As to the blockade of the Bug and the Dnieper, it will, I presume, be raised by the first frost, and the gun-boats engaged in that service will di'op down and join the Hotilla at Kinburn. The only thing to look forward to is a liberal enjo^^ment of shooting, if the Cossacks will permit it, as the shores abound with multitudes of wUdfowl. Before the expedition started neaidy all the smaller gun-boats were despatched to reinforce Captain Sherard Osborne's flotilla in the Sea of Azoff, where that active and energetic officer is harrying the Russians as a hawk perturbs a field of larks. The " Fancy," Lieutenant Grylls, was still with the fleet; indeed, she is so badly built that she is scarcely fit for the short hacking waves in that sea, and she strains and leaks in bad weather to a dangerous degree.
The attention of all naval officers is now turned to the navigation of shallow waters by vessels with heavy armament, and Commander Cowper Coles, of the "' Stromboli," who invented the raft " Lady Nancy," which did such good service at Taganrog, has constructed models of two very ingenious rafts, which have been sent to the Admufalty, and which are highly approved of by the Admirals out bere. Rafts of this construction would do immense service in the Sea of Azotf, and one model provides for the adaptation of steam power, which would give the raft a moderate propulsive agency of its own. As to the ascent of the Bug or the Uniepei-, it is only to be attempted by vessels with shot-proof screens and proof docks, inasmucli as every man could be picked off the declvs by Minie riHemen, unless the banks of the river were cleared by troops in numbers sufficient to beat back the enemy as they advanced.
Captain Cole's raft is provided with a shot-proof screen which shelters the <^un and every soul on boai"d, helmsman and all. In spite of our operations in the Sea of Azotf let it be remembered that we have not reduced Arabat or Genitchi, and that the Russians will soon have free use of the Spit. The moment the frost compels our boats to retire, the Spit of Arabat will be in their hands. The water of the sea is frozen to the distance of several miles, so that no boat can approach to prevent the passage of troops or convoys. Had Arabat fallen, and an expedition landed at Kafta or Theodosia, we should have been masters of the Peninsula of Kertch. November 6. On Sunday, the 28th, Captain Pai-is joined the allied squadron blockading the Bug and Dnieper, with orders to take the command as soon as Admiral Stewart went; and when we sailed on Tuesday we left that officer in charge, with the " Beagle," " Viper," " Snake," and another English gun-boat, and four French gmi -boats, to keep up that dismal duty.
For several days before the weather showed symptoms of making itself unpleasant— enveloped us in fogs in the morning, with stiif breezes of wind, and in a muggy, smothering atmosphere at midday; but the cold had by no means set in, and the air was indeed rather disagreeably warm. On j\Ionday, the 29th, the order to embark was given, and Brigadier-General Spencer came up in the " Danube" and made a short reconnaissance up the Bug. He did not go as far as the little battery with which we had a brush on our arrival; and indeed the " Danube" would very likely go to the bottom at once if hit by a shot, for she is only a river steamer, little larger than a Greenwich or Woolwich Waterman.
However, her appearance created an immense stir among the Russians. Cossacks galloped about on all sides and in every direction. The battery at the point was manned at once, and a held gun was detached from the small camp behind it, and kept along the west bank joarzi passu with the steamer, in hope of sending the little " Danube" to the bottom of the Bug; but she kept out of range, and as soon as the general had seen all he could. he returned. That evening three large bodies of inftintry inarched down from NicholaielF, and occupied the villages on the east bank near the sea. One battalion set at once to work on a high diir, about six miles up the river, and threw up an earthwork, either to cover riiiemen or receive guns.