2-914-082 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Weather in the Baltic - Bows of H.M. Corvette "Cruiser", 1854. Royal Navy warship during the Crimean War. 'On the approaching arrival of the fleet from the Baltic, it may be interesting to your readers to see an illustration of the kind of weather the twelve ships constituting the detached squadron had to contend with whilst blockading the Gulf of Finland...The whole ship's sides were one sheet of ice from bow to stern, with the exception of about six or eight feet from the water-line, where the wash of the sea prevented it from forming. From the constant sprays, the anchors and projecting parts assumed shapeless masses; solid ice encircled the ropes to three or four times in extent of their original size, so that, before performing any evolution, they were, of necessity, beaten with hammers, to break off the ice, before they could be rendered through the blocks'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.