Black Hole of Baku The Black Hole of Baku is the name for the imprisonment and torture of British prisoners at Baku , Azerbaijan in 1920 , as part of the Russian Civil War . Background . Royal Navy sailors volunteered to prepare the defence of Enzeli , supporting the White Russia ns against Russian Bolshevik forces . Under Commander Bruce Fraser , the sailors were moved from cleaning up the beaches at the Dardanelles , and sent to Batumi , where they boarded a small train , with three sliding - door goods wagons . After two days travel towards Enzeli , the train was ambushed , and the driver refused to go any further . They returned to Batumi , and loaded onto another ship , which took them to Izmir . They then took a train to Baghdad , and walked the rest of the trip , across Persia , north to Enzeli , accompanied by a few pack - camels and a Gurkha escort . Upon reaching Enzeli , the Gurkhas and camels turned back , and they were left in Enzeli to build up fortifications . Stan Smith , one of the survivors , arrived at Enzeli on his 21st birthday , and described the town as " a few old huts , a couple of houses , and a pier sticking out into the Caspian sea " . Their job while at Enzeli was not just to prepare fortifications using weapons from ex - Royal Navy ships , but also repair ships used by Anton Denikin . However , Denikin ' s ships were in such a poor condition that they could not be moved , and so the group had to move once again , this time to Baku , where they found that the ships had not been used or maintained for several years , and were " thick with rust " . As they set to work repairing the guns and engines , Baku was overrun by Bolshevik forces , who captured the sailors . Once captured , they were tied up , lined up on the quay , and stripped naked . Their pockets were emptied of their possessions , and their clothes were returned . They were then marched , through jeering crowds , to the prison of Byrloft Chyrma . The prisoners were placed into two adjoining cells , measuring sixteen feet square each . The cells had a bare earth floor , and no furniture , blankets or bedding . Imprisonment . The prisoners were not fed until noon the following day , when they were given half a slice of black bread , and thin , watery soup , or rice . They were then taken outside , where they witnessed approximately forty other prisoners being executed – the women by disembowelment , followed by shooting , while the men were first tortured with acid " so strong that when they removed their arms , the flesh hung down like huge gauntlets " . This spectacle was repeated many times before the prisoners were released . The Russian government at the time felt that the prisoners were being treated " most humanely " , whereas the British believes that any civilians being held were " receiving most inhuman treatment " . They were also forced to work , carrying sacks of millet from railway trucks at the local station , to carts , but many of the men were too weak to do so – as a result , they were placed back in their cells on reduced rations of a raw fish , the size of a herring , and a handful of nuts , each day . Order began to break down amongst the prisoners , but the Commander rapidly restored it by enforcing a roll call for food rations . Water was only given out through a single tap in the courtyard , which was accessible for half an hour each day . The same area , and the same half hour each day was allotted for ablutions , which consisted of the same tap , and a hole in the ground . Lice were a huge problem – the prisoners tried to remove the lice from their clothing using their teeth , but guards and other prisoners would throw packets of lice into the cell through the grating in the door , so it was an ongoing problem . Typhus and Typhoid were rife . One of the few facts released at the time was that of the treatment of one of the civilian prisoners , Vice - Consul Hewelcke , who was subject to mock executions . No information was released about the Royal Naval prisoners by the government , indeed , the entire group were presumed dead . Deaths . The first death was a man known as Marsh , a mechanic , who used a piece of glass to slit his wrists . The guards fought over his clothing , and the body was left in the cell with the other prisoners for four days . This happened at least four more times , with the body beginning to decompose each time . Release . After a period of roughly two years of captivity , the Georgian army had held the Bolshevik forces at a nearby river , and a minister of Georgia came to visit the prison to discuss the possible release of Georgian prisoners with Astare Nasarate , the head guard of the prison . A member of the Naval Party was a Georgian interpreter , and his release was expected to be immediate – the interpreter was , surely enough , released , and managed to smuggle out a locket containing a picture of Commander Fraser ' s mother , by swallowing it . As a result of that , the rest of the British prisoners were released . They were transferred to a nearby disused school , and given some horse meat and black bread , as well as a single bar of soap – which had little effect on the lice . Eventually , they were taken to a train , and placed in goods trucks for the trip to the Georgian border , where they disembarked , walked across a bridge , and re - embarked on a passenger train under the escort of a man they knew as Colonel Stokes . They were given a small meal of quarter of a slice of meat , bread , and chocolate . When they arrived at Tiflis , their old clothes were burned , and their diet was slowly increased . They then moved on to Batumi , where they boarded HMS " Iron Duke " , and were completely shaved and cleaned , given another new set of clothes , and met the Admiral , who thanked them for their service on behalf of the Navy . They were then transferred to a specially fitted out sloop , HMS " Heliotrope " , for the journey back to Britain through the Mediterranean . Two more men died on the way back , at Bighi Hospital , Malta . There were only twelve survivors from the initial twenty - nine volunteers . The affair was kept largely secret from the press , but as a reward , the survivors gathered together enough money to buy Commander Fraser a ceremonial sword , which he later used at all ceremonial occasions as Commander - in - Chief of the Home Fleet .