The Sun. — 1854-12-05 (London, England)

WEDNESDAY—The Lord Raglan is on shore, but taken there in a most sailor-like manner. Directly her captain found he could not save her, he cut away his mainmast and wizen, and, setting a topsail on her foremast, ran her ashore stem on, where she lies quite upright, and has now (3 p.m.) rigged cheers over his hold, either, we suppose, to save his cargo, or to lighten his ship. The shore is teeming with soldiers, who, however, seem very friendly ; so much so, that an order has been given not to fire upon then, fearing lest they should murder the poor shipwrecked wretches if we do. They are, of course, taking into Sebastopol any men and plunder they call get ; but I suppose that is all right. • 5 p.m.—The Firebrand has just fired on the coast. It seems the wretches were prevented from doing harm by their impotence, not their will, for they have just brought down field pieces and fired on the wrecks, and the Firebrand is trying to keep them off. We were rather premature in supposing the Russians had become civilised atl of a sudden. • - • THURSDAY, 16th.—To-day broke very fine, with still a stormy breeze from the S.W. ; the Firebrand still busy keeping off the Russians, wino continue hovering about the shore ; and some capital shots she makes, dropping shot and shell right into groups of eight or ten, and scattering them most effectually ; the boats are all busy getting men off the wrecks, and we hope that very few lives are lost here. About half-past 8 a.m. the captain of the Lord Raglan, a most intelligent sailor-like man, came on board; he has great hopes of saving his ship, whieh is nearly unhurt, and he says that the Russians were most anxious to persuade him yesterday to go on shore, but he declined, very: fortunately, as every poor fellow they caight, half drewnect and unarmed as he was, they handcuffed and sent rays that directly he lighted his lamp they opened a fire at his skylights, but fortunately without doing any damage ; he says, too, that his men, of whom he has 30, behaved most splendidly, and he has brought them all off. On leaving us he returned to his ship, and if man can save her he will do it. One French barque is full of soldiers, and at them the enemy kept up a continual fire ; the poor wretches could not leave their position, owing to everything being washed away, so that they had to cling to the bulwarks for safety, thus affording an excellent mark for the Russians, who took great advantage of it. And yet the savages call themselves Christians I At noon No. 1 was set on fire, we presume, by her crew, who we know had left her after saving all they could, there not being the slightest chance of getting her off, and she is now 7 p.m., burning most brilliantly, and shedding a lurid light all around her. A splendid, though fearful, sight is a ship on fire. It belongs to the same owner as the Lord Raglan, and seems to have as energetic a commander ; certainly the next best thing to saving her, which was impossible, was to burn her. A working party has just started for the • Lord Raglan, and there seems to be every hope she may be saved, but no other transport. No. 20 was burnt last night, and both she and No. 1 are now smoking. It seems they were not set on fire by their captains, as we supposed, but by accident. I believe, however, that most of the cargoes were saved. The French fleet have all either taken their departure or are on the eve of doing so. The admiral, we hear, is almost broken-hearted with the loss and disabling of his splendid ships. It is rumoured, too, that we are to go into winter quarters, leaving the steamers and Bellerophon, which, with five French screws, will make us a match for anything Russian, if they dare show their noses outside Sebastopol.