The British Expedition to the CrimeaRussell, William Howard, Sir
History
The British Expedition to the Crimea
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Crimean War, 1853-1856
In the course of (Monday) September 4th, six English men-of-war and four
French men-of-war left Varna Bay, and from morning to evening not an
hour passed that some six or eight transports did not weigh anchor and
steer away to the northward to the rendezvous at Baltschik. Sir Edmund
Lyons, who had charge of the arrangements connected with the expedition,
was busy all the day on board his flagship communicating with the shore
and with the fleet.
The signal for starting was very anxiously expected, but evening closed
in on the bulk of the English flotilla still anchored in the waters of
Varna, and for the last time, perhaps, in the history of the world, the
echoes of its shores were woke up by the roll of English drums, and by
the music of the bands of our regiments, which will, in all probability,
never re-visit these ill-omened lands. As the sun set and shot his
yellow rays across the distant hills, the summit of which formed our
camping grounds, and lighted up the flat expanse of rolling vapours
above the lake, one could not but give a sigh to the memory of those who
were lying far away from the land of their fathers--whose nameless
graves are scattered in every glade and on every knoll in that unkindly
Moesian soil.
However, the morrow came, and with it life and motion. A gun from the
Admiral! Signals from the _Emperor_, the seat of power of the Admiralty
agents! The joyful news throughout the fleet that we were to weigh, and
to get off to our rendezvous in Baltschik as soon as we could. Many
sailing transports were already stealing out to the southwards under all
light canvas, in order to get a good offing. All the steamers were busy,
clothing the bay and the adjacent coast with clouds of smoke as they got
up steam, through which, as it shifted, and rose and fell, and thinned
away under the influence of a crisp, fresh breeze, one could see the
town of Varna, all burnt up and withered by fire, its white minarets
standing up stiffly through the haze, its beach hemmed by innumerable
boats, its be-cannoned walls, the blanched expanse around it of hill and
plain, still thickly dotted with the camps of the French.
[Sidenote: EXTENT OF THE ARMADA.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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