Odyssey of Aurora. The frigate "Aurora" was named in honor of Demidova's namesake Zarya and the cruiser "Aurora" after her death During the entire defense of Petropavlovsk
Many artists have painted a heroic ship. There are drawings, pictures of eyewitnesses, and a model in the Central Naval Museum. And picture books and filmstrip. And inspired paintings by modern marine painters. Here is the work of Valery Shilyaev, he wrote “Aurora” more than once, both on a campaign, and on a roadstead, and in battle.
But a sailing ship is not an airplane from an assembly line. Handmade, custom sewing. Already when launched into the water, the ship differs both from the drawing and from its sister-spikes. The “Aurora” had siblings the frigates “Diana” and “Amphitride”... and three dozen more frigates, and the father from whom the drawings were taken was the British “Endymion”.
Yes, contemporary eyewitness painters Ivan Aivazovsky and Platon Borispolets
They painted beautiful, expressive and romantic paintings that almost smell like sea spray. The paintings, of course, were not intended to capture the design features of the ship. But in the painting by Platon Boryspolets on the stern of the Aurora we see a superstructure - a beam, which is not on the drawings.
“Aurora” was launched in 1835, painted by Aivazovsky in 1837, Borispolets in 1844, timbered in 1851, and went to the Far East in 1853. The trip became a round-the-world trip with a break for the war of 1854-56.
And what did the frigate look like in the Battle of Peter and Paul?
The key word is timber. This means that it underwent a major overhaul, after which only the building remained the same. The wooden deadeyes (“macrobuttons” used for tensioning the rigging), clearly visible in both old paintings, were replaced with screw lanyards. The beautifully decorated stults - the side toilet "huts" at the stern, so carefully shown by P. Borispolets - disappeared completely. The stern acquired a round shape, the number of ports changed, and the cannon armament also changed. All this can be judged from the timber sheet and fleeting mentions of certain details.
That is, the external “tuning” of the ship became completely different than in A(yvazovsky’s) paintings. and B (Oryspil). The only correct image of a ship from the period of the Peter and Paul Battle is, with damage indicated on it. Even lowered topmasts and removed yards are depicted. Fedorovsky went around the world on this frigate, shared everyday life in combat (and nights :)) with it - who else would know the Aurora as if it were their own? The drawing only seems sketchy at first, but if you look closely, you will find a drawing of an anchor at the end of the cradle, and a decorative shield with the “rod of Jupiter” at the stern, in the projection of the captain’s cabin. Should there be any doubt that other details are shown accurately?
None of the artists, however, are guided by Fedorovsky’s drawing. Firstly, the drawing is not as famous and not as bright as paintings A. and B. Secondly, this is the same as demanding from director Tarantino that he comply with the laws of anatomy and physiology, which state that a person does not have more than 5 liters blood, and even that doesn’t all pour out. Cinema has its needs, paintings have theirs. So what if the Aurora stood in battle without topmasts and yards, and the enemy flagships did not spread their sails, moving either in tow or on springs? It's more spectacular with sails.
This is all a saying. And I’ll start the fairy tale with this nondescript drawing. From a book from 1954: A. Stepanov. "Battle of Peter and Paul". Artist V.I. Vanakov. 
The strange thing about this drawing is that nothing is really visible on it. Some frigate without details, some hills at the back, some Asian junks - all this can be drawn more interestingly. But the artist was not interested, he just copied it according to the model. Let's assume the sample was trustworthy.
Here you are. (V.D. Sergeev. Pages of the history of Kamchatka. 1992) 
But even from such a model, where you get down, you will get off. Nothing is visible except retouching. The ropes are as thick as a palm tree. I assumed that in the original it was a “portrait of a ship” - a simple drawing from life, the kind that officers pasted into their diaries. (For example, the portrait of the frigate "President" in the diary of J.N. Dick.)
A reproduction from the CVMM collections, which was published by Strannik4465 on the tsushima.su forum, looks closer to the original: 
Miraculously, “Aurora” is beginning to look more and more like Fedorovsky’s drawing (location of the ports, the shape of the valance - the overhang of the stern... the studs are not visible)... and the photograph! But the retouching, although not so crude, still spoils the impression.
According to this picture, friend lot1959
suggested that our frigate was captured in Hong Kong - both Chinese junks and high hills, of which the right one looks like Victoria Peak, speak for this.
Why not?
“On the same day (November 9, 1856), at ½ 8 o’clock in the afternoon, we crossed the Tropic of Cancer and entered the China Sea. Since this passage was very stormy, to refresh the crew, traction of the weakened rigging and some repairs in the galley and stove, damaged by strong rolling, they decided to go to Hong Kong, where they arrived safely on November 13th. About the frigate’s stay in the Hong Kong roadstead, from November 13 to 28, Captain 2nd Rank Tirol, among other things, reported that the English authorities showed him constant politeness and attentiveness. Governor General Sir John Bowring, when visiting the frigate, suggested, in the absence of a Russian consul in the local port, to contact him directly for all needs; but the commander chose to supply the frigate with everything necessary to turn to the American trading house of Barros, whose helpfulness and activity were especially useful, especially since the war between the British and the Chinese made it much more difficult to supply the frigate. During the frigate's stay in Hong Kong, the weather was clear, with temperatures ranging from + 15° to 18°, with a moderate NO monsoon. Here they found sufficient quantities of meat and herbs for the team, at very reasonable prices. On November 29, the frigate Aurora left Hong Kong for sea.” [Review of foreign voyages of ships of the Russian military fleet from 1850 to 1868. (Compiled by Sgibnev A.S.) Volume 1. St. Petersburg, 1871.]
N. Fesun mentions that in Hong Kong he happily communicated with the officers of the British frigate "Winchester" (and extracted a lot of belated, but most interesting information from the enemy camp). The rest of the English squadron - including Sybil, Hornet, Barracouta, Encounter, Nanking... - went to Canton.
“At the time the Aurora entered Hong Kong,” writes Fesun, “Canton was declared under blockade due to disagreements with the Chinese government, and hostilities between the British and Chinese had already begun. Commander Eliot, having a pennant on the same frigate "Sybil" with which he had paraded at De Castri, stood in the river, commanding one of the blockade courses; Steamboats constantly scurry along this river, like a high road to Whampoa and Canton. On the evening of the day when the Aurora dropped anchor in the Hong Kong roadstead and when it was almost dark, one of the steamships going up the [Canton] river pulled under the stern of the Sybil and hailed it; Having received a response from the English frigate, the ship shouted: “Listen! The frigate Aurora, which you have been looking for for two years, has now arrived in Hong Kong and is looking for you.” Then full speed was set, and before the commander, who was waiting for news and was himself on the poop deck, had time to come to his senses, the perky Yankee (the steamer was American) had already disappeared behind the darkness.”
