The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-01-24
T II e w a r !.
AFFAIRS AT SERASTOPOL.

BLOWING UP OF ONE OF THE SEBASTOP0L DOCKS
OPERATIONS OF THE FRE.'CH ENdINEER5-7rRE-
hEKDoUs ExPLosIOss-TYE BRITISH PREPARING
TO BLOW UP ANOTHER DOCK
(ssbasop. Dec 25) Correspondents At London Times
One Of THE five celebrated dry docks 10 the Karahel
1aia suburb OF sehastopal demoshe by the Preach
engineers Saturday last The 22d instant, a. 2P. ~
by explosion If mines The dessruc ion OF The dock
lily pish. a. the blast having almos. inscan
ueousy reduced he massive fabric into ruined aod
fused heap Of It Dea.
The intention Of cestrtyug portion Of he decks WIS
Bot known in until early hour of the mo-r ing
the dsy. the sx compa4es Of the 49, Royal Irish
rsgin which the last mcn'h five seeXs have
been quarerd in the ala assisting 10 the
sersaly pIepaIau for the desru .ton Of the
dicks il rear and hs part o. he bA in ia charge q the
hghh e. pipseis were moved up at A. ~ before cay
hgbt lh.ir departure WAS thus unobssIved y The
srsmy n The norEh side OF The rosdstead It wss
sol cred pru6ent TO march up TO camp
In the Russians might think proper, after the
expi"'ion, 20 diIsci heavy hre on the suburb and
10 avoid all risk Of casualties, should any OF the
buildings fall from the This movene NJ
animation that the explosion OF part of tho
docas hano but in add ion all servan acd men
t. gue goirg into the town for WOOD, were ery 10
The naming stopped st the Redsn, and subsequently,
sordon OF seDIies N around to prevent ON 'es or
any perscn approaching within the neighborhcod Of
e docks where there the slightest chance danger
from the explosion. As 1t turned out however, these
proved unnecessary for the mines we're SO
laid that The ee,ts cf their osion confined to
very lin ed sphere Of action.
lhe selected by The French engineers for nol
ton this OCCASION The one placed TO the west
Of the lock through which vessels formerly entered
into the great basin In addition to this dock, the
French have to destroy ano her dry dock the east
I'D Of the entrance osk, the lo:k ITSELF which with
It's sides and foundation Of cut masonry and msgnif
cent foo6gatea, has the appearance Of another aos
and half the basin. 1t is understood that the !.
neeripg operations completed for the dem. :
ton OF the Whole Of these structures and that the obj
In demoshing enc portion only was to test the aecu
Of certain calculations with regard to the guam iy OF g.
powder necessary TOR eiecung the desired result Toe
over COO uuds Fngkb, o. goo French klogrammes
The French engineers have followed somewhat differ
eat plan from Egh engineers FOX the destruction Of
the cocks They have trusted principally to galleries
carried and beneath the bottom of the dock They
have aso ever parallel with each side horizontal
gallery blow out the joundati ard lower par. n
each side WALL In the docks 10 be destroyed by the Eng
lsh perpeL dcuar shafts have bceo sunk at srequen.
intervals along the tes The purpose Of blowing the
whole OF the sides inwards Lattery also, galleries nave
been constr ucted heoeath The foundations Of the bottom
tual Arrangements have been made for firing the Eng
heh mines by vol aic battery. Tee French nices on
Eatu day were fired by means of trains Of laid gDpowder
a. fuses.
