Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 2.djvu/312

282 ORDEKS AND PlIEPAKATIONS CHAP, had already begun to make the boats required for ^^^' the purpose. These were flat-bottomed lighters, somewhat in the form of pimts, but of great size, and so constructed that they would receive the gun-carriages with the guns ujDon them, and allow of the guns being run out straight from the boat to the beach. It was understood that the build- ing of these fiat lighters would take about ten days ; and it was determined that, in the mean- time, a survey of the coast near Sebastopol should be made from on board ship, in order to determine the spot best suited for a descent. Bcconnais- With a vicw to covcr the recoimaissance and coast. draw off the enemy's attention, the Allied Ad- mirals cruised with powerful fleets in front of the harbour of Sebastopol ; and meanwhile the officers chosen for the service went northward along the coast in the Fury, seeking out the best place for a landing. The officers of the land-service who performed this duty were, on the part of the French, General Canrobert and Colonel Trochu, with one engineer and one artillery officer ; and on the part of the English, Sir George Brown, Lieutenant-Colonel Lake, K.H.A., Captain Lovell, R.E., and Captain Wetherall, of the Quartermas- ter-General's department. The Fury was com- manded by Captain Tathani, and on board her there also was one who had lent himself to the enterprise of the Invasion with impassioned zeal. In the moment when Lord Raglan determined to treat the instructions of the Government as imperative, and to put them in course for cxecu-