In short, the Aurora stood peacefully in Hong Kong for almost three weeks. I had time to pose.
“One hundred steps back - quietly on your fingers...” Not a hundred, but I found one more step back in the wake of the picture. Moreover, at home, in the closet, in a stack of photocopiers with an article by Admiral A. De-Livron “The Battle of Peter and Paul” [Morskoy sbornik, 1914, No. 7. neof., p. 2] There I saw the picture, small and completely on the photocopier black, with the familiar profile of “Aurora” and a monogram in the corner of the letters NE. Naturally, I decided that the monogram belonged to the artist. Yes, not so. Not just an artist, but a photographer. This NE (or EN, the name could not be deciphered) re-shot and retouched pictures for their printing reproduction - on postcards, in Sytin's "Military Encyclopedia", and now - in the "Marine Collection". And in the corner of the glass he put a “chpok” (that’s what she called it fishka_anna
) – a stamp with a monogram. At least so that Sytin does not forget to pay.
This picture is a scan of a slide from the St. Petersburg Public Library. 
Let's see. It turns out that the photo from Strannik4465 is just an enlarged, retouched fragment of a picture from NE. The mountain “made up” to look like Victoria Peak is not Victoria Peak. But the junks look like they really are junks. Well, again, retouching. St. Andrew's flags and the contours of the mountain in the background are most clearly painted on. Still looks like Hong Kong. (Not to Singapore or St. Helena.)
However, it is impossible to accurately determine the landscape. I can only assume that the mountains in the original were initially unclear, so the retoucher had to finish drawing them and invent them.
Perhaps this piece of Hong Kong Island was meant, from a slightly different angle? 
(Yes, this image is already from the 20th century, the island is more built up. And the “hallmark” Victoria Peak is to the right-west, in the continuation of the panorama.) 
The NE picture is a bit boring - no swollen sails, no waves, no seagulls. Moreover, the mountains had to be drawn out of the haze. Everything suggests that the source was a PHOTO. This is a sufficient reason for the image to wander from retoucher to retoucher, from book to book.
One more step back – to the original photo. And... - there is no more attraction. But alas. The trail ends. Andrei De-Livron didn’t say a word about what kind of photo it was, where he took it, where he put it.
On the frigate "Pallada" there were two photographic cameras purchased in Europe at the beginning of the voyage; Goshkevich and Mozhaisky took pictures with them. Nothing is known about cameras on the Aurora. But “Aurora” was not filmed from “Aurora”. And not from the shore. Filmed from another ship. Maybe from Winchester? Let us remember that the leading technique in 1856 was the daguerreotype - a small positive in one copy that required a lot of exposure. With the development of photographic technology, daguerreotypes were re-photographed and always retouched. Or they made engravings or lithographs.
Will you find it? I would like to.
PS
The recognized master of ship modeling, Mikhail Bezverkhny, has been building the Aurora for many years now. Two options in parallel - pre- and post-timber. This work must be seen; it is no less impressive than a visit to, say, the Armory. And the work gives an idea of what kind of machine, what kind of organism this sailing frigate is.
(Scroll through the forum pages.)
PPS Forum member Mitrich from modelsworld.ru gives explanations and additions to the post.
[Why are there still shtulz on the post-timber model of Mikhail Bezverkhny.] Materials about the timber lining of the Aurora were found after Mikhail made the second hull. The Stults [after timbering] were gone altogether, the bow and stern were redesigned and given a different shape, the number of ports was reduced, and the side height was lowered. Everything is like Fedorovsky’s diagram.
[Is it possible to build a model “according to Fedorovsky”. ]
As for the new model “according to Fedorovsky,” you first need to make drawings. The archive contains a fairly detailed text description and drawings of the timber lining of the frigate "Amphitrid", which were used as the basis for the timber lining of the "Aurora". All that’s left to do is take the original drawings of “Aurora” and superimpose “Amphthyris” on them. I took on this at the end of last year (for myself, since I love “Aurora” since the days of the Soviet filmstrip), but the process is going very slowly with long breaks - the time has come to rework the “Diana” theory, according to which “Aurora” was built, into bow and stern, where the decks were lengthened and widened to improve seaworthiness. And among the timber drawings of the “Amphitride” there is precisely no revised theoretical drawing.
...The stern of the Aurora was originally round. She lost her stulks as a result of timbering. It is possible that the stern was expanded, like that of the Amphitrida, but there is no direct indication of this in the inventory, unlike the stem and forecastle. However, at the beginning of the list of recommended and approved modifications it is written: “Similar to the frigate “Amphitride””, so a widening of the stern can be assumed.
In the comment Lot1959 - “As is known, there were four gun ports in the captain’s cabin...”. In the drawing of the Amphitrid, there are five ports in the captain's cabin. But the “spindle of Jupiter” is most likely a decorative trim on the side, as Lot writes - perhaps in place of one of the false windows.
And also “Aurora”, as a result of reworking the stem, which received a greater slope, grew to a full 160 feet along the orlopdeck, the living deck (between the perpendiculars) - but these are my calculations based on the imposition of “Amphtrida” on the source of “Aurora”.
Frigate "Aurora"
In the XVIII-XIX centuries. frigates were single military three-masted ships with full sails. The difference from other sailing ships was their smaller size and artillery armament. The main purpose of the frigates was long-range reconnaissance and cruising service, i.e. single combat operations on sea and ocean routes with the aim of destroying or capturing enemy merchant ships. The largest of them had up to 60 guns in their artillery. As a rule, they were built into the battle line and they were called linear frigates.
In Russia in 1805 introduced the rank of frigates, armed with 44 guns. Russian 44-gun frigates had a solid deck. In this they differed from the frigates of the 18th century, which were built with closed stern and bow ends, while the middle part of the upper deck was open. The new frigates included the frigate Aurora, which was built on the stocks of the Okhtinskaya shipyard in St. Petersburg. This ship covered itself with glory in the battles during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1854.
In April 1854, the commander of the Russian frigate Aurora, Lieutenant Commander Izylmetyev, went out onto the deck of his ship and looked around the Peruvian port of Callao, which was located near the capital of the country, Lima, which was quickly plunging into twilight. Ivan Nikolaevich Izylmetyev was in a very bad mood. This was due to several circumstances: the shabby nature of the ship, which had traveled a long way from Portsmouth in England through the storms of the Atlantic here in Peru; and an unpleasant meeting on the roadstead with the Anglo-French squadron; and the fear that such a “rendezvous” could be disastrous for the Aurora...
