On this, Lieutenant George Dare Dowell, R.M.A., of the _Magicienne_, calling out for a volunteer crew, jumped into the _Ruby's_ gig, where he was joined by Lieutenant Haggard of the _Arrogant_, and together they pulled off, under a fire which grew hotter and hotter, to the rescue of the boat and men. Lieutenant Dowell was waiting at the moment on board the _Ruby_ while his own boat was receiving a supply of rockets. Taking the stroke oar, he and his three companions pulled on, in spite of the shower of grape and musketry which the Russians poured on them to prevent them from accomplishing their object. They succeeded, in spite of this, in taking in three of the cutter's crew, and were mainly instrumental in keeping the boat afloat and bringing her off to the _Ruby_. Two were killed and ten wounded during the whole affair. Captain Yelverton speaks highly of the conduct of all the officers engaged, where their cool and determined courage enabled them to handle most severely, and to keep in check for upwards of an hour, a far superior force of the enemy. These were perhaps the most creditable acts of individual gallantry performed at this time in the Baltic. Both Lieutenant Dowell and George Ingouville received the Victoria Cross. It would be scarcely interesting or useful to describe the numberless performances of the boats of the fleets in destroying barracks, stores, and shipping. It was a stern though painful necessity which demanded this mode of proceeding. The object was to show the enemy the power of the Allies to injure them, and to make them earnestly desire peace, at every cost. In no instance was private property on shore intentionally injured. The shipping, however, did not escape; and in the two nights of the 23rd and 24th of July, the boats of the _Harrier_, Captain Storey, destroyed in the harbour of Nystad forty-seven vessels, amounting to nearly 20,000 tons. On the 6th July the first shot was fired at Cronstadt, from a gun slung on board a timber barge, by Captain Boyd. The Russians, in return, endeavoured to injure the vessels of the Allies, and to protect their shores by the employment of infernal machines, as they were then called. We call their much more certain and more dangerous successors submarine mines, and regard them as a regular means of defence. These were intended to explode under water, and some were fired by voltaic batteries, but invariably failed of going off at the proper time; others exploded on being struck; but though the _Merlin_ ran on to one, which went off under her bottom, comparatively slight damage was done her. The articles in her store-room, directly over the spot where the machine struck her, were thrown about in every direction, showing the force of the concussion. Admiral Dundas and several officers with him had, however, a narrow escape, one of the machines exploding while they stood around it examining its structure. BOMBARDMENT OF SVEABORG.