New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-12-02
OPERATIONS Lv THE cRIuE.a.
THE SEA ATTACK.
Correspondence Of the London Times.

OPERATIONS IN THE cRLNEa 4
| THE SEA ATTACK.
Correspondence Of the London Times,
Orr KArcHKa CRIMEl, Oct 49, 1854
Yesterday morning, about daybreak the English and
French opened FIRE from their batteries the south side
OF sebastopo Late on the proceeding night 1t had been
agreed by the combined Adiras and Generals that the
fleets should on the day make grand attack the
forts at the mo Of the harbor During the night top
gaantmass were lowered spare spars and boats handed
over TO Her Majestys ship Vulcan and early in the
ing steam up. The paddle wheel and figates
ashed themselves alongside the sailing Hne-ot-batle
ships, and all got ready for the sight. The French
were occupy the right enter the harborhat ii
the southern side and the English the left northern
| side, in one line-about 1900 yards off.
The French first got their places, about 121a O'Clock
and immediately commenced heavy fire. which was vi
goreusly returned from the batteries. The distance,
however, was certainly greater than originally conten-
plated and, as far as ascertain it 2eo0
yards By degrees the English ships snccessyely took
their stations, passing in of the French and anchor
ing to the left The Agamemnon, Sanspare and Lon
don. dashed to the Niger however inside station
in adyanceperhaps about 1000 yards from Fort Con-
stantine. Nothing could be noble than the gallant
in which the Agamemnon and sanspare steamed in
amid perfect hail of balls and shells preceded by
. little tug steamer, the Circassia commanded by Mr.
Ball This little bit of cockeshell which looked if
she might have been arrested by fowngpece delibe-
ratey felt the way for the large ships till her services
were no longer required.
The firing became terrific At the distance of six
miles the sustained sound resembled that of furious
locomotive at full speed, but of course the in
fnitely grander. The day dead calm, that the
smoke hung heavily about both ships and batteries and
frequently prevented either side from seeing any thing
From about O'Clock till dark (neary 81 the cannonade
ragged most furiously
Towards o'clock Fort Constantine, as well some of
the smaller batteries slackeDed somewhat in their fire
but toward dusk of the ships began to haul out
the Russians returned their guns and the fire seemed
as fierce as ever There explosion just behind
Fort Constantine, which appeared to do much damage
At dark all the ships returned to their anchorage The
change magical from hot sun mist smoke, egpo-
sons shot, she'll rockets aud the roar 10000 gunsto
down
CLASSY rejecting in Icng tremulous lines lights
at the masheads Of the ships returning amid profound
silence.
What damage has been done to the forts we don't yet
know Three Of ships have been roughly handled
and the killed and wounded amount to 46 English killed
and upwards of $50 wounded Lieut. Chase of the Albion
has fallen; and Lieut. Lloyd commanding the Vesuvus
and Mr.. Foster mdshipman, board the sanspare
seriously wounded. No captains have been hit The
blue-jackets showed all their ancient valor Eight or
nine men swept away at forecastlegun board
the sanspareil by the explosion of she'll The
mauing eoolly loading, with their sponge
and rammer, as though nothing had happened
Orr THE KarcHKA, Saturday, Oct 81 1854
Most tragic certainly the fate Of the Albion and the
Arethusathe first forming part Of the central the
part of the left division Bold and undaunted they
entered close to the northernmos called Wasp
battery and had scarcely time to their fire when the
cables with which they dashed to the steamers
severed by shot and they became unmanageable just
the time when they most exposed the fire Of the
enemy The Albion was set on fire in three places, and
would certainly have gone shore, she only in
fve fathoms of water had not the Cambria of the
steamers expressly kept ready for such emergency
in time to her from destruction, unfortu-
natey not before she had lost twelve men killed and
seventy wounded She is ealiuly damaged her main
mast much injured and the mzzen is toterng and bare
The Arethua, although she suffered less in men having
only four killed and fourteen wounded suffered
in her hull 1t besides asserted that the dryrot is in
her wood Both these vessels owing to this accident quit
ted the of action after short time.
