On 11th March Queen Victoria reviewed at Spithead the most powerful fleet that up to that time had ever been collected. This was under the command of Sir Charles Napier, with his flag on board the Duke of Wellington, of 131 guns,—which ship alone would almost have been capable of contending with the largest fleet Howe, Jervis, or Nelson ever led to victory. That superb fleet was intended chiefly for the Baltic, where it was hoped that not only would it humble the pride of the Czar, by capturing Sveaborg, Helsingfors, and Cronstadt, but might lay Saint Petersburg itself under contribution. Some of the ships went to the Black Sea and in other directions; but Sir Charles Napier found himself in command of a fleet in the Baltic, consisting altogether of thirty steamers and thirteen sailing ships, mounting 2052 guns. The French also had a fleet of twenty-three ships carrying 1250 guns.
Bombardment of Odessa.
The naval operations were opened with two very regrettable incidents. The steamer Furious was sent to Odessa early in April, to bring off the British consul. Having anchored in the bay with a flag of truce at her mast-head, she sent off a boat, also with a flag of truce flying, to the shore, when, against all the laws of civilised warfare, the batteries opened fire on them. No one was hit, and the Furious steamed back to the fleet.
The allied admirals, indignant at the outrage, addressed a note to the Russian governor, General Osten-Sacken, pointing out the outrage which had been committed, and demanding “that all the British, French, and Russian vessels now at anchor near the citadel or the batteries of Odessa be forthwith delivered up to the combined squadron; and that if at sunset no answer or a negative be received, they will be compelled by force to avenge the insult offered, though, for humanity’s sake, they adopt the alternative with regret, and cast the responsibility of the act upon those to whom it belongs.”
No satisfactory answer having been received, the combined fleet opened fire on the fortifications of Odessa on the 22nd of April. The bombardment lasted for ten hours, during which the Russian batteries were considerably injured, two batteries blown up, vast quantities of military stores were destroyed, and several ships-of-war were sunk.
On the 12th of May, during a thick fog, the steam-sloop Tiger, sixteen guns, Commander Gifford, went on shore on the rocks near Odessa. While she was thus utterly helpless, the Russians, as soon as she was observed, opened fire on her, and Captain Gifford, being desperately wounded (mortally, as it proved), was at length compelled to strike his flag. The Russians, having removed her guns and stores, set fire to the vessel, and forwarded the flag as a trophy to Saint Petersburg. It was one of the very few, either from redcoats or bluejackets, they got during the war.
Operations in the Baltic.
Sir Charles Napier’s squadron reached Wingo Sound on the 15th March, and on the 25th it entered the Great Belt, and anchored in Kiel Bay. Soon afterwards, Sir Charles was reinforced by Admiral Corry, with the second division of the fleet. On the 12th of April Sir Charles sailed for the Gulf of Finland, where he established a rigorous blockade. As, even at this season of the year, there is a considerable amount of ice in the Baltic, the navigation of the ships demanded all the vigilance of the officer in charge. Sir Charles, hearing that a Russian squadron, consisting of seven line-of-battle ships and one frigate, was shut up at Helsingfors, made sail in that direction for the purpose of preventing a junction between the two portions of the Russian fleet. In this very important object, in which the enemy’s plan of naval operations was completely defeated, he was entirely successful.
Admiral Plumridge meantime was scouring the Gulf of Bothnia, and in a short period captured or destroyed forty-six merchantmen and a quantity of naval stores, without losing a man.