r, were so
considerably worn by the firing of the previous day, that one or two
burst, and none were so effective as before. East Svarto, which had
before escaped, was now attacked by a division of English and French
mortar-boats, placed by Captain Sulivan considerably nearer the
fortifications than they had hitherto ventured. Their fire was replied
to by some heavy guns, which the enemy had brought up, but no damage was
received from them. In a short time, dense columns of smoke and forked
flames ascending in all directions showed that the buildings, magazines,
and arsenal were being destroyed, and when night came on, one unbroken
sheet of flame ascended from the fortress. To prevent the enemy from
attempting to extinguish it, the rocket-boats were again sent in, and
effectually performed their object. The conflagration continued, raging
all night, and on the morning of the 11th there was no sign of its
abatement. The admiral was therefore satisfied that the work he had
undertaken was accomplished, and as the Russians had ceased to fire, he
discontinued the action. The whole of the operation had been
accomplished without the loss of a single man killed, and scarcely 16 in
the British fleet wounded; but the slaughter among the unfortunate
Russians was prodigious. Of one whole regiment but few had survived,
and at Vargon and Svarto a large number of the garrison had been killed.
Had shells not been used, and an attempt simply been made to destroy
the fortress with the ships' heavy guns, the allies would probably have
been driven away with severe loss, without making any impression on its
massive walls. It was the first time in the history of war that shells
had been thrown from a distance at which the besiegers could not be
reached by the enemy's shot, or that shot had been discharged from
vessels moving at so rapid a rate as to render it scarcely possible for
the besiegers to strike them. These circumstances, with the use of
torpedoes, showed that a new era in marine warfare had commenced, and
that from henceforth the style of fighting which had existed down to the
period of Algiers and Navarino was about entirely to be changed.

No other operation of importance was undertaken, and the winter
approaching, the admiral sent home the sailing-vessels and gunboats,
though he did not finally quit Kiel till the first week in December,
when soon afterwards the whole fleet arrived safely in England.
Happily, the variou