252

JONES CUTS OUT A TURKISH VESSEL.

five poods.* The same day the Prince-Marshal having established his head-quarters to the right of his army upon the shores of the Black Sea, (he had hitherto been on the shores of the Liman, on the left wing,) pointed out to me two of the enemy's gun-boats, stationed close by the fort of Hassan Pacha, and the Turkish lines on the side of Beresane. He was persuaded that they would attempt to come out during the night with despatches, and inquired of me if it were not possible to capture them. As his Highness appeared to attach great importance to this service, I undertook it.

"I returned on board the Wolodimer, from whence, at eight in the evening, I set off with five armed chaloupes. I made five gun-boats follow, as a measure of precaution in case the Turks had attempted to make a sortie, as their chaloupes sailed much faster than ours.

"I found one of the Turkish gun-boats aground, hauled up, and almost dry on the sands adjoining the battery, and on an intrenchment the enemy had cast up on the water's edge. It was impossible to get it afloat under the terrible fire which we sustained from all the lines and batteries on the shore. The other gun-boat lay hard by the fort of Hassan Pacha, to the south. Lieutenant Edwards boarded this vessel, and cut her cables; but having had several of his men wounded, and being deserted by one of the chaloupes, he was obliged to give up the attempt, lest he should be left by the other chaloupe also. During this time I had made some efforts to get the other Turkish boat afloat. I now rowed quickly to the assistance of Mr. Edwards, but the night being dark, he was already out of sight. I boarded the vessel in which he had been. I had several men wounded around me; but, in defiance of the enemy, I hauled the vessel out, and stationed it right opposite the head-quarters of the Prince-Marshal.

"On the 21st, at daybreak, I sailed with the Wolodimer,

* A pood, or poud, is a Russian weight, equal to 36 lbs. English weight.

followed by all the vessels of the squadron that yet remained with me, and twenty-five armed boats and bomb-vessels that had been placed under my command. The object of this movement was again to blockade Oczakow by sea, and to cut off the communication between that place and Beresane. To accomplish this object, I stationed the Wolodimer and the Alexander to blockade the channel at the entrance of the Liman, and I continued the same line of blockade into the road, by placing the smaller vessels there. As the bombvessels and gun-boats had not water-casks, the Prince-Marshal, who wished to see these craft opposite his head-quarters, made wells be dug on shore for the accommodation of the crews; and on the 24th ordered my officer du jour to have three vessels stationed near the shore. I knew nothing of

254

JONES SAVES THE BOATS.

this change, for I had placed them the previous night, in line, and far enough off to be in safety. On the 25th the wind was from the south, but was not violent. After dinner I went to head-quarters to make a visit to the Prince-Marshal, and found, to my great astonishment, that half the boats were cast ashore, and the other half in the greatest danger. I set to work instantly, with my chaloupe, to haul off, and bring to anchor all the vessels possible; and by means of anchors and cables, for which I sent to the squadron, we saved them all, except six gun-boats, which went to pieces, and filled with sand. On the 26th the Prince-Marshal wrote me by his Brigadier du jour, requiring to know, since I was master of the vessels saved, what I meant to do with them? I placed them near the tongue of land of Kinbourn, where they had a sheltered haven, and also wells for the accommodation of the men. They sustained no farther injury during the time they remained under my command. After this, two chaloupes or small cutters were placed under my orders, of which each carried two licornes, forty-eight pounders, in the fore-part, and six falconets on the sides. Shortly afterwards I got two larger cutters, carrying each two mortars, of five poods.

"On the 31st July, the Capitan Pacha again made his appearance with his fleet, followed by several vessels which he had not when he went off. His advanced guard, composed of his frigates, bomb-vessels, and small craft, cast anchor near Beresane, whilst his large squadron of ships of the line resumed their old position. The Prince-Marshal ordered me to bring back my small vessels to assist in blocking up the passage of the Liman; and the Prince of Nassau was ordered to block up the road with his flotilla, and thus cut off the communication of the Turkish small vessels by the shallows to the south of Fort Hassan Pacha.

"The Prince of Nassau hoisted a Vice-Admiral's flag, on one of the galleys in coming out of the Liman, and that galley having passed under the stern of the Wolodimer on the

THE CAPITAN PACHA.

255

1st of August, he assumed that I ought to have saluted him as Vice-Admiral."

[The Rear-Admiral here enumerates six different special reasons for not saluting the said flag; and we fear somewhat tediously, for which reason we spare the reader this concatenation; the only important fact being, that the Prince of Nassau endeavoured to make the Court of Russia believe that the denial of this piece of courtesy was the only subject of dispute between himself and Paul Jones. We again resume the narrative.]]

"The Capitan Pacha came out from day to day, to sound and reconnoitre, in his kirlangitz, which sailed like the wind, and always displayed an Admiral's flag. As the block-fort and the battery on the tongue of land at Kinbourn were only constructed of bags of sand, and were neither protected by ditch nor palisade, I was afraid that the Capitan Pacha might try to carry them by a sudden descent, which he could have done by landing five hundred men.

256

THE COMMAND OFFERED TO JONES.

"General Suwaroff had been dangerously wounded in a sortie made by the garrison of Oczakow, and had come to Kinbourn. I convinced him that the block-fort and battery were menaced, and as he had a greater quantity of chevaux. de-frize than he required, I suggested that he should employ what was superfluous in surrounding the block-fort and battery. The general gave orders accordingly, and I ranged all my gun-boats and bomb-vessels right by the strip of ground between the block-fort and the battery. The sand served them as a parapet, so that there was a line of fire continued from the point on to the battery. The small craft were, besides, always ready to change their position at the first movement of the enemy, and I placed the squadron so advantageously as to communicate with the block-fort and the battery, without confining their fire, and to keep back the enemy by a cross-fire, on entering the channel of the Liman; so that, though we were very weak compared with the Turkish fleet, the Capitan Pacha never either attempted to make a descent, or to force the passage of the entrance of the Liman.

"The Prince-Marshal having ordered Rear Admiral Wognowitch to sail from Sevastopole with the fleet under his command, and that officer having raised obstacles because his force was not, he conceived, powerful enough to attack that under the command of the Capitan Pacha, his Highness sent me a letter, written by his chief secretary, Brigadier Popoff, on the 19th August (old style,) proposing that I should go to Sevastopole to take command of the fleet. It may be remembered that I was brought to Russia to command all the naval force in the Black Sea, consequently this proposition did not surprise me. Had the Prince-Marshal ordered me to go, I would have proceeded immediately, but I could not seem as if I sought to be sent. In the first place, the naval signals used in that fleet were imperfect and very limited. 2dly, My naval signals had not yet been translated