For more than six months, Russia has been at war with Turkey,
which France and England strongly encouraged and supported. The Russian government, like the Russian sailors, no longer had any doubt that the British and French were about to declare war on Russia themselves. Soon it happened. The position of the Turks in Crimea became sharply complicated after the Battle of Sinop, which took place on November 18, 1853, in which the Turkish fleet was defeated and virtually destroyed. In the current situation, in April 1854, France and England decided to help Turkey by declaring war on Russia.
Frigate "Aurora" The news of the outbreak of war had not yet reached Peru when the Aurora appeared there. But our sailors, on the one hand, and the French and British, on the other, rightly assumed that this message would not take long to arrive. That is why Izylmetyev and the entire crew of the Russian frigate made every effort to leave Peru as quickly as possible, without waiting for news of the war. Repair work on the Aurora did not stop even at night; on the contrary, with the onset of darkness it became more intense. In just a few days, the crew intended to complete a huge amount of work. Under more favorable circumstances, solving such a task would have required at least a month. Meanwhile, the Aurora was monitored from the Mars of the French and English ships through telescopes, so as not to “miss out on some Russian trick.” Rear Admiral of the French Navy Fevrier de Pointe and English Rear Admiral Davis Price tried to supervise the work on the ship. They made “friendly visits” to the Russian frigate twice. With experienced eyes, looking around the premises and equipment of the ship, wondering how much time it will take the Russians to repair?
As soon as the “friends” approached board the Aurora
Izylmetyev gave the command to the boatswain to create a mess on the deck: lower the arbor so that its end dangled, lay a dilapidated, holey canvas on the deck, which acted as a sail being repaired, scatter the tool everywhere. And especially make sure that the sailors do not rush while working. The Frenchman and the Englishman left the frigate seemingly reassured - they say, the Russians still have a lot of work to do.
However, Price and de Pointe were not completely simpletons. Expecting a dispatch from day to day about the start of hostilities
with Russia, they decided to attack the Aurora immediately - on Wednesday, April 14, 1854.
On Tuesday morning, Izylmetyev carefully examined the frigate and was satisfied with the inspection: they did everything that was most necessary and that was within the power of the sailors. The sails and masts were repaired, the shrouds were replaced, the hull grooves were thoroughly caulked... That same evening, the commander of the Aurora visited the flagship of the English squadron, the 50-gun frigate President. Rear Admiral Price looked impressive and was very polite. Izylmetyev and several officers from his team tried to reciprocate. And already 4 hours after the visit, on the night of April 13-14, in the pre-dawn twilight and fog, the Russian frigate weighed anchor and, first with the help of boat oars, and then raising the sails, went out into the open Pacific Ocean. At dawn, Callao disappeared over the horizon, and the crew of the Aurora saw only the hazy line of the Andes and the sun rising over the water. The frigate headed for Petropavlovsk...
...By the end of May 1854, news of the war with France and England finally reached Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka. The commander of the military port of Petropavlovsk and concurrently the military governor of Kamchatka, Major General V.S. Zavoiko, received an official notification of this already in mid-June from the Russian Consul General in the United States. But back in March of the same year, 1854, a friendly message from the King of the Hawaiian Islands was delivered to the governor on an American whaling ship. Hawaiian King Kamehameha III warned V.S. Zavoiko in his letter that he had absolutely reliable information about the impending attack of the British and French on Petropavlovsk in the summer.
And Zavoiko, in order not to waste time, immediately began to equip coastal fortifications in Kamchatka. At the beginning of June, the frigate Aurora moored at the pier of Avachinskaya Bay. His voyage across three oceans ended at a record speed for those times - the frigate was at sea for just 66 days. The fastest was the voyage from Peru. Then Izylmetyev outwitted the Anglo-French naval commanders and took his ship from Callao to Petropavlovsk. Despite all the storms that blocked the frigate’s path at almost every mile, steadfastly fighting scurvy, which took many sailors during the voyage, the crew arrived in Kamchatka on time. The 300-man crew of the Aurora and its artillery greatly strengthened the garrison of Petropavlovsk.
By the end of July, the garrison of the Petropavlovsk port
together with the crews of all ships, it began to number 920 people. The entire population, including its surroundings (approximately 1,600 people), also participated in preparations for the defense of the city. Work was carried out around the clock, day and night, to construct and equip seven coastal batteries, which took almost two months. The frigate "Aurora" and the warship "Dvina" were anchored with their left sides facing the exit from the harbor. The starboard guns were removed from the ships to strengthen the shore batteries. The entrance to the harbor was blocked by a boom. Artillery covered Petropavlovsk like a horseshoe. At its right end, on the rocky coast of Mount Signalnaya, there was a battery that protected the entrance to the internal roadstead. And on the right, on the isthmus between the Nikolaevskaya and Signalnaya mountains, another battery was placed.
At 12 o'clock on August 17, 1854, caretakers from forward posts at the lighthouses discovered a squadron of 6 ships. A combat alert was declared in the city. The defenders of Petropavlovsk took their places and began to tensely observe what was happening. The three-masted steamer separated from the squadron and began measuring the depths on the approaches to Signalnaya, as well as at the entrance to the harbor.
After the bot left the port,
the ship was running at full speed. On the morning of August 18, the squadron attempted to enter Avacha Bay. It consisted of the French frigate La Fort, which had 60-gun artillery, the corvette Eurydice, with 32 guns, and the 18-gun Obligado; the English frigate "President" (52 guns), the frigate "Pike" (44 guns) and also the steamer "Virago" (10 guns). The combined flotilla was commanded by the English Rear Admiral D. Price, the French detachment was commanded by Rear Admiral F. de Pointe. In total, the squadron had 216 guns, while the personnel numbered 2,600 people.
On the night of August 18-19, 1854, the British and French were preparing to attack the port and city. Fires were lit on the enemy ships. The decks of the enemy ships were already visible through telescopes. The movement on the quarterdeck became more active, and landing boats were seen lowering from the rostrum. The darkness of the moonless night was continually broken up by flares and flares. Bright yellow dots moved along the lead-black surface of the bay. These were enemy boats cruising from ship to ship. Most likely, they took depth measurements to find the route to Signal Mountain...
The next day, enemy cannons fired along the shore.
Rapid fire was fired from the ships. The eight cannons of the Russian coastal battery were fired in salvos by 80 (!) bomb and mortar guns from the French and British. The shelling of Russian batteries and the city took place for several hours on August 18 and 19. Meanwhile, the return fire of the Petropavlovsk artillery was more accurate: several bombs exploded on the deck of the Virago, damaging the foremast and pipe of the steamer; on the frigate "President", during a firefight, the crew had to urgently fasten the shrouds of the mainmast, damaged by Russian shells; holes appeared in the sides of enemy ships. This forced the Anglo-French squadron to hastily withdraw to sea on August 18 and 19.
