It was now about the appointed time that the frigates were to open fire on the fort we were in; they had taken the exact range the previous evening. We lay off, the fog as dense as ever. We were none too soon. The _Amphion_ and _Phlegethon_ fired shell, which, bursting in the fort, had the appearance in the fog of a return fire. After a while there was a lull. Presently we heard distant cheering. This was from the crews coming to take possession of the fort they had silenced. The fog continued, and it was high time we took care of ourselves. On the south-eastern end of the anchorage, in Lumpar Bay, was the _Odin_ steamer, 16 guns, commanded by our young old friend, Frank Scott. Here we were well taken care of and jolly, narrating our adventures. Wilfrid Seymour had joined us from the _Sphynx_. It was between 2 and 3 P.M. when the officer of the watch reported the Admiral coming. What were we to do? Frank Scott had a lumber cabin in which he kept spare furniture when clear for action. In this we hid. When he and Sir Charles had sat down to the usual grog, the Chief said to Scott:--“That was a dom’d fine thing of the frigates this morning.” Scott replied, without thinking, “Why, I hear there was no one in the fort”! To which the old Chief replied, “Who has been telling you a dom’d lie? Why, Chaads saw, from the masthead, at least five hundred soldiers rush out”! On the morning of the 10th the disembarkation of the guns commenced. Each ship had been ordered to prepare two sledges, made according to a pattern by Captain Ramsay of the _Hogue_. Amongst the officers so employed was H.S.H. Prince Victor of Hohenlohe, mate of the _Cumberland_, who was put in charge of a 12-pounder field-piece, with which he kept one of the circular forts employed. He was very happy, pounding away at the fort, all the while puffing at his pet meerschaum “peep.” It is not my intention to trouble my readers with a sailor’s opinion of the capture of Bomarsund. Experienced officers, both French and English, worked well together. I was like the boy that was sent to a French school, who, on inquiry of his parents when he got home for the holidays, said, “We had nothing to do, and we did it.” But with my friend Henry Seymour, who had his younger brother (now General Lord William Seymour, in command of our troops in Canada), we had great fun; with a tent between us and our ships’ gigs we really enjoyed ourselves. On one occasion, when camped under a hill, the Russian shot passed over our heads into the country beyond. The next morning Henry felt a little nervous on account of the young brother, and proposed shifting our tent nearer the hill; the change was only just completed, when a round shot dropped into the site of our former position. [Illustration: _Circular Fort, Bomarsund._] CHAPTER LIV _ST. JEAN D’ ACRE_ [Sidenote: 1854. Ledsund. Aug. 17.] Ships and steamers coming from Bomarsund.