mity of this tongue and the
Point of Otchakov, or the main shore opposite, is about two miles; but
the water is too shoal to admit of the passage of large vessels of war,
except in the narrow channel that runs nearest to the spit and its
northern shore. Here, therefore, are placed the works designed to
command the entrance. They are three in number. Near the extreme point
of the spit is a covered battery built of logs, which are filled in and
overlaid with sand,--pierced for eighteen guns, but mounting only ten."

"Advancing further along the beach is a circular redoubt, connected
with the spit battery by a covered way. This work, built of stone, and
riveted with turf, is open, and said to be the most substantial of the
three; it has eleven cannon, and within is a furnace for heating shot."

"Further on, and where the beach has widened considerably, is Fort
Kinburn, a square bastioned work, extending to the sea on the south, and
to the waters of the estuary on the north. It is casemated in part,
though but few of these embrasures were armed,--its chief force being in
the pieces _en barbette, _and some nine or ten mortars. The masonry,
though solid, is represented by an eye-witness not to be bomb-proof, and
so dilapidated by age that the mortar was falling out from the
interstices, leaving the stone to disintegrate. The interior space was
occupied by ranges of wooden buildings, slightly constructed and
plastered over."

"This fort is said to be armed with sixty pieces. The English admiral
states, that all three of the works mounted eighty-one guns and mortars.
The calibres are not given officially, but stated in private letters to
be 18-pounders and 32-pounders."

"The above description will quite justify the further remark as to
these works:--"

"They were inferior in every respect, and manifestly incapable of
withstanding any serious operation by sea or land. The main fort was
particularly weak in design, and dilapidated; all of them were
indifferently armed and garrisoned."

"So much for the works. As to the character of the armament brought to
the assault, the same authority says:--"

"The allied force was admirably adapted to the operation, embracing
every description of vessel, from the largest to the smallest, and all
propelled by steam. There were screw-liners, and like vessels of
inferior class, side-wheel steamers, screw gunboats, floating-batteries,
mortar-vessels, etc., each armed in what was consider