The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-12-05

continued in this state until about | o'clock
when itsbecame evident that the. fire Of the
French on sour left had slackened considerably,
and was falling off still more every minute
The fact was, the commanding position Of the
enemy's batteries left our allies no chance
They suffered so heavily while working their
guns that it became folly to persevere, and at
length, by order of their commander, the men
were withdrawn, and the fire of the French
ceased. As it did so, that of the fleet com.
menced Through the smoke over the the har.
Dor wo could hardly perceive the masts-and
funnel, Of large screw line Of battle ship,
which, without firing shot, stood in until her
broadside was within 200 yards Of one of the
principal fortresses at the north of the harbor.
I Then her guns began to roar loud above the
helsh din which seemed to rend the very sky.
The vessel whish performed this gallant ex
plot was French. and believe the Montebel)o,
l20 the crew of which suffered so dreadfully
! from cholera while at Varna. From the mo-
ment she arrived alongside the fort, her sides
seemed literally on fire; So rapid, so incessaht,
were her tiers Of guns discharged At the
same n"nent all our bateriee, to effect d.
version in her favor, redoub!ed their fire; while
he Russian flag staff battery began again upon
the abandoned French lines. This time, un-
or'unately the enemy assaed the litter with
: dreadful effect One Russian shell, by illluck,
dr"pped and exploded full upon the reserve
m gazine of the principal French battery. The
effect was instantaneous and awful. About 20
tons Of powder, with shell and rockets in pro.
PORTION Instantly ignited, and the earth seemed
to heavens the greater par, "f the battery, with
Is gus. and nearly all the men were hurled
high into the air Hardly had the stunning
report which the last catastrophe produced,
ceased t" vibrate upon Inc ear when, following
| The M"rtebello, four more French screw liners,
each having another in tow, dashed up TO the
torr- What the allied fleets did YOU will hear
of from other correspondents. Wherever the
Il WI most awful ani irrssan' wherever
| ln'a ed tn deaf the grea'->i amount Of death
and dc>ructi,m .'u'"lrg the cnemy-thcrr WAS
sure t., be seen the r. 6inch rri:colof fl ing
spcuous abnvv al. At 40 time during the day,
in conscquepc" of in'ercepiing objects, did we
ever catch II sEmpSe Of an English flag,
As each ;r"nrn line came in, she added her
inc"sS 1T br i =. ., r,s. ,i.uu"uS roar of
tn .'.' Il 90" i i e.. The scene
was .., c.k D. tli>h lhr aNno here wns
"rI ",... hrd smoke wh rr seemed to >uf
+. g.. II tiir'r,ah lis heavy folds, the scream
" ,,,oj ,nd Ia. Il WAS en'i.gh /" make ones
hni $.agd an .,,,d u" wor> of mine could
do iu,ii e t" >;rh a pardrr"ui;m. Let yon'
,eadrr> mag tat least 1000 pieces uftI,e
hs:lrir@ ,,ri rir wori4 ii..: ,h-If nu,i
rocket, wtlr.ut Il >er"md's iLier,ni>sion. Ih
air seemed one perpetual cxp'n ion, Int IT. The
m est Of which singular enough. the pee ul'a'
Jerking scream If the Lancasie >h,i c''',Id b"
plainly hea'd.
Our batteries were in tuI l.v. 4: "a "rpet
ed to engage more than :. la '-rt "a lha
enemys attention for the iwrl,e Apnstle
which were completed sheltered bv land from
the attack IF the French >niIs, and quite
as completely sheltered from everything but
one of the Lancaster guns, began t" drop
red hot hollow shot into the Gown battery
The effect Of this was soon appea ent. Before
dozen had been fired, one of them bounded
and struck a spare ammunition wagon full OF
powder, which it instantly eXpI"ded. The
shock WAS not s., severe rs ii might have been,
for the powder WAS comparatively unronfned.
1t of course klled few of ou men. bot the
works Of the battery were @Hnulured. The
Russions set up tremendous cheers ~ hen they
saw the explosion. us they did>h hen the bat
teries of our allies blew up, imagining they
had done lis the same mischief Their mirth,
however, was but short lived. While in the
acI of cheering, il shell from the Lancaster
lodgrd II presume SOY in the magazine Of the
rednubt in front of The redan. wall The ex.
pl"sion which followed was appalling. 1t
i Il,
| first it seemed as If the whole OF Sebastupol
was enveo rd'" The ruins five minutes after
wien the lnn earth and >.n,okc cleared away
and ulowei u- to see The extent OF the mis-
rnirI, We sa ".y n hlarh. hole remained
w1,.'e the gra ii doubt had stood and that
. - pat NJ: led ~all was blown
a"n, - stunning arI"aed toe effects of the
| t'rIpr blow to the enemy, tnal il was some
mi ,ute, before they fired a single gun. When
they did, they concentrated their whole fire
upon the battery where he fatal Lancaster gun
was placed, bu in vain. il was quite out of
rang and their shot Sloppe rolling nearly
! two hundred yad< IN ,ar,e of the battery.
Seeing this the Ru safifS wisely gave up the
attempt t".reachit, i tnrned, their attention
t the Fr nch f,.t. .,irh indeed required it.
| During all lin Ii nerr fire. iu>tead of slack.
enimg had .atllrr i,rira,ed, and it Mas evident
from the perpetual fhnsders they s.n forth,
that one o: the tine iartysnu>f son give III.
f. it was "r., iblr it' ga tn t
rate AZ mgr. WI ,N,c
to Could go. .s ..r,
70 the smoke 4" e,r
| " lr uS -.. ,... III e..