went to the bottom. Four or five
of her crew were drowned, as he would have been, had he not been fished
out of the water by the Turkish guard-boats, and made prisoner.

The name of this daring naval officer was Putskin. His cool courage was
very amusing. When interrogated, while still in a half-drowned
condition, he exclaimed in excellent English, 'Why the devil didn't I
blow that ship up?' He was asked if he had any idea what stopped him,
and it was suggested to him that something must have fouled his screw.
He answered, 'I don't know what stopped me, but why the devil didn't I
blow the ship up?' I told him that I had a sort of notion he might be
hanged for using such a fearful weapon. He said, 'No brave man would
hang me; but why,' &c.

He seemed to have only one idea, and that was he was a fool for having
failed. He was too good a man to let go, so we kept him till nearly the
end of the war.

Wherever he may be now he is a fine fellow, whose bravery I for one
shan't forget in a hurry.

A short time after the above-named occurrence the Russians attempted an
attack upon Sulina by land and water, with what object I have never been
able to understand; as, if they had succeeded, they could not have held
it so long as our ships were anchored in the offing. Perhaps their
intention was, by driving us out of the river, to utilise its position
for torpedo attacks.

I have explained that Sulina was surrounded by sea and vast marshes.
Along the seashore there was a narrow causeway of sand, on which ten men
could march abreast. The only other approaches were by sea and by the
river, the latter, at about ten miles distance, being in the hands of
the Russians. As a defence we had placed on the beach, at about a
gun-shot's distance, several torpedoes, buried in the sand, and
connected by electric wires with the batteries of Sulina. A simultaneous
movement was made by three or four Russian gun-boats descending the
river, and two regiments of troops accompanied by artillery were sent
along the causeway. Suspecting something in regard to torpedoes, they
drove before them as a sort of advance guard about two hundred and fifty
horses without riders, it being the duty of the poor animals to take the
shock of the explosion should torpedoes be placed on the beach. And so
they did, for, on the horses passing the spot where the torpedoes were
placed, an explosion took place through which several horses were
killed. The rest turned rig