How the British fleet plundered the Russian North
White Sea. Attack on Russian settlement by frigate Miranda and corvette Brisk. August 1854. French lithograph
White Sea Campaign
Having declared the Russian Empire the war In March 1854, England and France, using all possible means to inflict damage on Russia, tried to organize attacks not only on the Black Sea, but also on the Baltic, White Sea and the Pacific Ocean (Heroic defense of Petropavlovsk). In the Baltics there is a strong Anglo-French fleet blockaded the Russian Baltic fleet in Sveaborg and Kronstadt, after which he landed troops that captured the fortress of Bomarsund (They dreamed of Kronstadt, but only took Bomarsund).
The English also undertook an expedition to the White Sea. Already in May 1854, the English sent three ships to blockade the White Sea. Then several more English and French ships were sent there. The squadron was commanded by the English captain Erasmus Omanney (flagship frigate "Efridika"). In total, the Anglo-French squadron numbered about 10 pennants. On June 5 (17), the enemy squadron appeared at the entrance to the White Sea.
The British chose Sosnovets Island as their main base, very conveniently located in the Throat of the White Sea for the blockade of Arkhangelsk and other White Sea ports and the interception of ships passing through this relatively narrow strait. A coal depot was created on the island, which was necessary for the operation of steam ship engines. Already on June 5, the British frigates captured a Kema schooner near the Three Islands, carrying a cargo of flour to Norway, which was sent to England along with the cargo as the first trophy. A few days later, two more merchant ships were intercepted. During July and August, British ships raided the entire White Sea, stopping the merchant ships they encountered and seizing their goods.
On June 22 (July 4), the British reached Mudyug Island, which was located in the Dvina Bay of the White Sea, near the mouth of the Northern Dvina, and sent out several boats to measure the depths. However, they were driven off by fire from two cannons of Ensign Baldin and rifle fire from Lieutenant Tveritinov's boats.
British frigate Eurydice. Artist: William York
Russian forces
In February 1854, the Primorsky District (that is, the entire Russian coast of the White and Barents Seas), and in March the rest of the Arkhangelsk Governorate were placed on martial law. The military governor and chief of the Arkhangelsk port, Vice-Admiral Roman Platonovich Boyle, headed the region's preparation for military action. He concentrated all his efforts on defending the mouth of the Northern Dvina, as well as the approaches to the Novodvinsk fortress and Arkhangelsk. Six coastal artillery batteries were equipped in the delta of the Northern Dvina.
Of the warships in the Arkhangelsk port, there was only the 16-gun brig Novaya Zemlya, which was on guard duty in the Dvina delta. In May, a flotilla of 20 gunboats was urgently put into service, each of which carried 2 guns and a crew of 40 people.
All other settlements on the coast of the White and Barents Seas had to rely on their own detachments, hastily recruited from “willing people” (volunteers), as well as on the units of disabled people that were available in a number of places, to defend themselves from the enemy.
Novodvinsk fortress
Defense of the Solovetsky Monastery
On July 6 (18), 1854, two steamships, Miranda and Brisk (Provorny), attacked the Solovetsky Monastery. The steam frigate Miranda had 15 guns, and Provorny had 14. The British considered the monastery a strong fortress, but still decided to try to take it, as they hoped to seize the treasures that, according to rumors that had reached them, the Russian churches were rich in.
On Solovki, they took into account the possibility of an enemy fleet appearing, so all the monastery valuables had already been taken to Arkhangelsk. According to the Ministry of War, the monastery had the following means of defense:
"20 poods of gunpowder, spears and many halberds and axes from the time of Fyodor Ivanovich."
A battery with two three-pounder guns was built on the shore, and 8 more small guns were placed on the walls and towers. The monastery was defended by soldiers from the invalid detachment.
Beginning with the time of Tsar Peter I, invalids in the Russian Empire were military personnel who had suffered illnesses, wounds or injuries that made them unable to perform military service, and they were assigned to serve in civilian institutions, train recruits or perform guard duty. Even under Peter I, crippled, wounded, decrepit officers, non-commissioned officers, dragoons and privates were sent to monasteries. They were supported by the monasteries.
