The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-04 00:00:00

DESTRUCTION OP THE ARKADL

CONSTANTINOPLE, Aug. 27.
Fuad Pasha's mission to the Czar, the rumours of
extensive Ministerial changes, and the actual com-
munication by the Sultan to his Divan of his per-
sonal views and projects with respect to the material
improvement of the Empire, as suggested by his re-
cent tour in Western Europe—interesting as those
topics are—occupy the Constantinopolitan mind,
Turkish or t3rreek,little
very nsencaoamtipoaarihsoen wit
h
an an event which has created a i
short of that which would be produced by the wfionnlayhl
extinction of the Cretan insurrection, so often
officially announced, but now only beginning to
look like a certainty. The Izeddin, one of the Sul-
tan's yachts, which has for some time been em-
ployed in cruising in the Cretan waters, arrived
here on Friday last with the news that the career
of the famous blockade-runner, the Arkadi,
had at last been cut short.• Though the Izeddin
was decorated with fl tgs in honour of the achieve-
Ment, in which she herself took the principal part,
the Greeks refused to believe in the catastrophe,
and one of their local papers denied even the news
published by the semi-official. French papers, but
had to issue a special edition in the evening re-
tracting, its contradiction. The following account
of the Arkadi's destruction may be relied on as
correct :—" On Monday evening, August 19, the
Izeddin was lying with her steam up under the
lofty rocks of Aya-Roumeli, on the southern coast
of Crete. There was no moon, and it was a dull,
cloudy night. At a quarter past 9 the officer of the
watch, and the men on the look-out beard the
sound of paddlewheels, which ceased in a few mo-
ments. The Izeddin fired a couple of shots, and the
unknown steamer, which had evidently been pro-
ceeding stealthily, then quickened her speed, and her
situation was made known by the smoke. from her
funnels, which previously was not visible. The
Izeddin, which was about four or five miles off, at
or.c s followed in IL)r wr.ke, and commenced by firing
her two bow guns—Prussian breech-llatlers—the
Arkadi (as the stranger was concluded to be) reply-
ing
with her stern gun. She overtook the Arkadi
after a chase of two hours and a half. The Arkadi
suddenly stopped, owing, it was afterwards found,
to the derangement of the starboard paddlewheel,
caused most likely by a shot from the Izeddin. The
latter, shooting past, fired one of her stern chasers,
which raked the Arkadi's deck, and then, turning
swiftly back, with full steam on, struck the Arkadi
on the starboard bow, which she ripped up. The two
vessels remained in close quarters for eight or nine
minutes, during which time both crews fought hand
to hand over the bulwarks, the Greeks firing pistols
and throwing tomahawks, and the Turkish marines
keeping up a steady fire with their rifles. No at-

tempt was made to board by either side. The Greeks,
it is said, disappeared from the deck and went be-
low, and the Turks were eqUally mindful of the
maxim that discretion is the better part of valour.'
Eventually the commander of the Izeddin (Hassan
Bey) ordered his vessel to be backed astern with the
intention of making a fresh rush:at his opponent,
which, however, took advantage of the opportunity
to make for the shore, then only half or three quar-
ters of a mile off, and she ran aground among the
reefs, where it was impossible to follow her. About
this time the Mahmoudie and Ertogrul frigates ap-
peared in sight, about four or five miles off. When
the Mahmoudie came up (about 2 o'clock in the
morning) the Admiral, Ibra'lirn Pasha, directed
several shells to be fired at the Arkadi, and also
on shore, in order to disperse any insurgents who
might have come down to assist the crew. Soon
after flames were observed from the after part of
the ship, and explosions Were heard from time,
to time, on which account it was consitlered
prudent to defer boarding her until daylight.
As soon as day broke the boats of the Mahmoudi6
and Izeddin were lowered, with pumps, &c., and the
Arkadi was boarded by the Admiral, Capt. Hassan
Bcy, and a number of officers and men. She was
quite deserted ; but one wounded man was found
on board, and he was removed to the Mahmoudie,
where he received every attention. The bodies of
two or three sailors were lying on deck, several
limbs shot off in the fight were scattered about, and
there was a good deal of blood on the flush deck.
The was completely gutted by
fie
reached the coal bunkers,
r , aftbu t partthe fire o f thehavd es
not vessel
and the engines were uninjured either by fire or
water. There were only -four guns on board. Two
of the crew of the Izeddin were killed by the Arkadi'S
shot, and two by the bursting of one of her own
guns, a splinter from which also slightly wounded
Capt. Hassan Bey in the face. A tomahawk was
thrown at him from the Arkadi, but did not hit him.
Eleven of the Izeddin's crew were wounded, and
are now under treatment in the hospital. A shot
passed through her funnel and her wheel, but did
not do any serious damage. A shell also passed
through the second engineer's cabin, and burst harm-
lessly on the other side of the vessel. The bulwarks
of the ship were pierced in several places by shot.
The French Admiral, who had left Aya-Routneli at
half-past Bon Monday evening with a number of
Cretan refugees, and who was making for Souda,
seeing the chase, lay to for the night, and witnessed
the whole affair. In the morning he sent his offi-
cers on board the Izeddin to obtain a detailed ac-
count. At 8 a.m. on Monday morning the Turkish
Admiral despatched the Izeddin to Canea to report
the destruction of the Arkadi to the Serdar Ekrem.
Omar Pasha, on learning the news, directed that a
month's pay should be given to the officers and men
of the Izeddin, and decorated several of the former
with the Order of the Medjidie. His Highness then
sent the ship on to Constantinople to communicate
the intelligence to the Sultan. His Majesty testified
his satisfaction by promOting the captain and seve-
ral of the officers of the Izeddin, and by the grant
of a sum of 2,500 liras for distribution among the
officers and men. His Majesty's mother (the Sul-
tana Valide)
also presented the crew with a grati-
fication of three liras each, and the officers with a
month's pay."