you command, and when the display of a flag of truce from her own mast-head would have obviated all misunderstanding as to her object?

2nd. What were the particular instructions given to the officer in charge of the boat, and what opportunities were afforded to the enemy to grant or to reject conditions of truce before the party had actually landed upon his coast?

3rd. What was the distance of the boat from the ship when last seen previous to her landing, and what at that time was her distance from shore?

4th. When and at what distance from the shore was a flag of truce first displayed, and were any blank guns or muskets fired at the moment, and is the officer in charge of the boat supposed to have had any reason for believing it to have been acknowledged by the enemy on shore?

5th. At what distance from the shore were the riflemen of the enemy first seen on the "jetty" by the crew of the Cossack's cutter.

6th. Was any assent, implied or understood, supposed to have been granted by the Russian officer on shore to the landing of the prisoners or crew?

In directing your attention to the importance of accurate replies to the foregoing queries, I have to remind you that the spot at which these melancholy losses have been sustained had been recently visited by the ship you command, and acts of hostility had been committed in that vicinity. There was, therefore, good reason to consider that the attention of the enemy might be directed to its protection, and every proper precaution should have been taken. I cannot but

regret, therefore, that persons whose services were not necessary on the occasion were permitted to proceed in the Cossack's boat; and I have to remark that such permission was not calculated to impress upon others the importance of proper vigilance and of due attention to forms in communicating by flag of truce.

On the receipt of this letter you will repair immediately to this anchorage to rejoin my flag.

Captain Fanshawe.

SIB,

I am, &c.

R. S. DUNDAS.

No. 2.-Admiral Dundas to the Secretary of the Admiralty.

Duke of Wellington, at anchor,

Tolboukin Lighthouse, E.S.E. 3 miles, June 11, 1855. I HAVE to report, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that Her Majesty's ship Cossack rejoined me this morning, and I have now the honour to transmit, for their Lordships' information, further reports, which I have received from Captain [1856-57. XLVII.] 4 G

Fanshawe, in reply to the inquiries contained in my letter of the 9th instant.

After full consideration of the explanations afforded, and after personal communication with this officer on the subject, I am entirely at a loss to discover any circumstances which can serve to excuse or to palliate the conduct of the enemy, by whom the cruel and unnecessary slaughter of the Cossack's boat's crew has been perpetrated.

No precaution appears to have been omitted by the officer in charge of the boat to make known the object of his mission, and if their Lordships should see reason to regret that she was detached beyond the reach of protection from the ship, I feel assured they will do full justice to the explanations of Captain Fanshawe.

I regret to add that he has informed me little or no hope can be entertained that any of the officers or crew have survived, and that repeated wounds were inflicted upon several of them with the most reckless cruelty; but it is my intention to take the earliest opportunity to endeavour to communicate with the authorities at Helsingfors. I have, &c. T. Phinn, Esq.

SIR,

R. S. DUNDAS.

(Inclosure 1.)-Captain Fanshawe to Admiral Dundas.

H.M. steam ship Cossack, at Sea off Siskar, June 11, 1855. In replying to the points connected with the assault upon the boat of this ship, upon which you desire additional explanations, I would premise that I sent her in the full belief that a boat with a flag of truce flying, detached from a ship stationed off the enemy's coast, was entitled either to be warned off before approaching the shore, or to be ordered off on reaching the shore before her communication was received, or to have an opportunity of making that communication to a person appointed by the enemy; and I was persuaded that a boat complying with these conditions was perfectly safe from molestation, and that while she did so no misunderstanding could arise.

I will now proceed to answer your queries.

1st. The opportunity was the first that had presented itself, and as it appeared a favourable one I sent a flag of truce in immediately on my arriving at Hango. It was in respect of what I believed to be the proper form of sending a flag of truce that I did not take the ship into the inner roads, for I believed that it was in accordance with usage that the ship should stay out of gun-shot on such an occasion. I stood into the Island of Rus on about two and a quarter miles from the village of Hango, and thence sent the boat, and I then stood off and on to the same spot. Remaining for this reason on the ordinary station for a blockading ship, I believed that I com

plied with custom in not hoisting a flag of truce on board my own ship, but only in the boat detached.

2nd. The instructions given by me to the officer in charge of the boat were to proceed with the flag of truce to the landing-place at the village of Hango; if any troops were there to ask to communicate with the officer in command, to explain the reason of the boat coming in, namely, to land the liberated Russian prisoners, and to ask leave to do so. If no troops were there, he was to land the liberated prisoners at the landing-place, with all their luggage, and to return on board without delay. He was at liberty in the latter case to allow the officers' stewards to purchase any article offered at the boat by the villagers, provided that no detention of the boat was occasioned thereby. I also directed him, should he be questioned as to the manner in which the blockade would be enforced with reference to coasters, to explain the intentions set forth in your memorandum on the subject, as clearly as possible.

He was charged not to allow any one to stray from the boat, and also to be careful that no injury was done to property at the landingplace, and none of it removed. The position of the ship, and the course of the boat from the ship to the landing-place, was in full view of the telegraphic station which overhangs the village, and the boat took about three-quarters of an hour to reach the shore. It was therefore open to the enemy either to have warned her off by firing with blank cartridge, or to order her off on her approaching within hail.

