In the mean time, the Russian fleet, with the exception of two ships, which were lost on the passage, succeeded in returning to Cronstadt. It was said that Admiral Henikoff, who commanded, was degraded in consequence of his conduct in not engaging the Swedish fleet. The mortality continued at Carlscrona among the seamen until the cold weather set in about Christmas, when it was calculated that the Swedes had lost a number nearly equal to the original crews of their ships, including sixty-four officers; among whom were fourteen of the rank of captain (lieut.-col. in their service). The Orion sailed with the first convoy in November, which she carried successfully through the Belt. The next ship was the Africa, which, after seeing her convoy through the Malinoe channel, was attacked by Danish gun-boats in a calm, and suffered so severely as to oblige her to return to Carlscrona. The Mars, Orion, and two bombs, made an unsuccessful attack on Eurtholms; but the last convoy which left Carlscrona, under the Salsette, Magnet, and two Swedish sloops of war, was the most disastrous undertaking of all. They sailed on the 23rd December, after the winter set in with unusual severity. A storm coming on from the northward, brought the already-formed ice down on the convoy. The Magnet (Captain Morris) was wrecked, with several others; the rest, with the Salsette and two Swedish armed ships, were carried back into the Baltic; and, excepting the Salsette, none of them were ever heard of. The gallant Captain Bathurst, who afterwards fell gloriously at Navarin, after suffering severe hardships by being frozen out the whole winter, during which his ship was drifted twice round the island of Bornholm, was able to approach Carlshamn in March, and was cut into that harbour by the Swedes, who afforded him every assistance. The Swedish armed ships were lost by being carried by the ice on a sandbank in sight of the Salsette, which had then only four feet water to spare; the former, immediately they struck, turned bottom up, and all hands perished, being instantly covered with the ice. The thermometer, in January 1809, sank to forty-five degrees below zero; the Sound and Belt were completely frozen over, and many passed between Sweden and Denmark on horseback over the ice. The Author did not escape the infection at Carlscrona, but was one of the first who recovered, and was sent for by the King to Stockholm; it was, however, the middle of February before he could undertake the journey. There were at one time nineteen packets due from England.