Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/331

 THE 17TH OF OCTOBER. 301 by salvoes of a kind souiidinfr straiif^e to the chap. • XIII land-service people. No ships were in action ; but at the first roar of the mioiitier outburst, the Caiinonading in salvofcs; seamen who heard it grew radiant, ihey knew by what manner of men such a salvo as that was delivered. Whether servinij the Quns of the En^lisli, or the cause , -11 ofUiis; forming part of the garrison, the sailors engaged in this conflict had brought with them many of their familiar usages ; and the Russian sailors tue seamen. especially, who were fighting at the land defences to the number of several thousands, clung fast, it seems, to their customs. Their naval system had been in a great measure copied — copied even, perhaps, with servility — from that of the English ; and tlnis it resulted that, in each of the main fastnesses which constituted the line of defence, there was much of the warlike practice, and even, indeed, of the lesser routine, which obtains on board English vessels. The 'bastion' stood for the ship. The parapets were bulwarks ; the embrasures were port -holes. Every piece the men had to serve they tended and fondled and cursed in their natural seamanlike way ; and that too with the more affection when they knew it for one of their own familiar ship's guns. As in our naval service, so also with the Russian seamen, the drum used to beat to quarters ; but to other of their duties the men, though on shore, were still called by the boatswain's whistle. They were piped to their meals ; they were piped to their 'grog.' Night, for them, was a