line of battle ships. He reached the harbour, and had got past the enemy's steam boat, at the entrance of Careening Bay, when he was prevented from proceeding further by a long line of boats, which were carrying troops from the south to the north side of Sebastopol. On the 16th of August he again made the attempt from the side of Careening Bay, then in possession of the French.

The above are only some few of the gallant deeds done by the officers and men of the Naval Brigade before Sebastopol. All, from Sir Stephen Lushington downwards to the youngest midshipman or shipboy, did their duty right nobly, and, though the bluejackets of England have no cause to complain that their gallantry is not sufficiently appreciated, perhaps on this occasion the service they rendered to their country is scarcely understood as it should be. On that disastrous assault on the Redan, 18th June, 1855, which has already been described, the Naval Brigade consisted of four parties of 60 men each, one for each column-but two only went out, the other two being kept in reserve. They were told off to carry scaling-ladders and wool-bags, and to place them for the storming parties. They were led by Captain Peel. Severely they suffered. Out of the two small parties 14 were killed, and 47 were wounded.

When the soldiers, overwhelmed by the terrific fire of the batteries, retreated towards the trenches, several officers and men were left behind wounded, and endured fearful agonies for hours, without a drop of water or a cheering voice to comfort them. Among others, Lieutenant Ermiston lay for five hours under the abattis of the Redan, and was reported dead, but he

had only a contusion of the knee, and, watching his opportunity, he got safely away.

Mr. Kennedy, mate of the 'London,' was also left behind close to the abattis, and, after several hours of painful suspense, concealed among the dead, he rolled himself over and over down the declivity, and managed to get into the trench.

Lieut. Kidd came in all safe, and was receiving the congratulations of a brother-officer, when he saw a wounded soldier lying out in the open. He at once exclaimed, "We must go and save him!" and leaped over the parapet in order to do so. He had scarcely proceeded one yard on his errand of mercy when he was shot through the breast, and died an hour af terwards.

Lieut. Dalyell, of the 'Leander,' had his left arm shattered by a grape-shot, and underwent amputation.

Lieut. Cave and Mr. Wood, midshipman, were also wounded, as was Captain Peel, as has been described. Indeed, of the whole detachment only three officers came out of action untouched.

Not only were the subordinate officers of the navy thus conspicuously brave and active, but a sailor was from the first one of the ruling spirits of the campaign. To Sir Edmund Lyons does England owe, in an incalculable degree, the success which attended our arms on the shores of the Euxine.

He it was who organized and conducted the expedition to the Crimea, prepared the means of landing, and superintended all so closely, that "in his eagerness he left but six inches between the keel of his noble ship and the ground below it." Not only in this matter of the transport of the troops, but also in every

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subsequent stage of the expedition, Sir Edmund Lyons gave the most valuable assistance to Lord Raglan and his successors. How at the battle of the Alma he supported the French army by bringing the guns of his ship to bear on the left flank of the Russians, and what a conspicuous part he took with the 'Agamemnon' on the first bombardment of Sebastopol, are incidents fresh in the recollection of all. But he had more to do in the way of advice and of encouragement than the public ever heard of. Day after day he might have been seen on his grey pony, hovering about the English lines on the heights of Sebastopol; he was present at Balaklava, and he was present at Inkermann. It was thus that having conveyed our soldiers to the Crimea he saved them from being compelled to leave it—baffled, if not vanquished. A day or two after the battle of Balaklava, Sir Edmund Lyons, on landing, learnt to his astonishment that orders had been issued to the Naval Brigade to embark as many guns as possible during the day, for Balaklava was to be evacuated at night,-of course, surrendering to the enemy the greater portion of the guns. On his own responsibility the Admiral at once put a stop to the execution of this order, and went in search of Lord Raglan, who, it appears, had come to the resolution of abandoning Balaklava, in consequence of the opinion expressed by the engineers, that after the loss of the redoubts in our rear, lately held by the Turks, we ought to concentrate our strength on the plateau. Taking Lord Raglan aside, Sir Edmund Lyons strongly opposed these views; he pointed out that the advanced position in the valley in front of which these redoubts were situated had

been originally occupied, in accordance with the advice of those very officers, and in opposition to that of Sir Edmund, who had suggested at the time that they were covering too much ground; he argued that, as the engineers had been mistaken once, they might be wrong again; and he clinched his argument by saying that, whatever might be the value of his opinion in such a case, he was, at all events, entitled to pronounce an opinion as to the insufficiency of Kamiesch as an harbour for the allied armies; that this harbour was utterly inadequate; and that the abandonment of Balaklava meant the evacuation of the Crimea in a week. After some conversation, Lord Raglan said, "Well, you were right before, and this time I will act upon your advice." Sir Edmund obtained leave to countermand the orders which had been issued; Balaklava was maintained as our base of operations, and the army was saved from what might have proved an inglorious defeat, if not a terrible disaster. This, as we have said, was perhaps the most important of all the services rendered by the Admiral, and he well deserved the peerage which it earned for him.

Sir Stephen Lushington, having attained his rank as Admiral in July 1855, was succeeded in the command of the Naval Brigade by Captain the Hon. Henry Keppel, whose gallantry on various occasions has been especially conspicuous. At length, on the 19th September, Sebastopol having fallen, the gallant Naval Brigade was disbanded; the jovial blue-jackets leaving Balaklava to return to their ships amid the enthusiastic cheers of their red-coated comrades, among whom one feeling was universal, that of regret at losing the company of so merry a band. Not a

soldier but admired their bravery, their invariable good humour, and marvellous aptitude in adapting themselves to whatever circumstances they might fall in with.

EXPEDITION TO KERTCH.

THE importance of securing the outlet to the Sea of Azov had long been seen, and on the 22nd May an expedition sailed from Balaklava, under the joint command of Sir George Brown and General D'Autemarre, for the purpose of capturing the fortresses of Kertch and Yenikale, which command the entrance. They had under them 15,000 troops and five batteries of artillery. Admirals Lyons and Bruat accompanied the expedition. While the troops were landed some miles to the south of Kertch, the squadron proceeded on to attack it in front; but before they arrived, the Russians, believing that they could not defend the place, evacuated it, as did most of the inhabitants. Yenikale was deserted in the same manner, and the armies and fleets achieved a very bloodless victory, while the smaller steamers of the squadron were sent off up the Sea of Azov in chase of the Russian menof-war. A light squadron of English and French vessels was placed under the command of Captain Lyons, of the Miranda,' with directions to capture and destroy all the ships, magazines, and stores of provisions belonging to the enemy. The larger quantity of provisions for the Russian army in the Crimea had hitherto been conveyed across the Sea of Azov. In a few days the 'Miranda' and her consorts de