as if the men were embarking instead of going to the bottom;
there was only this difference, that I never saw any embarkation
conducted with so little noise and confusion. Four hundred and
thirty-eight men and boys perished on this sad occasion. Major Seton,
standing among his men, and refusing to leave them, perished with the
rest." No heroes of whom we read in the page of history ever met their
fate with more heroic courage than did these British soldiers embarked
on board the _Birkenhead_, and well worthy is the account to be placed
among the gallant deeds of our Redcoats.

CHAPTER SIX.

THE CRIMEAN WAR--1854-1855.

The settled resolve of the Russian Government to crush the power of the
Turks, and to take possession of Constantinople, was the cause of the
declaration of war by England and France against Russia.

The war became at once popular among the British people when the news
was spread that a Russian fleet, consisting of six men-of-war and
several smaller vessels, had darted out of Sebastopol, and, taking
advantage of a dense fog, had entered the harbour of Sinope, where they
found a Turkish squadron of eight frigates, two schooners, and three
transports, totally unprepared for battle. Admiral Nachimoff, the
Russian commander, fiercely attacked them, and though the Turks fought
bravely, so great was their disadvantage, that in a few hours 5000 men
were massacred, and every ship, with the exception of two, was
destroyed. To prevent the recurrence of such an event, the allied
fleets of England and France entered the Black Sea on the 3rd of January
1854. War was not officially declared against Russia till the 28th of
March. The Guards and other regiments had, however, embarked early in
February; first to rendezvous at Malta, and subsequently at Varna, on
the Turkish shore of the Black Sea. The British troops, under Lord
Raglan, amounted to 26,800 men of all arms; that of the French, under
Marshal Saint Arnaud, to nearly the same number, 26,526; and there were
also 7000 Turks, under Selim Pasha; making in all 60,300 men, and 132
guns, 65 of which were British.

On the morning of the 14th September, the fleet conveying this
magnificent army anchored off the coast, near Old Fort, distant about
eighteen miles south of Eupatoria. The first British troops which
landed in the Crimea were the men of Number 1 company of the 23rd Welsh
Fusiliers, under Major Lystons and Lieutenant Drewe. The landing
con