Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/103

OPERATIONS IN THE SEA OK AZOF. 73 and off moved the launches and boats which till chap, IV. then had been lying astern. Cowper Coles of the — _ 1. Stromboli commanded them, and in company with them, under the immediate orders of Captain Le Jeune, the French boats also moved forward. When all had reached the chosen position, the tow was cast off, and ' the boats' heads,' as Lyons expressed it, 'pulled round to the beach.' If borrowing land-service diction, one might say, I suppose, that from column the boats opened out into line. They began to deliver their fire against the enemy's troops, now seen to be on the alert, and desiring, if they could, to defend the vast range of the Government stores. The Kussian troops or their leaders appeared to understand very well that, in order to defend the stores, they must come down towards the beach in the teeth of the fire from our boats ; and, though feebly, they made several efforts to effect this advance. From time to time some of the bolder of them came down near to the Gov- ernment stores, but never in numbers sufficient to make good their attempted defence ; and ac- cordingly it resulted that, from the first to the last, the enemy remained fended oil' from the strip of ground under dispute. By thus fending off the Czar's troops, Captain Lyons and M. S6daiges laid open a way for the second stage of their enterprise. With a separate division of light boats carrying rockets and one gun on board, Lieutenant Mac- kenzie covered the approach of Lieutenant Cecil