342 THE fA^^'ONAJjK UF CHAP. XIII. the jilace he cliose for the liritaimia. The main divisiu:!. illy; the work which we call the Quarantine Sea- fort, yet so far as concerned the rest of the French, and the whole of the English Navy, the proposed operation was calculated, as it seemed, to be in some degree hazardous, and at the same time utterly vain. Under such conditions, the task imposed on our seamen was sacrificial rather than warlike ; and apparently it was in the spirit of devotion to a forlorn duty that Dundas chose the place in which to put his own flag-ship ; for when, ill the course of this ccjiiference, an officer, whose opinion was weighty, pointed out that the ship which should be on the extreme right of the Eng- lish lino must of necessity be sunk in one hour, Dundas quietly answered that that post was the one he had reserved for the ]>ritannia.* That portion of the English ileet which was to anchor in the array enforced upon Dundas, and prolong the Erench line of battle, will be called the ' main ' division.' In the course of the discussion, it was deter- mined (as we shall afterwards see more particu-
- General Brcreton, p. 26. Upon the supposition that the
French line would couimence at the eastern part of the Cherson- ese Bay, the centre of the whole array would be brought very near to the mouth of the roadstead ; and in that case, there was good reason for believing that, if the fleets should be ranged at any moderate distance from Sebastopol, the enemy's batteries would cross their fire with destructive clTect upon any ship oc- cupying the central post reserved for the Britannia. With re- gard to General Brereton, it may be right to say that lie was the guest of Admiral Dundas on board the Britannia, was in the entire confidence of the Yice-Admiral, and with him iu fact all day.
