Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 9.djvu/92

G2 OPERATIONS IN THE SEA OF AZOF. chap, were, took possession of the waters then all at ! — once added to the dominion of the Maritime Powers. captain On the Rumc afternoon, the flags of the Ad- Lyons of . liTi theMiranda mirals were hauled down, and the command of then taking tnecom- the flotilla then passed to Captain Lyons of the theunited Miranda, the son of our Naval Chief, for he flotilla. was the senior officer ; but the immediate com- mand of the vessels which composed the French part of the flotilla belonged to M. Sddaiges, an excellent chief of whom the senior (Lyons) wrote always in terms of warm praise. Nature of The operations that followed must not of the opera- . . . tions under- course be regarded as so many acts of proud taken in ° . J l the sea of war undertaken in pursuit of a conquest, but rather as measures required for enforcing those new rights of ownership which the passage of the Straits had conferred. The task of Captain Lyons in the Sea of Azof and the tangible part of its shores was analogous ti that of a colonel or major-general who, having been appointed the governor of a lately conquered province, must bring it under subjection to the newly acceding authority. Still, it seems fit on public grounds to show how a sea newly opened in what till the day before had been the interior of Russia was taken in hand by the squadrons. Fate of the The shoal at the mouths of the Don forbade fngwar- hope of flight for all vessels with more than a Eertch small draught of water; and the sight of hostile flags in this sea — so lately a sure sea of refuge —