On August 20, at approximately 8 o'clock in the morning, the enemy flotilla, commanded by Fevrier de Pointe (according to one hypothesis, Rear Admiral D. Price died on August 19, committing suicide) took a position behind Signal Mountain. Soon after this, they opened heavy fire on the first and fourth batteries of the defenders. The Russian sailors returned fire with stubborn composure and, with well-aimed shots, volley after volley inflicted damage on the enemy. But the attackers only intensified the onslaught. The first battery was literally strewn with enemy bombs. The vast majority of its guns were out of action.
Covered by frigates, 15 French rowing ships approached closer and closer to the shore. There were officers in the two boats ahead. The French sailors, sitting in tension, were ready at any moment to carry out their orders, clutching the fittings that glittered in the sun between their knees. One after another, the boats infiltrated into a place safe from Russian artillery shots. Her situation seemed hopeless. But our sailors left the battery only after 5 of its guns were disabled. The artillerymen moved to the fourth battery on the orders of V.S. Zavoiko.
The enemy's fire was transferred to this battery, the enemy ships intensified it even more, and enemy troops began to land on the shore. The French soon approached the positions of the first battery, where they immediately hoisted their flag.
As soon as the tricolor of the French flag
hanging over the battery left by the Petropavlovtsy, Lieutenant Captain I.N. Izylmetyev, the commander of the Aurora, received a signal from the commander of the garrison Zavoiko:
“The battery has fallen. Open fire!".
The artillery of the Aurora and Dvina fell on the enemy landing force. The French landing party lay down, hiding from the hurricane fire of Russian ships. Meanwhile, Kamchadals and Russian sailors quickly rushed to their positions, sliding down green slopes slippery with dew, aiming at the enemy as they went. They were seized by such an impulse and such a passionate desire to clash with the enemy in hand-to-hand combat that the battery was repulsed in bayonet fighting, and the French landing party, dropping their weapons in panic, fell head over heels towards the water and climbed into the boats, which hurriedly, one after another set sail.
One of the participants in that battle
later wrote: “Despite the small number of our garrison, despite the four times superior forces relative to all our united parties, the enemy retreated at a run and so quickly that before we took the battery they occupied, they were already in the boats.” All attempts by the British and French to land their troops south of the third battery that day were also repulsed. Tired of fruitless attacks, the enemy ships rained fire on the second battery, which had 11 guns and covered the entrance to Peter and Paul Bay. Over the next ten hours, Russian artillery fought an unequal battle with enemy ships. And its 80 guns could not suppress the fire of the coastal battery. As soon as any of the enemy ships approached it, accurate shots from Russian artillerymen hit it. On August 20, as darkness fell, the shooting subsided; the first onslaught of the enemy flotilla was successfully repulsed by the garrison of Petropavlovsk.
After this, the ships of the British and French stood in the roadstead for three days and were inaccessible to Russian guns. They patched numerous holes in the decks and sides, restored the masts, repaired the equipment... In the early morning of August 24, 1854, the enemy squadron attempted a new attack on Petropavlovsk. As soon as the morning fog cleared, the enemy ships began to move. The admiral's frigates, the French "La Fort" and the English "President", were taken in tow by the steamer "Virago". "Pike" separated from the squadron, and approaching the rocky slope of Signal Mountain stopped, as if deciding whether to turn left to the isthmus, or again attack the Cemetery Battery. After several minutes of enemy delay, the city’s defenders realized that he would attack Petropavlovsk from the north.
The enemy frigates approached the shore and froze
at a distance of four cable cables from it. Suddenly, the “President” barked a salvo of all its starboard guns! The next salvo, from La Fort, was no less deafening, and sounded like a close echo. The next moment, the battery under the command of Lieutenant Alexander Maksutov returned fire. And all five guns left their mark on the President. One of the salvos on the English frigate knocked down the gaff, damaged the shrouds and tore off the flag. And only then the French frigate got it.
Russian gunners fought with inimitable courage under a hail of cannonballs and heavy bombs. But the superiority of the enemy's artillery power was too great. Maksutov's battery fought for more than an hour and a half. At some point, only one gun remained in service. The battery commander sank a large boat with an enemy landing force with a well-aimed shot. And at the same moment the lieutenant felt a powerful shock. The impact of the cannonball threw him several steps, his right arm was torn off at the elbow.
Without stopping the shelling of the shore, the enemy launched an attack with the main landing forces. About 600 people landed north of Nikolskaya Mountain, in the area of the 5th battery. The landing force was divided into 3 groups, two of which moved to Nikolskaya Mountain, and the third - straight to the city along the northern road. Another 250 people from the enemy landing landed at the 3rd battery. A little later they linked up with a group that was advancing from the north.
They came closer and closer to the city.
It seemed to them that a little more, a little more, and the Russians would surrender. And at these very moments, a barrage of grapeshot fire from the sixth battery fell on the enemy sailors and soldiers. This landing group had to retreat to the main forces of the enemy who had landed on the shore. Soon Nikolskaya Mountain, the dominant height above the port and the city, was captured by the enemy. Bullets whistled over the Dvina and Aurora as the enemy landing force fired at them from the isthmus. Now there is a real threat of the city being captured by the enemy.
"Deadly Battery" Historical reconstruction. At this most critical moment of defense, Major General Zavoiko sent several units to the most dangerous directions. The most heroic moment of the entire defense of Petropavlovsk was the bayonet attack of Russian sailors and riflemen from the Dvina and Aurora on the Anglo-French landing party. Under a barrage of enemy bullets, about 300 Russian soldiers rushed at 850 enemy paratroopers. The Russian “Hurray!” echoed around like thunder. . A brutal hand-to-hand fight ensued. People clashed, clanging, crossing bayonets. The sailors from the Aurora in light canvas shirts walked forward non-stop, as if they were not threatened by either enemy bullets or their bayonets. And the enemy could not withstand this onslaught. The enemy paratroopers wavered, were overthrown and fled. The French and English rushed headlong, without making out the roads, driven by fear, to the shore, to their boats and, having sat in them, rowed with all their might, leaving for their ships.
During the entire defense of Petropavlovsk
Enemy losses amounted to 450 people, of which 273 were killed. The defenders of the port and city lost 32 killed and 64 wounded. The captured trophies included the banner of the English Marines, various weapons and... shackles that were intended for Russian prisoners, of whom, by the way, there were not a single person. “Only one Russian frigate and only a few batteries,” wrote the British United Service magazine in 1855, “remained invincible before the combined naval forces of France and England, and the two greatest naval powers in the world were put to shame by being defeated by a small Russian garrison.” .