Anchored, the British ships immediately, without entering into negotiations, opened fire. They destroyed the monastery gates and bombarded the monastic buildings. Fireworks Drushlevsky responded shots from the coastal battery and was able to damage the "Miranda". After that, the British moved away.
On July 7 (19), the British captain Omanney sent a parliamentarian and announced that since “The Solovetsky Monastery assumed the character of a fortress and fired at the English flag", then he demands the unconditional surrender of the garrison with all guns, weapons, flags and military supplies for 6 hours. Otherwise, he threatened the bombardment of the fortress. Archimandrite Alexander replied with a refutation of lies concerning guilt in the shooting of the British flag, as the Russians began to answer only after the third core, fired into the monastery. They refused to surrender.
A new bombardment began, which lasted more than nine hours. On our side, invalids and hunters (volunteers) responded with fire from 10 guns. The English bombs and cannonballs caused some destruction, but less than expected. The bombardment, despite its considerable intensity and duration, did not destroy the entire Solovetsky Monastery, although the roof was pierced by cannonballs and the walls were damaged. There were no human casualties. The power of the English artillery was weakened by the fact that the enemy ships tried to keep their distance so as not to come under return fire. The defenders believed that the English would land troops. Initially, apparently, they had this idea, but the English did not take the risk and retreated on July 8 (20).
The British attack on the Solovetsky Monastery. Drawing from 1868.
Archimandrite Alexander and the entire population of the island demonstrated true heroism by refusing to capitulate to superior enemy forces. The Russian people preferred to fall in an unequal battle, without modern weapons, than to voluntarily allow the enemy onto Russian soil. Tsar Nicholas ordered that the abbot of the Solovetsky Monastery, Archimandrite Alexander, be awarded a diamond pectoral cross on the St. George ribbon; monks Matthew, Barnabas and Nicholas were awarded gold pectoral crosses on the St. George ribbon for the excellent performance of their duties during the English attack.
From the Solovetsky Monastery, the British went to the deserted Zayachy Island, where they destroyed and plundered the wooden church. Then they robbed the village of Lyamitskaya in the Onega Bay. On July 9 (21), the British appeared at Kiy Island, 15 miles from the city of Onega, where they burned the customs office and other government buildings. On the same island, they robbed the Krestny Monastery. The British trophies turned out to be quite modest, since at the beginning of the war, all the most valuable property of the monastery was packed into 7 large chests and sent to the Podporozhsky parish, and less valuable things were buried on the island itself.
On July 10 (22), the British landed a team on the eastern shore of the Onega Bay, near the village of Pushlakhty. There were no Russian troops there, but the peasants (23 people) under the command of two lower ranks and the assistant to the Kholmogory district chief of the Ministry of State Property Volkov resisted. They killed 5 people, wounded several and retreated without losses. In retaliation, the British plundered and burned the village.
Later, Tsar Nicholas rewarded courageous people. Volkov was granted the Order of St. Anna 3 degree, non-officer Basov insignia of the Military Order and 25 rubles, and the usual Ievlev 15 rubles. All peasants received 5 rubles, the most honorable were given the insignia of the Military Order.
On July 20-22, 1854, the British approached Kandalaksha and landed 150 sailors who robbed the settlement. Then the British plundered the villages of Keret and Kovda.
A. Munster. Bombardment of the Solovetsky Monastery by Two English Steamships. Artist: V. Timm
Cola Destruction
On March 2, 1854, the Kola mayor Shishelova sent a report to the Arkhangelsk military governor Boyle. In it, he said that if England wished to send part of its fleet to the northern shores of the Russian state, then
"in this case, the city of Kola may also not escape his attention due to its ease of capture..."
There was no garrison in the city, except for several dozen privates of the invalid detachment, armed with only about 40 serviceable rifles, with a minimum amount of ammunition, and no artillery weapons.
Military Governor Boyle, for his part, wrote to the Kola mayor in March 1854 that
"The inhabitants of Kola are a brave and intelligent people, and therefore I hope that they will not allow the enemy into their city, but will destroy it with shots from the steep banks and from behind the bushes."
