On October 22 the wind chopped round and blew up the Bug. At ten o'clock a.m., Admiral Stewart went on board the Spitfire, and proceeded southwards, towards Kinburn Spit, to look out for the expeditionary column. Fires were still blazing along the horizon. As he bore away, a French gun-boat came with a despatch from Admiral Pellion, which politely placed at the disposal of Sir Houston Stewart several chaloupes cannonieres lying off the mouth of the Dnieper, in case he felt inclined to destroy certain large boats on the beach below StanislafF. As the Spitfire was forging ahead, the little Danube, with an admiral's flag, red at the mizen, was seen on the horizon. It could be no other than Sir Edmund Lyons. The echo of the guns, and the distant scent of gunpowder, had enticed him into our waters to see what was going on. Sir Houston Stewart, Captain Spratt, Commander Cowper Coles, went on board the Danube, which, accompanied by the Spitfire, immediately steamed towards Kinburn Spit. They got within half a mile of the marais, which binds the coast with a belt of long deep rushes, but not a soldier was visible, with the exception of one solitary Cossack. There were some traces of the troops at Skadovska, about thirteen miles from Kinburn, for black columns of smoke rose up from the Spit in that direction. But the reconnaissance failed in detecting the line of inarch of the troops or in opening communications with them.
At 2.30 P.M. the Admirals returned from their cruise, and stood in towards Stanislaff. As they approached, it was clear the enemy thought two British Admirals did not fly their flags together for nothing. A strong body of infantry was drawn up on the heights among the houses, lest the admirals and post-captains should land and take StanislafF by assault, or the Danube and Spitfire attempt to bombard the place. A very considerable force of field-artillery was stationed in the rear. The Russians had erected a solid, compact-looking sand battery with five embrasures, on the sand- bank below the town, where no trace of such a work existed twenty-four hours previously. The Admirals having taken a good look at the place, now parted company; Sir E. Lyons returned in the Danube to the fleet, and Sir H. Stewart steamed away in the Spitfire to the anchorage of the Bug, and afterwards went on board the Stromboli.
The reconnaissance burned all the stores and houses which, could render service to the enemy for seven or eight miles towards Ciierson. Ere we left we discovered two large rafts of wood concealed in the rushes off the mouth of the Dnieper.
Sir Edmund Lyons presented one of the rafts to the French — an act of courtesy and consideration which our Allies estimated at its full value. Their dimensions were as follows: — The first 420 feet
418 THE BKITISH EXPEDITION TO THE CEIMEA.
long by 63 feet wide, and six feet deep. The second, nearly the same length as the first, 54 feet broad; it grounded in eight feet water. At a rough calculation the two rafts contain 90,000 cubic feet of the finest timber, and the present made by the English fleet to the French, through our Commander-in-Chief, cannot be estimated at a lower value than £20,000; at least if the timber was in England, it would be well worth the money, for the majority of the balks, spars, and centre pieces composing it are of the very finest white oak.