On August 27, 1854, the defeated Anglo-French flotilla hastily left Avacha Bay and disappeared into the ocean.
I was talking to a neighbor boy yesterday. Among other things, the conversation turns to ships that are famous for him, and in the first place he immediately names the cruiser Aurora. And even the guy, as it turned out, knows, or at least heard, about Aurora’s participation in Tsushima, which, I admit, was a pleasant surprise. “Great,” I say, “but do you know why the cruiser was named “Aurora”?” So, alas, he no longer knows about the frigate that bore the same name before the cruiser, and why the cruiser became its successor. And I think that not many people know about this today.
And so I thought that I should try to collect here something about such ships forgotten by descendants. And for starters, just about the frigate Aurora.
The frigate is actually well known to fans of military and naval history. He became famous during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during the Crimean War of 1853-56. On August 17, 1854, an Anglo-French squadron consisting of three frigates, one steam frigate and a brig approached the young fortress at the farthest tip of the Russian Empire. To the great surprise of the British and French, a completely fortified city awaited them here and the frigate Aurora, which had come from Kronstadt, was anchored in Avacha Bay. The defending forces were half as strong: both men and guns, however, despite repeated attacks, Petropavlovsk held out, and the enemy was forced to leave. According to British data, Allied losses during this unsuccessful landing operation amounted to about 430 killed and wounded. The Russians lost 32 killed, 64 were wounded. In one of the sources I found a mention that Court Admiral Pierce, who commanded the allied squadron, subsequently shot himself.
And the main defensive force of Petropavlovsk was the frigate Aurora and its sailors. They not only distinguished themselves in artillery duels, but also during hand-to-hand combat with landing forces. It was this feat of the sailors from the Aurora that became the reason for awarding the frigate the title of “St. George”. Which meant the need to preserve the name of the ship in the future, when it was disabled.
The frigate was built at the Okhtinskaya shipyard in St. Ptreburg in 1835. It was built under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Amosov. It had very modest dimensions: length 48.8 m, width 12.6 m, draft of about 4 m. Its armament consisted of 58 copper guns: thirty-four 24-pounder cannons and twenty-four 24-pounder carronades (carronades differed from conventional cannons because they had a shorter barrel and a different mounting system on the machine). The crew included 300 people.
Aurora's main service area was the Baltic Sea. She went on long cruising trips a little, but she was destined to become the last Russian sailing ship to circumnavigate the world. It was during this voyage off the coast of Chile that the frigate received unofficial news of the beginning of the Crimean War (there was no telegraph at that time, and they used rumors in the ports). The captain of the Aurora, Lieutenant Commander Izylmetyev, decided to urgently go to Petropavlovsk, his closest Russian port. Thus, “Aurora” took part in the defense of Petropavlovsk. In 1856, the frigate moved to Kronstadt, completing the voyage around the world. And in the same year it was withdrawn from the active fleet due to its disrepair.
And a completely little-known fact. On the island of San Lorenzo off the coast of Peru (department of Callao), two sailors from the frigate Aurora who died en route are buried. The grave was preserved through the efforts of our emigrant compatriots; now there is a small monument there. To Russian people on the other side of the earth...
Chapter fifteen
FRIGATE "AURORA"
...and they themselves died for the Russian land...
A Word about Igor's Campaign
The frigate "Aurora" was getting closer and closer to Petropavlovsk. They began to remove the sails on it. People were visible on the huge yards, on the shrouds and on the deck, officers on the poop deck, and a boat with Gubarev coming alongside.
Zavoiko went home to change clothes.
“Thank God, Yulechka,” he said, entering his wife in full uniform with orders. “Now we’ll see how the British and French come.” Anyone else in my place, having such a garrison and this “Aurora”, that is, one ship and a lack of food, would have grabbed his hair at the thought of how he would have to defend himself. And I say: thank God, because the ship is sailing. Not chatterboxes and crazy people, but only Zavoiko will take the rap for everyone and fight, which I am ready for, although I don’t say big words and don’t make great discoveries. I am ready to lay down my head, and let the children not be ashamed of their father if he is reproached after death.
- Why will they reproach you? – Yulia Egorovna was wary.
She was disturbed by her husband's similar reasoning. It seemed that he was trying to justify himself, responding to some kind of inner voice.
“No, Yulechka,” he said stubbornly, “I don’t feel guilty about anything and I can die calmly, and you don’t have to worry.” So I'm going to Aurora. Thank God she came. And when the naked man is given only a shirt, he feels dressed, but the rich man doesn’t have enough of a dozen, and he wants to take the last thing from his neighbor! I feel like I'm shod and dressed. Don’t forget that now my own nephew, now midshipman Nikolai Fesun, has arrived, and I am very happy about this, although everyone who arrived on it is my family!
Yulia Egorovna is also happy. Fesun, the son of a small nobleman from Ukraine, with the help of his uncle Ferdinand Petrovich, entered the naval corps and studied well. Yulia Egorovna felt to some extent this boy’s benefactor.
Zavoiko went, but stopped at the door and, turning, spoke again heatedly:
- But, Yulenka, I, like Kutuzov, will say that the enemies attacked the wrong person. I will not give up and will raise up all the Kamchadals, and we will start a war here that will harm the enemy. The British will not be happy to see me yet!
Knowing that the entire population of Kamchatka consists of natural hunters, excellent shooters, Zavoiko sent his officials everywhere, even beyond the ridge, into the valley of the Kamchatka River, with orders for everyone to become volunteers.
- And now such help! Frigate! There are four hundred crew members on it!
And Yulia Egorovna was thinking about how useful her dairy farm is now. The husband often scolds his relatives, but if not for them, if not for family ties, then much, much would not have been possible to do. After all, if it weren’t for the uncle and his name, then the government would probably never have given the husband the funds to buy livestock. The husband, with all his inhuman energy, would hardly have been able to accomplish everything so quickly if the Company had not come to his aid with its funds and ships. At the same time, she understood perfectly well that if her husband were not here, none of the Company’s funds and ships would mean absolutely nothing. And she was again proud of her “old husband,” as she called Vasily Stepanovich.
... Between the huge volcanoes, the tops of which are sometimes covered with snow, and the slopes are covered with dense, spreading forests, lies the widest Avachinskaya Bay. Sounding rivers with clear water run down to it through wide wooded valleys.
