Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 8.djvu/83

 EUPATORIA. 51 means. Owing only, it seems, to the thaw, and chap. not to laboured design, the fosse had some water ! — within it, and was destined to pass with the ilussians for what science calls a 'Wet Ditch.' The Works had been armed with 34 heavy guns, and provided with five rocket - stands. Omar Pasha in person had landed; and the part of his army already in Eupatoria numbered 23,000 men.* There was also in the place a detach- ment of nearly 300 soldiers left in garrison there by the French, with besides, the saved crew of their stranded ship Henri IV. The place was not only secure towards the sea, but moreover so circumstanced that ships could take part in the land-side defence. Besides the stranded ship (which could still use some of her batteries) another French steamer — the Veloce — was lying on the east of the bay ; as was also the Turkish ship Shaffaer, with the Admiral Ahmed Pasha on board her; and near its western extremity there lay an English detachment under Captain Hastings, comprising the Curasao, the Furious, the Valorous, and the gunboat Viper. The place held within it a native population which may be computed at about 26,000, of whom some 5500 were in easy circumstances, and the rest in a state of indigence.! Pasha) to Lord Raglan, Feb. 22, 1855. t The Report of the Commission which sat on this subject gives exact numbers and is before me, but it relates to the 16th of March.
 * Colonel Simmons (Major-General on the staff of Omar