New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-01-05
Sinope.
THE SCENE OF raE " NAVAL CONFLICT.


The following notice in its topographic aspect
Of Sinope, where the recent battle was fought be-
tween the Turks and Russians, will, at the pres
ent moment, be read with interest:
stroll on shore to see the place and sketch
it from the circling beach agreeably filled by a
long lovely evening. The sun had veiled his
bloodshot eyes behind dark bank of clouds,
leaving lurid tints of purple and yellow to per-
wade earth, air and water. The wind hushed;
the bay was frozen over; town silent as sleep or
death, not even one twittering bird to break the
stiffness of our walk; fishermen drawing their
nets languidly, pendent sails woolng the breeze
In vain, and lazy oars unmoved along boats
sides; all Sinope the embodiment of calm repose
in its highest ideality. The temples, palaces
and portcoes, erected by powerful line of
kings, have been leveied with the dust Nought
remains of so much magnifcence save dirty
oriental town of a thousand wretched houses,
surrounded by crumbling walls, and tottering
towers of Byzantine construction. Almost
equally wreck is the enormous hull Of an en-
bryo two-decker, which stands unlaunched on
the stocks, built here where timber and work are
cheap; never finished; allowed to rot Does
this fact elucidate the subject Alas for ST.
nope. 5 .4.
The ancient capital of Pontus under that
great man Mithridates Eupator, and the birth
p
originally colony of the Miesians, and deri-
wing its name from an amphibious young lady
who was the unnatural offspring of a river and
town, the Asopus and Methone, after she eloped
hither with third element, Apollo or the Sun,
shows, indeed, but few traces of such illustrious
antecedents Many fragments Of ancient archi-
tectural art, however, such as broken columns.
mutilated cornces, and half -defaced Inscriptions
on architraves and sepulchral stones, have been
Tno1n nsn in roisinr onb1 Ia for
and they still attest what Sinope once was
while the quarries above the town, whence one of
the calcareous beds in the trachytic rock over
laid by black volcanic formation seems to have
furnished its building materials, tell an eloquent
tale of its sudden down fall; for large blocks lie
there hewn and ready for removal some sculp-
tured, and some actually on their way to the
city. We also saw the picturesque ruins of an
aqueduct, designed by Pliny the younger, to
supply the sinopians with good water from
distance of sixteen miles; and the ancient mole
can be distinguished under the sea, enclosing
considerable space along the shore, and leaving
only a narrow entrance for galleys, but many Of
the great square stones composing it have been
worn and displaced by the action of the waves
with the aid of that universal destroyer, Time
The subjoined description Of the place regards
it in strategetical point of view:
The position of Sinope, about half way be-
tween Constantinople and Trebizond, and the
promontory at which it is situated, and which,
on the land side, may be said to form its harbor.
or rather open roads, mark it as site of impor-
tance in naval war on the Black Sea- This
was perceived by General Sebastiani Napoeon's
ambassador to the Porte in 1903, and who
showed the same promptitude in commencing
Notifications at Sinope, as in improyising de-
fenses at Constantinople Since that period,
the defenses of the place have never been COM
pleted and those which were constructed have
fallen into decay. 1t SO happens that Sinope
never was attacked in former wars between Tur-
key and Russia, upon which seems to have been
founded the somewhat gratuitous assumption
that it never would be- This assumption was
natural enough for Old Turkey but it may be
hoped that Young Turkey, aided by Western
strategical counsels, will practically repair the
error with view to the future. Nothing can
be less surprising than what has now occurred
in an open roadstead, covered by no sufficient
land detenses. Six ships of the line walked
with perfect ease into the ramparts and shipping
of such a place. Its Importance, besides its
commanding situation ON the coast, consists in
the fact that it is the site of the only Turkish
dockyard, for the construction of vessels of war,
except Constantinople. The oaks of the neigh
boring mountains supply timber more durable
than the Russians employ for their perishable
craft at Sebastopol. In every point of view it
is of the first Importance to put the place into
state of defense; though this has been unfortu-
nately deferred till it rather too much resembles
s'shutting the stable door after the steed is
stolen