3rd. The boat was about two miles from the ship when last seen previous to her landing, and less than half a mile from the landingplace, there being a small rocky islet which then shut her in from the ship.

4th. The flag of truce was first displayed when about half way from the ship to the shore, or rather more than a mile from the shore. No blank guns or muskets were fired, but the flag, which was on a boarding-pike, was, by Lieutenant Geneste's orders, kept clear in a good position to be seen.

The officer in charge could have no reason to suppose either that it was acknowledged or rejected by the enemy, as they were not to be seen, and the place appeared deserted.

5th. But one man, and he not a soldier (who ran away as the boat approached), was seen from the cutter before she reached the jetty. The officers and prisoners had landed, and the baggage was removed from the boat to the wharf before the troops were seen. They came out suddenly from behind a cover of some houses or rock, and rushed down firing their muskets. Before stepping on the wharf, Lieutenant Geneste gave the crew strict orders to remain in the boat, and to be careful not to touch anything on the wharf.

When the Russians first appeared he was on the wharf with the other officers, about four or five paces from the boat with the flag of truce in his hand, which he immediately waved, and called out flag of truce. The person who headed the soldiers replied, that "they did not care about flags of truce there." The Finnish captain took the flag from Lieutenant Geneste, and waved and shouted in his own language and in English, "Flag of truce."

6th. No assent could be implied, or otherwise, as no one on the part of the enemy appeared till after the prisoners were landed, when they rushed out, as described in answer No. 5.

In conclusion, I beg to state, that I was fully aware, from some vessels having been lately captured in the neighbourhood, that there was a likelihood that troops might have been since sent down to the coast, but at the same time, I was under the full conviction that the course pursued was such as was usual, and should have secured to the boat the protection due to the flag of truce, whether the enemy, in exercise of his discretion, thought proper to order it to return without communication or not.

On again interrogating the wounded man, I find that the person who led on the enemy, and who spoke English, was armed with a musket like the rest, and was probably therefore not a commissioned officer.

Admiral Dundas.

SIR,

I have, &c.

E. G. FANSHAWE.

(Inclosure 2.)—Captain Fanshawe to Admiral Dundas.

H.M.S. Cossack, Tolboukin, June 11, 1855. In addition to the circumstances detailed in my letter to you of this day's date, I have to report that on again interrogating John Brown, the survivor of the boat's crew, he states: that immediately on the soldiers appearing, they commenced firing on the officers and liberated prisoners who were with them on the wharf; their first fire did but little injury, but as they approached he saw first, Mr. Easton, surgeon, and then Lieutenant Geneste fall dead. He also saw the Finnish captain, who spoke English, fall; and feels perfectly certain that the rest were all shot, as he saw them falling indiscriminately. He is confident that all fell. By this time the soldiers, having approached within 10 or 15 yards of the boat, were firing into her also, and the whole of the men were very soon struck down. They then rushed into the boat, and threw overboard several of the bodies, but finding James Gliddon, though wounded, was not dead, they hauled him on the wharf and bayoneted him. He states that he was wounded early; that though faint, he had a perfect perception of what was going on around him, and a sense of his own danger, which induced him to feign dead, and also that he was twice dragged from one part of the boat to the other in the

search for arms, but, fortunately, not pitched overboard. Gliddon was close to him when he was dragged on the wharf. He conceives that the whole affair, from the time the soldiers first rushed out until they finally retired, might have occupied about 15 minutes. He distinctly heard everything that was said on the wharf by Lieutenant Geneste and the Russians.

I may here mention that the body of one of the men found dead in the boat had two shots through the leg, which he had had time to bandage with a silk handkerchief before he received two other fatal wounds, in the abdomen and head.

I omitted to state in my letter reporting this occurrence, that the following morning, when sculling the boat out, Brown saw a number of men in the same dresses as those who fired upon them coming down the telegraph hill; they stopped several times, turning round and pointing to the cutter and the gig, which was approaching. I have, &c.

Admiral Dundas.

SIB,

E. G. FANSHAWE.

No. 3.-Admiral Dundas to the Secretary of the Admiralty. Duke of Wellington, at Seskar, June 18, 1855. WITH reference to my letter of the 11th instant, I transmit for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty a copy of a letter which I addressed on the 15th instant to the officer commanding in chief the Russian military forces at Helsingfors, and which was forwarded in Her Majesty's ship Merlin under a flag of truce. I enclose now a copy of the reply of that officer, from which their Lordships will be glad to learn that the officers and several other persons belonging to the Cossack's boat, mentioned in the annexed list, have not been killed, as was originally supposed, and that some have not even been wounded.

I have only to add further, that I entertain no doubt that the alleged abuse of flags of truce by Her Majesty's officers will be found in every case to be capable of explanation, and I am ignorant of any instance in which they have occurred.

T. Phinn, Esq.

I have, &c.

R. S. DUNDAS.

(Inclosure 1.)-Admiral Dundas to the Military Officer commanding in chief the Russian Forces at Helsingfors.

SIR,

H.B.M.'s ship Duke of Wellington, off Seskar,
June 15, 1855.

I TAKE the earliest opportunity which has offered itself to address you on the subject of reports which I have lately received from the officer in command of Her British Majesty's ship Cossack,