Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol 7.djvu/134

 90 THE WINTER TROUBLES. CHAP. It is true (as was shown well enough when ^'' the expedition set sail), that the Governments of France and England could promptly acquire or charter a number of merchant-vessels with cer- tainly a very large aggregate of carrying power ; but, if the supply was great, the need proved greater still, and it soon became plain that the whole mercantile shipping of England and France, and of all the neutral countries besides, was insufficient to meet at short notice the Insufficiency growing exigencies of the campaign ; so that, for leZlis, and' loug pcHods together, there were troops, muni- "LaHy o?^ tions, and stores of all kinds collected for ship- 8teamers. ^^^^^^^ ^^ ^j^^ -g^^^^ ^^^ detained at the opposite extremity of Europe for want of vessels to carry them. As regards the hire of Levantine vessels, the insufficiency of the supply increased rapidly with the approach and advance of winter ; for, after the close of the fair autumn weather, the crews (who were often part owners) became always less and less willing to face the storms of the Black Sea. Want of steamers was more especially felt. With resitcct tr) those bodies of troops and those previously gathered supplies which had remained collected and stored on the Bosphorus or in Bulgaria, there were needed of course fresh means of sea-transport for bringing them over the Euxine to their ultimate destina- tion in the Crimea, and it was inevitable that every such ' break of gauge ' should occasion de- lay ; but — on the Bosphorus at least, if not also at Varna — there were other and longer deten- tions, resulting, if not from confusiun, yet at least