Spring 1855, the Expedition to Kertch & the Assault of the 18th of June

When the feasibility of the expedition to the Crimea was discussed, it was generally felt that one of the earliest and most formidable obstacles to its success would be the difficulty and danger of conveying the enormous force required for the undertaking through the perils for which the navigation of the Black Sea was notorious. That danger and that difficulty were overcome by the prudence, judgment, and skill, which were displayed by Admiral Dundas, in the embarcation, convoying, and disembarcation of the troops committed to his charge. These important and complicated operations were effected without a single casualty. An armament more complete and better equipped than any which the world had yet seen, consisting of 600 transports, carrying nearly 60,000 men, and escorted by a fleet mounting in all 3000 guns, traversed for a week the waters of the Euxine, rendezvoused without a missing ship at the appointed place and hour, and achieved the object of its mission, with a success which it is marvellous to look back on. The 17th of October showed too clearly how little the navy could effect in aid of the active operations of the siege; and if there was one object of solicitude more important than another it was to preserve the fleet entire and intact, at a time when, in the event of any reverse, it would have been the sole resource of our army. When the expedition to Kertch took place, the greater portion of the Russian Black Sea fleet had been sunk, the army was safe in a strongly intrenched position, and the opportunity presented to the navy, as well as the mission it was called on to fulfil, had vastly changed from the time when the whole Eussian fleet was afloat, and when our troops were establishing themselves in an unknown • country. Equal to either emergency, admirals and fleet faithfully discharged their duty in both instances, and it may not be superfluous to remind those who have ungenerously criticised the services of the earlier commander, that the dashing feats of his successor were physically impossible till within a very short period of their accomplishment; that even that successor shared for a time the unmerited reproach of an inaction which was alike imposed on both; and that the worth of an action is not solely to be tested either by the splendour which surrounds or the popularity which attends it. Early on the morning of the 25th May, the master of the Miranda buoyed out a channel through the Straits of Kertch on the Yenikale side; and the forts on the opposite shore, being threatened in the rear by the fire of two steamers detached for the purpose, were abandoned by the Russians, who exploded their magazines as they retired. The passage being thus cleared, Captain Lyons proceeded with the steam flotilla under his orders, to the number of thirteen vessels, into the Sea of Azoff"; and, having been joined by four French steamers under the command of Captain de Sedaiges, anchored on the afternoon of the 26th off the Spit at Berdiansk, in such a manner as to command the harbour and beach. The boats of the squadrons were then despatched, under Commander Sherard Osborne, to destroy the merchant-vessels lying off the harbour, as well as some which were observed about four miles off; a task which was completed by dark, — the steamers in the meantime chasing and destroying vessels in other directions. The following morning all the ships anchored off" the town of Berdiansk; and parties of marines and sailors, having been 2 G