Captain Lyons having announced to the Admiral that by the first days of June the Allied squadrons would be in readiness to commence operations in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Azoff" (the north-eastern corner of the sea of that name), a flotilla of gun-boats, consisting of twenty launches of the line-of-battle ships, armed with 24-pound howitzers and rockets, was despatched to reinforce them, and at sunset on the evening of the 2d June the launches, towed by steamers, joined the force under Captain Lyons, who had cast anchor on the preceding evening in Taganrog inner roads. The next morning at 3 a.m. Captain Lyons proceeded, in the Recruit, to carry out the measures which he had previously concerted with Captain de Sedaiges, in command of the French steamers, and, having collected the launches astern of his vessel, he despatched a flag of truce on m THE CRIMEA.
shore, to demand the delivery of all government property, and of all grain, flour, and provisions, in order to be destroyed.
The troops were to withdraw during this destruction to a point five miles distant, and witliin view of the ships: an hour was allowed for coming to a decision, and warning was given that no modification of the terms would be entertained.
At the expiration of the hour the English and French officers bearing the flag of truce were informed that the Governor, Lieu ten ant-General Ivrasnoff, refused the terms, and that, having troops at his disposal, he intended to defend the place. He himself thus states the motives which led him to this decision, and suggests a mode of settling the matter at issne quite out of keeping with these practical days, and which carries us back far away into the middle ages.
*' Having consulted with Major-General Count Tolstoi, Military Governor of Taganrog, I sent the reply that ray military honour forbade my giving up without a struggle the town the defence of which was entrusted to me; that our troops were ready to die for the Emperor; and that, if the enemy really wished to spare the peaceful inhabitants, I invited him to land on the coast, and accept the combat which I offered him: to decide by arms the possession of Taganrog by the result of the day's battle." General Krasnoff appears to have been disappointed that this ingenious device was not appreciated by the foe, and he seems to have been no less surprised that no descent in force was made by the Allies.
After enumerating the preparations for defence which had been made in anticipation of such an event, and alluding to the " infernal" cannonade maintained on the town for several hours, and to the " uninterrupted noise of shells bursting, fusees, and grape, accompanied by fire-rockets and rifleballs," he proceeds to give a minute and glowing description of the repulse of about 300 of the troops who had landed, and the complete discomfiture of the Allies, a success cheaply purchased by the death of (as usual) one Cossack. In spite of the melodramatic interest which attaches to such a story so ably told, we are compelled in the cause of historical truth to have recourse to the more sober but scarcely less extraordinary narrative of Captain Lyons.
No sooner was the flag of truce hauled down, than the Eecruit commenced firing, and the gun-boats, having been towed into position and then cast off, opened so heavy a fire on the beach, that all the attempts of the enemy to get into the houses which lined it, and so to save the long range of storehouses from destruction, were ineffectual. " Lieutenant Mackenzie^
N THE CRIMEA.. 45
adds Captain Lyons, " (the senior Lieutenant of this ship), had charge of a separate division of light boats, with rockets and one gun, to cover the approach of Lieutenant Cecil Buckley, of the Miranda, w^ho, in a fouroared gig, accompanied by Mr. Henry Cooper, boatswain third class, and a crew of volunteers, repeatedly landed and fired the different stores and government buildings. This dangerous, not to say desperate, service, when carried out in a town containing upwards of 3000 troops constantly endeavouring to prevent it, and only checked by the fire of the boat's guns, was most effectually performed."