MEMORANDA OF THE WAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 310, 20 October 1855, Page 5

MEMORANDA OF THE WAR.

Smart. Action "by a Feesch Frigate.—A lettei from Kamiesch in the " Moniteur de la Llottre," recounts' a smart action of the little French frigate Megere. It was anchored off Eupatoria, near the wreck of the Henri IV., when the watch observed a party of Russian cavalry on the tongue of land which separates the lakes from the sea. The brave Iskender Bey, who is happily cured of his wound, advanced to meet them at the head of about twenty horse. The enemy, countimr the Turks, continued the march in fancied security, when suddenly the Megere pitched a couple of cannon balls into the very middle of their front column. The group, thus unexpectedly assailed, fell back in confusion, leaving-sorae of their body stretched on the field. The whole force turned and made off with all speed, but the Meger.e, raising her anchor, chased them as if she had been ahorse. It was a wonderful sight to see her scudding along the shore and watching her opportunity to fire a shot upon the retreating Russians whenever the slightest break in the ground gave her gunners a chance to see them. On returning to her anchorage the Magere received the congratulations of the garrison of Eupatoria. The Russian Baltic Fleet.—The Emperor has come down to Sweaborg, where ihere are half-a-dozen steam frigates, and it is said to be his intention to proceed with them to sea to endeavour to pick up some ofthe ships ofthe blockading squadrom. It is added that each of his steamers will take a line of battle ship in tow, to cover his retreat if too hard pressed by the English frigates. If this news be confirmed it.shows his pluck, and will be glorious intelligence for the British sailors, who desire nothing better than to catch ihe Russian ships out of port, and to have a brush with them. A Surgeon's Life in the Trenches.— About 7 o'clock in walked the artillery surgeon with his face bandaged up. He had. gone to the advanced battery at daybreak, where he had a number of men wounded, and he had got hit himself. He also ?aid that some one must go there, as the men were being, hit every minute. I accordingly went forward, and found that during the short time the other surgeon had been away five new men had been wounded. There are two batteries there, Nos. 7 and 8. No. 7 battery is much the most dangerous. So after doing what was wanted there, I weut up to No, 8. The ground of it is composed of gravel and large stones, and of course the battery is constructed of the same material. The consequence was that every shot fired by the enemy threw up a perfect shower of stones, some of them very large ; and, as they fired at us all day, every one was hit more or less, some very severely: fortunately, although this morning I am black and blue, and my back aches from a large stone that fell on it, I was not hurt. They kept me miming between the two batteries all day, and most disagreeable work it was, as in one place there was no cover at all, and in getting into No. 7 there was a sort of channel to run through that was always getting balls through it. The pscapes we had were most wonderful. One time it was almost miraculous. I was leaning on the carriage of a gun that was loaded and run out, speaking to the artillery officer who was pointing it. He had his face on-the gun, looking through the sight; a shot came from the Russians, hit our gun in the bore and knocked off two feet of the muzzle, wounding by the splinters every man ofthegtm's crew,

