my's guns
could not reach them,--the bombardment commenced. The showers of shot
and shell told with terrific effect on the devoted fortress; powder
magazines and stores of projectiles one after the other blew up, and
fires broke out in various directions, which all the efforts of the
garrison could not extinguish, and in a short time the whole of the
arsenal was reduced to ashes. Still the mortars continued to play, to
prevent the fires which were blazing up around from being extinguished.
Very few men were wounded, and none were killed during the whole of the
operations. Although the naval and military stores were destroyed, the
fortress still remained intact. The Russians, however, had been taught
the lesson that it would be better for them in future not to make
aggressions on their neighbours, or to venture hastily into war.

Captains Yelverton and Vansittart had already shown them how little they
could rely on their boasted fortifications, by destroying all between
Viborg and Helsingfors, Fredericksham, Kotka, and Swartholme.

THE WHITE SEA SQUADRON.

A small squadron, consisting of the _Eurydice_, twenty-six guns,
_Miranda_, fifteen, and _Brisk_, fourteen, had been sent in July 1854
into the White Sea, to destroy the Russian shipping and forts on the
coasts of Russian Lapland.

On the 23rd of July the town of Novitska was attacked and burned by the
_Miranda_ and _Brisk_.

On the 23rd of August the _Miranda_ anchored off Kola, the capital of
Russian Lapland. A flag of truce was sent on shore, demanding the
surrender of the fort, garrison, and government property. All night the
crew remained at their quarters, and no answer being returned in the
morning, the flag of truce was hauled down, and the ship, getting within
250 yards of the battery, opened a fire of grape and canister. A party
was then landed under command of Lieutenant J. Mackenzie and Mr
Manthorpe, mate, who, at the head of a party of bluejackets and marines,
rushed up, sword in hand, to dislodge the enemy from the batteries and
to capture the guns. A hot fire was opened on them from the towers of a
monastery; but they soon drove out the garrison, who took to flight, and
it, with all the government stores and buildings, was immediately set on
fire and completely consumed.

Kola lies thirty miles up a river of most difficult navigation, with a
strong current, and often so narrow that there was scarcely room for the
ship to swing. Captain L