Behind the ridge of low hills, moving away from the hardened shore, there is a bucket - an internal bay, that is, a small bay in a huge bay. Petropavlovsk perched on the bank of the bucket. It would look just like a small Kamchadal village if it weren’t for the governor’s house with birch trees in the garden. Diagonally there is a church, old, wooden, darkened by the rains, below there is a warehouse and piers. A little further, where the bucket buried itself in the shore between the isthmus and the mainland, there is a warehouse and a new barracks. To the side is an American store.
"Aurora" entered the bucket. Boats with ordinary people surrounded her. Buckets and jugs of milk, herbs and berries were served on board.
- Brilliant ship! - said the crowded officials.
Gubarev returned on the boat and called the governor aside. He looked embarrassed, and he whispered for a long time about something with Zavoiko. Vasily Stepanovich quickly got into the boat. The rowers leaned on their oars. A few minutes later he was climbing the ladder onto the frigate.
Soon stretchers with people began to be lowered from this shiny ship into boats.
The commander of the Aurora, captain of the second rank Ivan Nikolaevich Izylmetyev, with a gloomy look of gray eyes, half-closed from fatigue and illness, told Vasily Stepanovich for a long time what happened to the Aurora.
Almost everyone on the ship is sick with scurvy. Some are hard, others are easier, but there are almost no completely healthy people. The captain himself also feels unwell.
His frigate, having rounded Cape Horn at the stormiest time of the year, did not proceed to Valparaiso as ordered. The captain, knowing that an English squadron was stationed there, went to the port of Callao, on the South American coast. But a whole united French-British squadron just happened to be in Callao, waiting from Panama along the dry route for news from Europe about the beginning of the war with Russia, which was supposed to be delivered across the Atlantic Ocean by a mail steamer.
– We didn’t wait and ran into it! - said Ivan Nikolaevich. “But even in Callao nothing was known about the war!”
– So nothing is known anywhere! - said Zavoiko.
The British and French were delighted at the arrival of the Russian ship. If news of the start of war had arrived across the isthmus, the frigate Aurora would have immediately become their prey.
Izylmetyev resorted to cunning. He ordered his officers to have friendly meetings with English and French officers, to say that our ship had serious damage, it would have to be thoroughly repaired, and that the ship was generally bad, in vain it had been sent on such a long voyage that back in 1846, English newspapers in Plymouth warned about this is when Grand Duke Constantine arrived in England on the Aurora.
The British and French were very flattered to take control of the frigate on which the king's son had once been raised. Although they were sure that it was indeed a worthless rotten vessel.
Allied officers visited the Aurora, and the Russians, in turn, visited them. It seemed that both of them were very happy; young officers from all the ships went together for festivities. Meanwhile, the British and French secretly watched what was happening on the Russian ship. And everyone who remained on the Aurora, also secretly, feverishly prepared the ship for the huge passage across the Pacific Ocean. Ivan Nikolayevich was in a hurry, rushing people, skillfully pretending when meeting with foreigners that everything was in disarray, he even started negotiations with representatives of one of the companies in Callao about repairing the frigate, for which he himself went ashore. And at dawn the next day, when there were several hours left before the arrival of the company's representatives, the frigate raised the sails and, with a fair wind, quickly set out to sea.
“We barely left Callao,” said Izylmetyev, sitting in his cabin opposite Vasily Stepanovich and wiping his forehead with a handkerchief. As if he had just escaped from the enemy himself.
“So I’m no better off, Ivan Nikolaevich, and I also have no food, although wild garlic grows on the hills and there are bears that we kill. And although we do not have flour, we do not lose heart, and with wild garlic and milk we will put your entire team on their feet. And we’ll slaughter a few bulls and wild boars for you! Now tell me, what do you know, what kind of enemy ships will come to Kamchatka? Soon? Where is the squadron that was stationed in Callao?
According to Izylmetyev, the allies were waiting for reinforcements from other ships. All these issues were discussed in the captain's cabin, and then on shore, in the governor's office.
And one after another, the boats left the Aurora... Unhealthy, tired, half-withered from hunger, but perfumed, in new shiny uniforms, the young officers drove ashore, heading for lunch at the governor’s house.
Then the boats with the sick and dying came again. Soldiers with stretchers were waiting for them on the shore.
- That's what we've been waiting for! - the townsfolk said in the crowd.
There was a gloomy silence on the shore. Occasionally moans and sighs were heard.
A sad line of stretchers reached the town. The sick were ordered to be placed in the houses of ordinary people, and Gubarev was already going around and appointing who and how many.
Conversations in Vasily Stepanovich's office continued.
– I already have a plan on how to heal your entire team, and then how to defend Petropavlovsk with joint forces.
“But the ship must go to De-Kastri.”
– So I want to tell you that “Aurora” will not go anywhere from Petropavlovsk. I, as governor and commander of all naval forces, order you to stay here and, together with the garrison of the city, take measures to protect against the enemy!
Ivan Nikolaevich, standing up slightly, bowed respectfully, as if showing that he was not going to argue and took the order for granted and agreed with Zavoiko not only as a governor, but also in essence. Of course, there is little joy for one ship to withstand a battle with an entire squadron. But he understood that Zavoiko had no choice but to give such an order and defend himself to the last drop of blood. Izylmetyev also understood that he did not dare insist on leaving his ship for De-Kastri, not only because he was obliged to carry out the order given so firmly and decisively. Duty and honor obliged him not to leave the city and port, which Zavoiko was ready to defend with such determination and courage.
- But what if there is an order from Muravyov? – asked Ivan Nikolaevich.
Zavoiko remained silent. He considered himself entitled to hide the fact that such an order already existed.
- “Aurora” won’t go anywhere! - he said decisively. – I take responsibility.
He also added that the departure of the Aurora would be tantamount to the death of the city, and then began to explain the defense plan for Petropavlovsk. Zavoiko now intended to build new fortifications. Izylmetyev asked for details. Zavoiko said that at least five batteries would have to be built. They discussed what supplies the city garrison would have. Zavoiko asked how many rifles, gunpowder and cannons were on the Aurora.
“But in order to build fortifications,” said Izylmetyev, “we need, first of all, healthy hands.” And the team... - He spread his hands, expressing confusion on his face.
He seemed to want to say that now everything depends on what Kamchatka is like, whether it can give people health.
- So I know how to get your entire team back on their feet in a few days.
– Unfortunately, there are no such means, Vasily Stepanovich!
- So you don’t know Kamchatka then! And you can't tell me that. Forty miles from here there is Paratunka, and there are healing waters there. I have already sent orders to the Kamchadals to take their cows there. And when a sick sailor bathes in hot healing water and drinks milk, then with the health of a Russian person he will very quickly get back on his feet. Not far from this Paratunka on the Avacha River there is my wife’s own dairy farm. Everything possible from my farm will be provided to your team. For now we will reinforce the people here, and in two days we will transport them to Paratunka on boats and on board. There will be milk, healing springs, wild garlic, and people will recover as they have never recovered anywhere, and Kamchatka will be glorified all over the world...