except two and the artillery officer and myself, four out of nine—the men literally fell all round me. Most of them were slightly wounded ; but how any escaped, particularly the officer who had his face on the gun, 1 cannot tell. Of course we have to dress the men in most cases where they lie, and the Russians having got our range, most likely send another shot nearly in the same place as the first. This is so well known that the rule is, in such cases, to run behind a traverse orauy shelter. So does«very one except the non-combatant, the doctor, who must go to his men, no matter where. To give you an iustance of this:—A man had his baud blown off in No. 7. They sent for me at once, as the man was bleediug. At this time there was a perfect storm of slut coming on the nnfortuuate battery. I had to dart into it the best way I could. When I got there the wouuded man was lying where he was hit, with another beside him, aud all the rest were snugly placed behiud traverses and parapets. I had to go to the unfortunate, and it took me nearly a quarter of an hour to dress the wound, it was such a bad one: and I am sure if oue shot came past me twenty did. A Daring Sharpshooter.—" Sometime ago I was watching three French Chasseurs ' potting away' at a Russian who was sitting with his legs dangling over the sides of a precipice, and now and then returning their fire. The Freuch knew the man quite well, and admitted he was so good a shot they did not care to expose themselves too freely. All their balls fell short of the man, and after he had received three or four rounds from each, he raised his rifle. Down went the Chasseurs and somebody else, 4 ping'flew the ball through the air, and ' plop' it came against the rock behind which the foremost Chasseur was crouching. The Frenchman picked up the piece of lead quite flattened out and broken, and showed it to his comrades, and then they resumed their practice, the result of which I did not wait further to ascertain." Tbe Effect of the" Bber."—" The men go to the trenches in high spirits now, as Mr. Tower and Mr. Egerton, the administrators of the Crimean Army Fund, have obtained pertnissiou from the authorities to give each man a pint of beer before he starts. On the morning ofthe 12th they sent up by rail 1100 gallons of beer and four nine-gallon casks of port wine, to be distributed gratis among the men engaged in the trenches. I saw a party of 900 men of the 4th Division marching down on Saturday night to the batteries, aud I really believe they could not have looked more cheery and pleasant had they been bound to Greenwich Fair. They were comfortably covered with waterproof cloaks and leggings, and there was a tremendous fire of fragrant tobacco kept up as they marched off jauntily and lightly to the smoke, blood, and dirt ofthe trenches. By a careful and prudent arrangement the meu are kept under cover, but the utmost precaution cauuol now prevent casualties." The Enfield Rifles.—On every side I hear loud complaints against the ramrods of the Enfield rifles, or rather agaiust the mode in which they are fixed iv the weapon. The least rain or damp so swells the wooden stock into which the steel ramroad runs, that it is impossible to draw the latter, aud it has been also said that the locks are very apt to bec<Si«e wood bound, in which state of course they will not act. I have been assured by an officer who had the command of a party in the trenches, that if the Russians had come upon them they could only have tjeeu met by the bayonet, inasmuch as not one ramrod could have been drasvn to load the rifles in consequence of the wet having swelled the wood round the steel. General Jones is a good deal annoyed at the delay which occurred in getting the guns into the advanced batteries, and he was still more displeased at the neglect of an officer or officers who ought to have provided mantlettes for the embrasures of one of those batteries, the want of which led to our guns being rendered useless." The Appearance Produced bt the Firing.—" Five minutes' run brought me to Caihcart's Hill, where numerous groups of officers and men had air-ady assembled. It is a starlight night, but dark, that is, the stars do not light up the deep blue sky sufficiently to enable one to see the guns before us veiy distinctly, or to trace the outlines of tlie country. But on our left, it seemed, when the hill was reached, as though all the constellations in Heaven had settled on the earth, and were twinkling in flashes and flickering threads of fir em frout of the Russian lines. The effect of

the desperate work which has been going on between the French and the Russians can be compared to nothing that I can think of save a broad street, as seen from a distance, brightly illuminated for some festive occasion, with the wind playing fiercely and irregularly along the fretted gas-pipes." Life in the Rifle Pits.—Within the last week I have been twice in the trenches, both times in the advanced trench, and the rifle pits in front of it, and for the first time I tried the new Enfield rifle (a smaller bore than the Minie.) " They carry beautifully while clean, for about twenty rounds, but then they begin to leach and do not carry so well. When I first saw our men firing (last Saturday, the 31st), from the rifle pits, they had no idea of range or distance. Two of them were firing at the same place, one with his sight up for 700, the other for 900 yards. I told them it was too much, and with the sight up for 400 I put two shots in succession through the loophole that the Russians were firing at them from. As I laid about'a quarter of an hour afterwards, half asleep in the pit, they called to me and said that three men were coming down from the batteries towards the town. I told them to elevate for 900 yards. They made them dodge from house to house. But when they got into the street, they thought they were out of range, and coolly walked arm-in-arm down the middle of the street. I could not quietly stand that; I took the best rifle, put up the sight for 900, and calculating the distance to be about 1000 yards, I fired high. The man on the right dropped like a stone, and the other two rushed into the house. He lay there for some time. They afterwards managed to get him into a house. This shows what the rifles will do when properly laid on. Afterwards I saw two carts laden with two powder boxes going from the town to the batteries, at what I guessed to be 1100 yards. I took a rifle, and soon caused the drivers to run for the batteries, and leave the carts to come as they could. Our men said I knocked over five or six, but I feel only certaiu about one.