2-914-028 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wrecks off the Katscha, 1854. Crimean War, ships lost in bad weather. '...the most horrific gale ever known in that part of the world continued to rage throughout the length and breadth of the Black Sea...the first mishap which occurred in the anchorage of the Katscha [Kacha] (where the Commander-in-Chief was stationed, and the larger number of the Allied vessels) was to Her Majesty's Ship Samson...[there were 14 wrecks on the beach] We could see the Cossacks come down and take...prisoners, as well as pick up anything of value on the beach and load their horses...hordes of Cossacks and cavalry hovered round the wrecks, and, as each of the smaller vessels was thrown up, were seen occupied in examining what the chances of the sea and war have sent them. The French sailors could be seen [being] led off towards Sebastopol with horsemen before and behind them'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.