Izylmetyev was a man of great dignity, who, however, was alien to false pride, and therefore he usually calmly obeyed any reasonable order from his superiors, being able to show that this did not affect his dignity even if the meaning of the order contradicted Izylmetyev’s wishes.
– But who will guard the ship and the city if, as you say, the entire population will transport the sick?
“And in this case, I will force all my officials to volunteer, I will put them in front of the guns and put guns in their hands.” People on Paratunka will recover quickly. We take risks, but as they say, risk is a noble cause.
Izylmetyev agreed that Zavoiko’s plan was good and that this was the only way out. Let's go have lunch. Almost all the officers of the frigate were in the living room. Zavoiko introduced midshipman Fesun to his wife. Before this, the general had seen him on the ship, where his nephew, flushed to the ears, almost threw himself on his uncle’s neck.
“Yes, this is my own nephew,” the governor announced, “and therefore,” he said, turning to the captain, “I ask you, Ivan Nikolaevich, to demand doubly from him, so that he knows the service.”
Blue-eyed, ruddy Fesun beamed with happiness that everyone could see how the governor was with him and that they were talking about him. He was already shuffling in front of his auntie and kissing her hand.
“This is where we happened to meet,” Vasily Stepanovich told him. “Maybe we’ll have to die together for the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland!”
At the table, Yulia Egorovna sat next to Alexander Petrovich Maksutov, a tall, handsome, dark-skinned officer.
– Brother Dmitry wrote to me so much about you! - he said to his cousin.
Yulia Egorovna smiled kindly:
- Yes, he is a frequent guest with us.
- What a pity that I won’t see him.
- So you will see him again! – Vasily Stepanovich said decisively. -What am I guaranteeing!
“My cousins seem to be painfully in love with each other! I have noticed more than once that such love is a harbinger of some tragic events,” thought Yulia Egorovna.
The next morning, Zavoiko and Izylmetyev, taking Gubarev and Maksutov with them, went to inspect the area. It was decided to build a total of six batteries, including those already started. Disarm one side of the Aurora and place the guns on the batteries. The second side of the “Aurora” will fire at the enemy, standing behind the spit that stretches almost across the entire small bay.
“And behind this spit it will be half-closed from cannonballs and bombs, like behind the best parapet,” said Vasily Stepanovich, standing on a sand spit among the Bucket.
Izylmetyev and this time slightly bowed his balding head.
“Yes, we’ll put the ship in the harbor like a floating battery,” said Zavoiko.
“The main thing now is not guns, but people,” noted Ivan Nikolaevich. - If only they get better quickly.
We went to the hospital, visited the seriously ill, and then went into the houses of ordinary people where the mildly ill were housed. Many sailors felt much better on shore.
– The general promises to feed you milk! – the sick Aurors said to their commander.
“I don’t keep all the stock in one place,” Zavoiko explained. – Half of my cows are in the city, and half are on the farm, and it’s like a fortress there. With city cows we will correct the people here. The townsfolk will give them everything they can.
... In the birch garden, behind a low fence, Yulia Egorovna discussed with the young officers which play to choose for an amateur performance.
– War is just around the corner, and young people are going to have fun! - Zavoiko exclaimed, entering the garden with Izylmetyev. - Really, this is the time and place to organize balls, when the gentlemen officers return from Paratunka. These balls will be better than medicines and wild garlic for young people, which I know from myself, since I was young myself.
The next day, whole lines of boats and Kamchadal boats under sail left the shore, taking the sick to Paratunka.
The white-sailed, three-masted, 56-gun frigate “Aurora” left the Kronstadt roadstead on August 21, 1853. Its commander, captain-lieutenant Ivan Nikolaevich Izylmetyev, was an experienced sailor. He led the Aurora on a long voyage to the eastern shores of Russia for their protection. In those days in St. Petersburg they said that Turkey, England and France were preparing for military action against Russia.
While the diplomats had not exhausted their capabilities, the Aurora slipped past the English and French shores. The crew met 1854 in the southern hemisphere, and on March 13 the frigate completed the difficult rounding of Cape Horn. The Aurora, caught by a fair current and a steady trade wind from the southwest, arrived at the Peruvian port of Callao on the twentieth day.
The team had to rest, replenish provisions, and most importantly, they were waiting for mail from St. Petersburg. The presence of English and French frigates flying the admiral’s flags in the bay was unexpected. Having anchored at a distance from them, a boat was lowered from the Aurora. Captain-Lieutenant Izylmetyev went to make the required visits.
The English Rear Admiral D. Price on the frigate “President” was restrained to the point of coldness. Ivan Nikolaevich left him with a heavy heart. The Frenchman de Pointe on La Forte received the Russian commander kindly and very politely. Both admirals made return visits. This softened Izylmetyev’s wariness. He did not know what both admirals already knew: Russia had been at war with Turkey for more than a month. The Englishman Price insisted on capturing the Russian frigate, but De Pointe, citing the lack of official news about the start of the war of their states against Russia, considered hostile actions unacceptable. We were waiting for the official dispatch. They didn’t know about these negotiations at Aurora.
In the letters received, the Naval Ministry notified Izylmetyev of a possible imminent severance of relations between Russia and England. But these letters left St. Petersburg in the first half of February, and a lot could have changed in two months. Nevertheless, Izylmetyev accelerated the preparation of the Aurora for the passage to Russian seas, although the ship's work seemed to be going according to a stuck schedule. The Russian frigate, apparently, was in no hurry to leave. But this was only an appearance.
On April 14, the early morning began with low fog. When the sun rose, through the gaps in the foggy veil, the British and French saw through telescopes that in a few minutes the sailors of the Aurora set the sails and quickly raised the anchor. The ship made a turn and disappeared over the horizon.
Rear Admiral D. Price was furious: easy prey had escaped. Indignation against the French associate intensified when two weeks later the steamship Virago brought official news, dated March 28, that war had already been declared on Russia.
Only three weeks after the Aurora left, the frigates were able to begin the pursuit. In vain they searched for the Russian frigate among the Pacific islands. "Aurora" disappeared. The Russian captain-lieutenant outwitted two rear admirals. Price could not forgive him, and most importantly himself, for this.