The report Of the explosion by loud. II
heard in camp but vas generally supposed to be the
buFs OF the r. ssian jec lies among tbs buldiDgs
q the town. Nearer to the scene OF the explosion
tsenulous agitation Of the ground felt and thi
followed by the peculiar pressed sound-mors ha the
bling Of distant hunee r than the usna report of
gunpos Ger fired from within metai-which always a
companies eous d cha ges Simultaneous vi, a
the ise OF The blasting air toe uaon Of the
dock became hickened with smoke, stones and rubbish
age quantity, am ing which were masses Of c7osid
rable size, peri enaicusry upwards, Tile at the
same time show er OF my was ndrled from each
side upwards and curving towards the centre III
appeared to fall downwards into the space Of the
DOCK scarcely observed TO hy Far beyond ia
limits. A dense cloud OF smoke filled and rested
he place OF ruin Gad this continue hanging
ever It for considerable time tor here no breeze
70 wait away. No sooner had the explosion occurIet
the crash OF the falling masonry hal c-y dei away
from the ears, when The sbap reports Of feye-al shells
sbout he docks and negaborng bulldogs olc that the
my hsd been spectators OF The
They hopeo hit some of the troops. whom taey
pected to be in tine neghborhood Of the explosion, tue
iature OF which they no DOUBT understood out as
6rs ufpffsp ting mir
It Is rersrksble how very f@ c.sua ties nave taken
place smeng the sappers ana artierymsn a-d in tie
com panies OF the of the 18th regiment, VII
have been quarteed II the Kasabanaa dafing the
ratiops ected with the mining of the docks
withs noI the constan. tie Of the enemy. Iail
Oh ort tine ago when shel catered psDys cook
ing b, use, whebce the men could not redily ecape
and where 10 cnneqnence seve al we're woun ed not
atty had occurred among the OF the 18Th reg
ment
At q quarter to one on the 22d the French ,nmao-
dant round word tor all Windows Of barracks and
quarters TO be opened and lev minutes afe- va-ds the
French engineers appeared 10 DC very busy IN The bottom
of the docS MAXIM necessary ngements and tryiog
the powder hose Ri kfords fuse. he day hizy
and at this me tsere sight drizze all of .hih,
pebsps, I'D the Pussans MT 70 notice tie absence
voIkmen at the DOCKS for the garr had been marche1
ost early hslfpss * A. NJ at The request Of the
French sebastopol authorities case the dock TO be
blown up that morning at halt past Line.
At 1870 Of The sixteen CHI ges, consisting Of
about II 600 lbs of powder cred by fifteen aad
the Karsbelnaia suburb, and through holes in the
Dockyard wall that they saw the dock ITSELF, were
about one hundred French saPpsrs or engineer
by the Re- and Maakon, locking down, abou 200 OH
sers and men. In fur minutes and some odd sec nds IA
Of the charges went of stimuli sneously and few 80,
cones Afterwards the remaining two. Nothing c,uId
have succeeded better the demolition was c,mpete
charges. was not 20 CON pieely blown up as might have
been expected the sides particularly tine right looking
towards the harbor were completely blown IN oy means
RED ganite about feet by 2H ieet, with Others were
not much broken, although blown iato the dosk
Immediately after the explosion the russians lined
Seir psrspets the north side but they only fred three
ghots into the dock.
shorty af,er he explosion Sir w. Codringt,n 70
look at the demolition.
Report says that =. the preparations win be com piee
for the demolition Of The three docks to be destroyed by
the EDgsh IN the course Of n week from the present
date. The arrangements would have been finished al.
ready bad it not been for the large quantity OF water
winch has found its way into the shafts and galleries az
cavsted for tre reception Of the blasting powder II ap
pears tpst the for the water having entered
copousi into ih'se excavations while tho~e nece
vi the French mines have aimed dry hair ala
tive pcsi,is with regard ~ he terminate OF he Kara
beInsa ravine be ween tie Maiakof and Redan hills,
at iort distance from the dock ya.d wall. Toe
three docks In charge of The English sepa from
the end Of this ravne where enormous amount OF
wafer had objected, and formed mme poni
servor only by artificial causeway, constructed at
enormous expense Of labor by the Russians during the
formation o the cocks and through this earth the water
gradually percolated.
THE WAR IN ASIA MINoR-wILL KARs BE
RETAKEN?
From the London Tunes, Jan. g.
The Ru ssans may be looked upon holdings long hne
Of positions in defence of their Asstc PROVINCES Their
left is strengthened by the capture Of
TuI KIN tress and the mand Of great extent of
country the ind NORTH Their right rests upon
the spurs Of The Caucasus, which st1se off soutownd
from the great chsin and merge into the Armenian Is
trict Of mountains. The Sursmin Pass which defends
Tits and the valley OF the Cyrus is the ,aost important
position in this part OF their ine while before H. at dis
isDre If some seventy mcs is Kuais whish will proba
bly, be strongly fortified ling before the allies
orion 10 invest it, Between Kutas and Kars Is the pa
sbalc Of 8khsfzik region oi wood and noun ain thin
H peoped and III suited 10 be The theatre OF offensive
fare. II smost follows necessity thai allied army
operating for the conquest OF iranscaucai should attack
the Russians at ore Of the tao extreme points, with
view either TO the reduction Of GuInd 70 direct
march Tiais. W1h respect 10 a campaign in 4rosenta
for he yeoortue Of hars there song reasons for hest.
saaon Al uat beo,e told oyain ps Russidns II "a
Eer lar0r They the defensive; they hold not
only hsrs but the tcghani noun aims across which the
road rom Ezeroua 1T height Of a. 900 feet abovs