And to lead the inhabitants he sent Captain Pushkarev with 100 guns and ammunition. Pushkarev received instructions to use the terrain, which was convenient for defense. An attack on the settlement could only be carried out by rowboats and it was necessary to land on a steep bank.
Pushkarev did not stay in the city for long. He was wounded by some intruder and left. The captain was able to find two guns, one 2-pounder and one 6-pounder, but one of them was out of order, and the other was only able to fire one shot during the battle. A breastwork was also built to shelter the soldiers. The military governor Boyle appointed Lieutenant Brunner as Pushkarev's successor, and he arrived in the city in August.
On August 9 (21), the steam frigate Miranda appeared in sight of Kola. English boats began to measure the depths. On August 10 (22), the English continued to measure the depths and set up buoys. The Russians did not open fire from the gun they had, as they were afraid to waste the shots due to the considerable range. At 8 o'clock in the evening of the same day, the British ship raised the white flag and approached the shore. A boat was sent to the shore from the steamship Miranda. The English demanded the unconditional surrender of the city, fortifications and garrison, threatening to destroy Kola otherwise.
There were no modern fortifications on Kola (the fortifications of the fort were long outdated, and there was virtually no artillery armament), and the entire garrison consisted of a disabled team of 50 people. The adjutant of the Arkhangelsk military governor, naval lieutenant Andrei Martynovich Brunner responded with a decisive refusal. He gathered a disabled team and several hunters (volunteers) from local residents and prepared for defense. All residents of the town expressed their readiness to sacrifice themselves and their property to repel the enemy.
Brunner, expecting the immediate start of the bombardment of the city, withdrew his small forces from the coastal strip under the cover of the steep banks of the Kola and Tuloma rivers. And when dusk fell, the lieutenant called for volunteers to remove the buoys set up by the British and take the fishing vessel they had captured to a new location. Volunteers included the townsman Grigory Nemchinov and the exiles Andrei Mishurov and Vasily Vasilyev. They successfully completed their mission, removing ten buoys.
The screw steam frigate Miranda destroys the town of Kola in Russian Lapland, engraving from 1854. Source: The Illustrated London News, October 7, 1854.
On the morning of August 11 (23), British ships began shelling the city. The bombardment continued until late evening. In addition, the enemy attempted to land troops several times, sending boats with armed men to the shore, but each time a small detachment of invalids and hunters under the command of Lieutenant Brunner stopped these actions. The lower part of the town, consisting of wooden structures, was completely destroyed. About 100 houses burned down, an old fort with 4 towers at the corners, 2 churches, and several shops. The upper part of the city survived. There were no casualties, several people received minor wounds and concussions.
During the bombardment, the masterpiece of Russian wooden architecture burned down. The Resurrection Cathedral, built under the tsars John and Peter Alekseevich in 1684. The cathedral along with the Transfiguration Cathedral in Kizhi was one of the largest many-headed temples of the Russian North. The cathedral had 19 chapters (according to other sources, the chapters were 18, one was removed during the 1834 repair of the year) and, having stood for 170 for years, surprised everyone with its beauty and durability.
On August 12 (24), early in the morning, the bombardment of Kola resumed and continued until 7 a.m. The British tried to set fire to the upper part of Kola, but they failed to do so. After that, the British retreated, never having waited for Kola to surrender and not having decided to land.
Russian Emperor Nikolai, having received a report on the defense of Kola, Lieutenant Brunner noted the Order of St.. Vladimir 4 degree with a bow, captain of the 1 th Archangelgorodsk garrison battalion of Pushkarev - Order of St. Anna 3 degree with a bow, non-commissioned officer Fedotov - a badge of the Military Order. The exiled Mishurov and Vasilyev were transferred to Arkhangelsk for temporary residence.
At the end of August, the English appeared at the city of Onega. At the first alarm, up to 250 townspeople joined the military team, armed with guns, pikes and hooks, ready to defend their city. The enemy did not dare to storm and retreated.
This marked the end of military operations in the North in 1854. In September 1854, British ships left the White Sea.
The western facade of the Resurrection Cathedral in Kola, sketched by A. T. Zhukovsky
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