The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-05 00:00:00

SEBAST OPOL.

The following are extracts from a letter received
from Colonel Gowen at Sebastopol. The subscribers
to the valuable testimonial recently presented to
him, and referred to in his letter, will doubtless be
glad to read his reply :

" Sebastopol, July 12.
" . . . . lam getting on very slowly with the ships.
They are so rotten there is no part of them strong
enough to ' bear their own weight.' We tear out
their ports, cut holes through the sides below the
orlop, through the plank, timbers, and ceiling, and
then pass chains through. They cut up at once.
After tedious labour, we manage to mine under the
ships (which are in 60 feet of water, and away
below at that depth they are submerged in 24 feet
of mud), and pass chains under the keels. They cut
through. We then pass chains around the stem
through the hawse pipes and two forward ports ;
we then tear the upper portion of the stem ; hawse
pipes, portions of two decks, top, &c., are broken off
and brought to the surface by the aid of my power-
ful caissons, which have a lifting capacity of, in
round numbers, 5,000 tons. There is sufficient lift-
ing capacity, but no place to apply it that is capable
of sufficient resistance to raise the unwieldy bodies
below.
" I have raised and removed some 50 vessels, a
large majority vessels of war, of which there were
nine war steamers, several 60-gun frigates, and in
fact such variety of vessels as form a fleet for a first
class Power.

" The harbour of Sebastopol is as practically clear
this day as it was before the sinking the fleet.
There is not a vestige of any portion of a vessel
east of a line drawn from Fort Michael to Fort
Nicholas, with the exception of two vessels away
on the north side of the harbour, which lay so far
in that nothing ever approaches so near the shore,
Then there are five other vessels that lay between
the line before mentioned and the sea, but they
have been blasted, so that they are no virtual ob-
struction other than to the anchorage over the
spot where they lay, and their position is too much
exposed for any vessel to anchor where they
are. All the other harbours, bays, and creeks are
entirely free and clear of any obstruction caused by
the sinking of the fleet.
" I had a magnificent piece of plate presented me
the other day by Captain Clipperton, her Britannic
Majesty's Vice-Consul at Theodcsia, on the part of
the 'officers of the British army and the friends of
those who fell during the Crimean war, as a testi-
mony of their grateful sense of the generous care
he has bestowed on the restoration and preservation
of the graves before Sebastopol,' as the inscription
upon it says. It is a most beautiful and magnificent
piece of plate, and is a superb testimonial. I as-
sure you I feel greatly delighted and proud of such
distinguished honour. '

" COLONEL GOWEN'S REPLY TO CAPTAIN CLIPPERTON.
" Sebastopol, May 12 (24), 1861.
" Sir,—lt is with feelings of the deepest respect
and truly heartfelt thanks that I have listened to
the highly flattering remarks you have made
touching the slight service it has been in my power
to render, in endeavouring to preserve from oblivion
some traces of those monuments and memorials that
were placed over the remains of your devoted
countrymen in this foreign land.
" It would be needless for me to recount the
severe privations under which your brave country-
men struggled during the early part of the Crimean
campaign, or with what heroic fortitude they up-
held the honour of their country during that san-
guinary and momentous struggle.
"Five years him 110 W passed away since those

memorials and monuments were erected over the
graves of those brave heroes by hearts sorrowful
and dejected, who dropped the tear of true friend-
ship and sympathy over their lost comrades, but
the ravages of time had made serious inroads upon
the enclosures and monuments, which I have lately
endeavoured to restore as far as possible ; and now,
Sir, allow me through you inost sincerely to thank
the officers and friends of the British Army who
have been pleased to bestow this munificent testi-
monial upon me; and, Sir, I assure you as long as
life lasts it shall be my most cherished possession,
and shall ever remind me of the generous donors.
and their esteemed appreciation of my best endea-
vours to restore the cemeteries and monuments that
protect the last sad resting places of your lamented
cauntrymen.
" After a residence of several years here I cannot
better express myself on this city of ruins and the
sacred resting places of the dead around than by
quoting the words of the most celebrated corres-
pondent of the English press :
" In times to come this Cathcart's-hill will be a
chosen terminus of Saxon pilgrimage. Whether
the traveller beholds from its humble parapet the
fair aspect of the Imperial city guarded by three-
fold mightier batteries than before, or sits upon the
cemetery wall to gaze upon the ruins of Sebastopol,
he must, if he has any British blood in his veins,
regard with emotion that little spot which encloses
all that was mortal of some of the noblest.
that over sprang from our warrior race. I_
see the site of those tedious tre-iches where tue
strong man waxed weak day -after day, and where
the British- soldier fought through a terrible winter,
with privation, cold, frost, and rain—mcre terrible
and deadly than the fire of the enemy.' "