Page:Item 5 1853.pdf/128

Beyond the great or central battery it has or had two tower batteries. One tower was taken two days ago by the French and English and was occupied by them. The Russians had dug a mine from the great battery to the one taken, and Sir Chas. Napier, from information or suspicion, telegraphed the troops. A few minutes after the whole tower was blown into atoms. I came into the bay too late to see it, but not too late to hear it. The second tower was taken by assault of the marines and blue-jackets last night, and the governor taken prisoner. Today was the ground attack on the centre battery. The firing from the ships commenced at ten in the morning, while the French and English troops were banging away on shore from the main forts. I watched the bewildering scene from the deck of the Cuckoo steamer until my eyes ached. Some of the shot and shell fell short of the battery and others went over it; many of them ploughed up the ground at its foot, while others dashed the roof into splinters. Some shells burst in the air, presenting a singular sight. The volume of smoke from them did not dissipate for several minutes, but looked like floating balloons. The roar of the guns was terrific. At last, at exactly half past tweve(sic), a white flag was seen flying from the roof of the ​building​. Sir Charles Napier’s ship, the Bulldog, and the French Admiral’s ship sent up theirs, and all was quiet – the fort had surrendered. Two boats were sent from the Admirals and not another gun fired. Two thousand Russians had surrendered as prisoners to the allied fleets. The French and English ships now poured down by thousands from the main forts towards the battery and boats from the ships in dozens, the boat from the Royal William schooner not far behind them. There was no resisting. The men pulled away, and there we went, where only a few minutes before it would have been certain death to have shown our noses. Lost in wonder and awe at the devastation before us, the scene was too much. The prisoners were being taken by boat-loads to the vessels for conveyance to England and France, many of them the poorest and most deplorable looking objects it is possible to conceive; others, again, looking as though they had just escaped from a tyrant, laughing and jolly as though they were at last set free. Many, however, were helplessly drunk and had to be driven along by the soldiers. Carts were bringing out the sick and wounded – a melancholy sight indeed. We did not enter far into the battery, it being dangerous from the number of loose powder bags lying about. The troops were engaged in searching for the Russian officers. Numbers of them had stowed themselves away and were insensibly drunk. None but those who have seen, as I have, the capabilities of the allied powers, can form any idea of their means. The walls of this place are nine feet thick of solid granite; the roof is of iron, and under that is sand six feet thick. Well have the French and English done their work! The place is in ruins, -