these two vessels have been the most unfortunate
the Rodney may certainly be said to have been the uck
est vessel of the fleet except perhaps the shot by which
she carried away the malnmast OF the Retbutien She
entered during the latter part of the action close to the
forts and went shore the shoal running out from
Cape Constantine Fortunately it already dusk and
the Colombo at hand which got her off without her hay
ing suffered much injury Not the Spteful which
dashed to her. She much damaged that she was
brought in in sinking state and could only be keptaoat
by the efforts of the the pumps She is still
alongside the Rodney and undergoing the most
repairs to enable her to go away and be rehtted,
Like the Albion and the Arethusa the Trafalgar could
not long keep her place rather she took Ii up
properly, for the Rodney sent Moorsom shell into the
mapmast of the Retrbution to which the Trafalgar
ashed it burst in it. the mast went down. and both yes
| sells unfit for action
The old Britannia maintained her position and was
posed to hail of shot and she'll Both she and the Fr-
to which she ashed kept up very good rocket
practice at the batteries saw toward dusk very
we'll directed ones fly over The Admiral himself narrow
y escaped she'll which burst the poop He was sit
ting the poop railing when it fell
The detached steamers the left decidedly the
heroes of the day. 10 them assigned the position
north of the shoa running out from the Cape Fort
While the other vessels went down outside Tar as Qua
rantne Bay and then veered round and opened their fire
froEa their sarboard broadsde the detached steamers
steamed straght down inside the shore The first
the Sampson, Terrible and Tribune who advanced
like ecdireus before the Agameuon and the SaGsnsrsi
which formed the main strength of this division These
two after having tried the range of their long guns
at the Wasp Battery steamed right down to the fort on
Cape Constantine the formidable casemaed battery at
the left Of the entrance into sebasopo and engaged it
There you could them anchored the Agamemnon at
500 yards and the Sanspareil little behind enduring
with mistaken rmness the heaviest fire of the enemy
and returning with great vgor while the steam frfgate
who could not approach closer in the shoa water lowered
around them making the most of their Independent posi-
ton The situation of the two neof- batte-shps
the most critical possible exposed they were to
heavy cross fire. side from the northernmost bat
teries running along the shore from the Star Fort inside
and from the whole outward face Of the fort Cape Con-
stantne.
For two hours they had to encounter the whole fire of
the enemy that side alone when the Queen having
left her first anchoring place, where the Turkish ag
ship had come in her way passed inside of the other
sailing battle ships from the extreme right the
left and up alongside the two heayypress screw
steamers and drew part of the enemy fire from them
amovement which, as I told you acknowledged by
Admiral Lyons hosting the signal Of Well done Queen
1t was marvellous sight to such immense vessel
the Queen passing the other liners, inside and both
Capt Mitchell and Capt Powell, the commander of the
Yesuvius deserve the highest credit for the skill and en-
trprse with which they took the vessel in well as out
Unfortunately the respite which she brought was only
momentary tor being but in six fathoms water she was
in danger of going shore unless she anchored while
she anchored she would have had to leave anchors
behind and perhaps something more for she had caught
IN
the forsa mag giore, and Withdraw
The sansparei owing to her unweldiness and the de-
fects in her propeiug force which fails always when most
necessary would have had hard fate had not the shark
tiny little steam tug which attends the sanspareiI al
planet does its sum- the ackal its on gone In and
towed her The skill and courage displayed nv the
commander of this little craft Mr. Balls second mate
excited general admiration 1t striking practical
illustration of the lion and the mouse to see The litt
Shark help out the colossal sanspare but at the same
time it most gallant feat of seamanshp 1t i III
ported that Admiral Lyons sent in the commander of the
Shark with the words. Go I'M you will find there
coffin, or your promotion"
Both the Agamemnon and sanspareil were Obliged to
leave buoys for their anchors, but they left also some
heavy marks of their the face OF the or
Both ships did not quit their posts until nghtfa for Al
iral Lyons determined to be sunk rather than give in
While am relating to you tho deeds done the day
of bom5ardmeDt, cannot refrain from telling Won also
happy mot spoken the day after the action Tie Turk
sh Admiral sent his excuses to Captain Mitchell of the
Queen for having gone between his ships and the forts
The of Captain Mitchell was that he consid
cred him to do his duty best who was nearest to the
enemy
The loss the feet in amounts to Dc killed and
2SS wounded
Now you will wish to know what was gained NV tba
bombardment AS told you in my last letter the hat
teries more than few moments sieueed so
that it ia dcut to say whether this took place in con-
sequence Of the injuries sustained only in order 10 lat
the guns cool. The day after the b0mbar1menf tha
Sampson went down to what injury had been done tn
the forts. Well, they look if they were marked WITH
the small pox but afraid it is not of Yery danger
Gus character except perhaps the northern face of
the Cane Fort where at pIie of the
holes have been thrown Into one but a considerabIv
larger one There is indeed rurnor current that th
obliged to steady part of the Cape Fort Nv huf
tresses but have not heard of ones having actu
ally with his own eyes the buttresses
Here you have, then, the palpabe ADVANTAGES md din
advantages Of the bombardment before you and you NAV
judge whether the first are worth the second