“Aurora,” meanwhile, was heading northwest. The Passat was quite fresh. The frigate was scooping with its sides. The rooms became damp and cold. We started getting scurvy. Thirteen people died on the way from Callao. The commander himself also fell ill. In sixty-six days, having traveled 9,000 nautical miles without calling at ports, the Aurora arrived in Petropavlovsk on June 19. 196 patients were taken to a coastal hospital. Two months after their recovery and repair of the frigate, they planned to start cruising on August 18 in the Sea of Okhotsk and at the mouth of the Amur. But events turned out differently.
On July 14, 1854, the chief commander of the Petropavlovsk port, Vasily Stepanovich Zavoiko, notified the commander of the Aurora that he had received news from the American consul: Russia had declared war on England and France. A steamer was sent from England to form a squadron to blockade Russian ports in the Pacific Ocean. Zavoiko ordered: “to be in perfect readiness to repel the attack of enemy ships.” During the Aurora's stay in the port, a small garrison, with the help of some of its cannons mounted on quickly built batteries, was able to create an artillery defense system.
On August 17, the combined Anglo-French squadron arrived at the Petropavlovsk roadstead. A steamship, four frigates, a corvette and a brig were part of it. The next morning the rain stopped and it became calm. Rear Admiral D. Price decided to personally inspect and evaluate the port’s defenses on the steamship Virago. And, although the ship was flying an American flag, the Russian pilot who came out to meet him realized: this was the enemy.
The first to realize the tragic significance of the lost two months, the loss of surprise in the attack and the general dubiousness of victory over the Russians was Price himself. He knew that in England they would not forgive him for his miscalculations and slowness, as well as for the fact that back in June he had missed the Aurora. On the evening of August 18, the opponents exchanged several artillery shots for the first time. A day later, the admirals decided to land 600 troops. The defenders held out for almost eight hours, and the landing party returned to the ships at dusk. Admiral Parus's nerves could not stand all this. He shot himself.
The second assault on Petropavlovsk was commanded by the French Rear Admiral De Pointe. On August 24, after a powerful artillery shelling of Russian coastal batteries and ships, he landed about 700 troops. As a result of the fierce battle, the enemy lost more than 400 people wounded and killed and retreated to their ships, which were heavily damaged by Russian artillery.
For three days the enemy repaired everything that was possible. On the morning of August 27, having set sail discordantly, the squadron departed.
Letters and reports about victory and losses were sent to St. Petersburg from Petropavlovsk.
Defense experience formed the basis for strengthening artillery positions. Feverish work continued throughout the fall, because a second attack on the port was expected at any time. The garrison was in a hurry to prepare for the approaching winter. They built covered batteries with communication passages, three large barracks, and three officers' houses. The transports “Irtysh” and “Baikal”, the corvette “Olivutsa” and two boats arrived for the winter.
The winter passed quietly. Everyone became worried on March 3, 1855, when Captain Martynov brought an order from the governor of Eastern Siberia for the urgent evacuation of all residents, garrison and property. The Anglo-French squadron, now consisting of 26 ships, was preparing to attack the port.
Only V.S. Zavoiko knew the evacuation point. For his military actions last year, he was awarded the rank of rear admiral and the Order of St. George, lll degree. Awards were announced to many who distinguished themselves in those battles. But all this was not pleasing.
In a month of hard work, cannons and cannonballs were dug out from under the snow. Window frames, doors and even door hinges were removed from the buildings. Property and residents were still being loaded onto ships, and men were cutting a canal in the ice with long rip saws. By April 4, heavily laden ships were brought out into the open. The unarmed transports “Irtysh” and “Baikal” were the first to leave. Two days later, having taken the remnants of the garrison, the frigate “Aurora”, the corvette “Olivutsa”, boat No. 1 and the transport “Dvina” set off. The commanders were scheduled to meet in De-Kastri Bay.
The enemy squadron, waiting until the ice retreated in mid-April, arrived in Petropavlovsk. The surprise of the British knew no bounds: the “small Russian squadron” that wintered here disappeared. Deserted log walls of dwellings could be seen on the shore, but the English Admiral Stirling longed for a naval victory.
The English sailors were indignant... In search of the Russian squadron, Anglo-French ships rushed across the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk. Convinced of the futility of the search, Stirling allocated to his assistant Commodore Elliott the 40-gun frigate Sybill, the 17-gun screw corvette Hornet and the 12-gun brig Bittern and ordered to explore the Tartary Strait. And he himself went to Japan with other ships to rest.
Elliott's squadron rose north to De-Kastri Bay and, near its southern cape, without raising national flags, dropped anchor. The weather was disgusting. The fog and rain cleared up in the early morning of May 8th. Elliot felt surprised and scared: he looked through a telescope at an unknown squadron not far away. The frigate was identified as the Aurora, and nearby were the 20-gun corvette Olivutsa and the 10-gun transport Dvina. The transports “Irtysh” and “Baikal” and boat No. 1 did not have guns; they carried 282 passengers, but the British did not know this.
Six Russian pennants against three... Elliot decided to clarify the capabilities of the Russians. The English corvette began to approach the corvette Olivutsa. Cannon salvoes struck. The Olivuts fired quickly and quickly. A thunderous “Hurray” sounded from the Russian ships when the Hornet suddenly turned, and the next day the British weighed anchor and moved south towards the garrison.
Commodore Elliot sent a corvette for orders to Hakkodate, Japan, to Admiral Stirling, and he himself, in a brig with a frigate, blocked what he believed was a Russian squadron. Now she was in a trap!
Local residents informed V.S. Zavoiko that the estuary near Cape Lazarev was clear of ice. Cape Lazarev from De-Kastri Bay not far to the north. There, the shores of the Tatar Strait narrowed, leaving a narrow passage between the mainland and Sakhalin Island. That. That Sakhalin is an island was established back in 1848-1849 by Lieutenant Commander G.I. Nevelskoy. And the map was printed in 1848. And the depths in the strait have been measured and marked. Only the Russians kept this map secret. The British considered the Tatar Strait to be a gulf.
On May 15, Zavoiko gave the command for all ships to proceed carefully to the north, into the Amur Estuary. The fog hid this maneuver. Fourteen hours later, having finally waited for reinforcements, Commodore Elliott boldly entered De-Kastri at the head of a squadron of six ships. But... there were no Russians at the roadstead!
It took the English Parliament a long time to figure out all the mistakes of the admirals. In February 1856, parliamentary debates took place in London. Some believed that Elliott did the right thing by not attacking the Russians in an unfamiliar bay. Others accused Elliot and Stirling of cowardice and loss of vigilance, with which they shamefully humiliated and dishonored the British fleet. They demanded that they be subjected to a military trial. And only one speaker said with naive simplicity that “Elliot simply did not know that there was a passage to the north” from the Tartary Strait to the mouth of the Amur. Russian sailors knew how to keep state secrets.
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