and back on board the screw steam transport 'Lord Raglan' no. 245.
6th October 1855 - 23rd January 1856.
The Crimean War. A lively manuscript travel diary touching upon the Crimean War by John Ingledew, a 23-year-old Captain's Clerk aboard the supply ship Lord Raglan bound for the peninsular towards the end of the war.
The steamer set off from London on 7th October 1855, stopping at Gibraltar, Valetta, and Constantinople along the way. The young clerk was unimpressed with the latter, describing a 'sink of iniquity & filth' which although deceptively 'beautiful' from the water was full of obstinate officials and 'narrow, dirty, ill-paved, crowded, ruinous streets'.
The ship sighted Balaclava on 1st November 1855, making landfall in a crowded harbour where the faint 'firing of canon' could still be heard from Sevastopol. Venturing uphill to get a clearer view of the recently besieged city, Ingledew came across the 'deserted Russian defences' still filled with the 'cannons – cannon carriages – Russian Caps – Cartridge pouches' of the enemy; the same canon which would be melted down to form the Victoria Crosses still awarded for gallantry today.
His journey eventually leads him to a camp of English soldiers who 'the moment they saw made room for us before the fire & instantly got out some head – coffee tea & fried a few onions for us, considering that we had eat nothing since 8 o'clock in the morning we made an excellent meal & enjoyed it amazingly – among these hospitable soldiers we stayed until 9 o'clock listening to stories & tales of the war – hair breadth escapes in the deadly breach'.
Well-written in an easily legible hand and active voice that at times reads more like an adventure novel than diary.
Manuscript travel account; 4to (20 x 17 cm); ownership inscription in ink to front pastedown and free endpapers, 49 ff. of manuscript diary entries, including title-page, easily legible hand in pen; contemporary half sheep over marbled boards, sometime neatly rebacked; [98]pp.
The steamer set off from London on 7th October 1855, stopping at Gibraltar, Valetta, and Constantinople along the way. The young clerk was unimpressed with the latter, describing a 'sink of iniquity & filth' which although deceptively 'beautiful' from the water was full of obstinate officials and 'narrow, dirty, ill-paved, crowded, ruinous streets'.
The ship sighted Balaclava on 1st November 1855, making landfall in a crowded harbour where the faint 'firing of canon' could still be heard from Sevastopol. Venturing uphill to get a clearer view of the recently besieged city, Ingledew came across the 'deserted Russian defences' still filled with the 'cannons – cannon carriages – Russian Caps – Cartridge pouches' of the enemy; the same canon which would be melted down to form the Victoria Crosses still awarded for gallantry today.
His journey eventually leads him to a camp of English soldiers who 'the moment they saw made room for us before the fire & instantly got out some head – coffee tea & fried a few onions for us, considering that we had eat nothing since 8 o'clock in the morning we made an excellent meal & enjoyed it amazingly – among these hospitable soldiers we stayed until 9 o'clock listening to stories & tales of the war – hair breadth escapes in the deadly breach'.
Well-written in an easily legible hand and active voice that at times reads more like an adventure novel than diary.
Manuscript travel account; 4to (20 x 17 cm); ownership inscription in ink to front pastedown and free endpapers, 49 ff. of manuscript diary entries, including title-page, easily legible hand in pen; contemporary half sheep over marbled boards, sometime neatly rebacked; [98]pp.
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