demolition
of that portion allotted to the English, which consisted of
the three docks on thw south side, and one-half of the east
and west sides of the basin.

The result of our operations has been the perfect destruc-
tion of the whole, the foundations being oompletoly torn
up. The length of time occupied in effecting the above
object has, I regret, far exceeded what had been antici-
pated, owing to many circumstances over which no human
being could have any control. Your Excellency, I be-
lieve, is aware that on the morning. of the 16th December,
185, after a very heavy and continuous fall of rain, all
the shafts which had been sunk behind the revetment
walls of tie docks were found to have twenty feet of
water in them, the shafts being thirty feet deep ; and the
shafts along the bottoms of the docks, which had been
sunk to a depth of 12 feet, were not only quite full of
water, but had 2 feet 6 inches of water above the floors of
the docks themselvea.

A very large party was employed day and night endea-
vouring to reduce the water, and effected this object but
slowly, as the water continued to find its way in by
percolation. At this stage of the work, the wet weather
was suddenly succeeded by intense frost, which for some
days rendered our pumps useless, thus causing a further
delay, and obliged us to bale the water out of the shafts,
resuming the pumping as soon as the pumps would work
again, which has been continued to the very last.
It was the intention to have destroyed one entire dock
at a time, but owing to the influx of water such an ar-
rangement was obliged to be abandoned, and such charges
only as could from time to time be prepared were fired, the
pumping in very many cases being kept up day and night
until the last moment. The bottoms and sites were blown
up before the sides wore destroyed, which enabled us to
be satisfied that the former were thoroughly demolished.
I must observe that, as the demolition of the northern
portion was carried out by the French, it is incumbent on
me to explain why their operations were not subjected
to as many difficulties as fell to our lot. Their docks
were four feet higher in level than ours, and in no
instance had they, I understand, any water to contend
against, or at least so small a quantity as to be scarcely ap-
preciable. Their charges in the bottoms were not more
than 6ft. deep, whereas ours averaged 10 ft. 6 in depth.
Though the external effect of some of our explosions may
not appear great, I am happy to say that every portion of
the masonry is either absolutely torn down or left in so
dangerous a condition that it will add very much to the
difficulties of rebuilding. _

I was extremely anxious that the facilities afforded by
her Majesty's Goverment for the employment of voltaic
batteries on a large scale, as sent out by the Admiralty
under Mr. Doaue, should be fairly tested under the most
favourable circumstances. I applied to Vice-Admiral Sir
E. Lyons, who kindly offered the eervicss of Mr. Deane,
Submarine Engineer, to carry out the voltaic operations,
and this gentleman had every assistance in skilled labour
afforded him from the Royal Sappers and Miners.
Many failures having taken place is firing the charges
by electricity, owing to different curses, I am inclined to
licable generally to military
were removed with considerable
difficulty,
exertionsrusty. both
doubt its advantages as spy
purposes.
The pair of dockgates ordered to be taken down and sent
iinchplriaaicsl
difficulty, being so very massive
and sti 7
onely put together
with bolts, nuts, &c., which
of
officers and men, including a party of Dith and 48th
Regiments, in addition to the Royal Sappers and Miners,
amounting to 85, in the destiuctien of the docks, though
as
ftcroain'lnietsstaoy Etonogmlanu::
they had to work, for the greater part of the time, day
and night during the severest weather, and fur having
brought this service to a successful issue, after so many
drawbacks, which, instead of causing despair and dispirit-
ing those employed, only stimulated them to renewed
exertions.

should be remiss in my duty were I to omit acknow-
ledging the very valuable assistance I have received
throughout, from Colonel Gordon, C. 8., the Executive
Officer, Major Nicholson, who was the resident Engineer,
and Lieuts. Cumberland, Graham, and C. Gordon, Royal
Enineers ; their unremitting zeal, attention, and devo-
tion to the work, in accomplishing this troublesome task,
under difficulties of no ordinary nature, claim my warmest
thanks. lam also much indebted to Mr. Deane, Subma-
rine Engineer, whose valuable services in preparing a
firing most of the mines by voltaic action, were kindly eila"" nd,
at my disposal by his Excellency Vice-Admiral Sir E.
Lyons.
I must not omit to acknowledge the professional aid re-
ceived from the Chief and Assistant Engineer of her Ma-
jesty's ship Royal Albert (until that ship sailed for Malta),
in the taking to pieces of the dock gate.i. In connection
dis b Lieu.
with this service, the assistance afforded by
osal a large patt
ty
of the Royal Artillery, placed at my p y
General Sir Richard Dacres, and under the superintent
deuce and. direction of Lientenant-Colonel Bent, Royal
Engineers, I cannot but greatly appreciate.—l have, &c.,
EDWD. T. LLOYD,
Lieut.-Colonel Commanding R.
Eneineers.
His Excellency General Sir Win. Codriegtoe, ca.,
Commander of the Forces.

DEATH AT THE BELL TAVERN',
MET LA H.—
caTuHREcriB.BUTRGLAII: ANDB Oa Thursday morning at
10 o'clock, Mr.W Carter, the coroner for East Surrey,
held a lengthened inquiry at the Bell Tavern, Church-
street, Lambeth, respecting the circumstances attending
the death of Mr. Joseph Banks, aged 65, the proprietor
of the same preluises, which were burglariously entered
on Sunday morning i V t, and serious damage done, some
particulars of which appeared in this journal of Wednes-
day last. The jury returned the following verdict :
" Natural death, produced from apoplexy, caused by
excitement-from a burglary in deceased's house.'.
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