From the moment when the expedition to the Crimea was finally decided upon, the Turkish town and harbour of Varna presented a scene as novel as it was animated. Vast quantities of munitions of war, and of every description of provisions, were rapidly collected within the town, whose granaries and storehouses seemed incapable of containing the enormous stores constantly imported by illimitable strings of arabas, mules, horses, and donkeys; and yet, day after day, the cry was still, " they come." Meanwhile the harbour was gradually filling with a huge fleet of transports, ranging in size from the iron-ribbed leviathan of the deep to the smallest craft capable of ploughing the Euxine. These unwonted marvels are stated to have roused even the Turks from their prescriptive nil-admirari condition of apathy, and the streets of Varna were crowded with a motley crew, in whose bustle and activity the distinction between Christians and Orientals was well-nigh merged.
Towards the end of July our troops were busily and constantly employed in the construction of fascines, gabions, and sand-bags, terms which
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subsequent events have rendered so familiar to the English mind that any explanation of them here would be superfluous; and the destination of the expedition was perhaps hinted to the observant, by the gallant and successful reconnaissance of Sebastopol made about this time by Sir George Brown and his Staff in the Fury. Under the cover of night she ran into the harbour to within 2000 yards of the batteries, and, having remained there until some hours after daybreak, she steamed back on receiving a somewhat angry notice to quit from the guns of the batteries, but not until the object of her mission had been fully and satisfactorily accomplished.
Some delay in the preparations of the Allies, and considerable damage to their " materiel," were occasioned by a vast conflagration, which broke out in Varna, and after raging with incredible fury destroyed a very large portion of the town. The origin of the fire was ascribed to the Greeks, and some of them who were caught in jlagrante delicto, stimulating the progress of the flames, met with summary justice at the hands of the incensed soldiery. The coolness, energy, and determination with which the troops laboured to extinguish the fire, though surrounded on all sides by combustible materials of the most frightful description, and liable at any moment to be blown into the air, were beyond all praise, and were justly hailed as a happy augury of what might be anticipated from the same men in face of an enemy.
This event was the last which tried the courage and patience of the expeditionary force, and on the 25th of August Marshal St. Arnaud raised the spirits of the French Army to the highest pitch, by an order of the day, in which, after paying a handsome tribute to their English and Ottoman Allies, he announced, that it was in the Crimea that they must seek to emulate the traditional glories of the First Empire. A day or two after this eagerly-looked-for information the embarkation of both French and English commenced, and was completed about the 4th of September.
On the 7th the expedition, consisting of 600 transports, convoyed by a 4eet mounting in all 3000 guns, sailed from Baltschik.