Show I 1 I 1 VM THE BALTIC SEA the baltic promises to soon thie the theatre buhe mot destructive naval warfare yet recorded iti n iid aid of gigantic murder means yet untried will ivill be brought to bear rapid and terrible in their exe execution cuilon and aid destined to mark ar an era em in naval contests k on the baltic especially they thet will be a novelty excepting the fights I 1 of a secondary order in in the th limes of charles XII and peter and at the beginning begin nid of the present century during the reign 0 of f al alexander 1 x the waves of that sea have not been I or centuries ruffled with battle of or dyed with human blood shed in war this mediterranean of the north was partially chown to the ancients of remote times tides and to the Phenic ians who carried thence cois costly aly amber r to the south it was wag called mare spy scy thi curn or the sea on the of ptolemy of alexandria it is laid down as the Sar matie ocean the southern part abbing afong al the shores of prussia and bei tailed ah the bendian sea or bay from vendi a slavic tribe I 1 the word baitie baltic boies bogies fron froin balt bait or baltus one of the chiefs ot of the goths goehs founder of the abuse of the balti balt abo r ruled over the in the south of danl and aid in spain the baltic altic likewise caned called by the Scandinavia scandinavians nia and i nd Geri germans nans the eastern sea begins by lh the danish islands Is lanile of seeland and eunen and is surrounded by denmark S sweden finland russia bia fiand and germany it reaches beyond 55 de deg g northern lati latitude tude its length is iii ra baillis ilLis breadth miles depth as far as the parallel rf of memel not more than fifty fathi fathoms ims deepening va in its more northern parts to or fathoms and d having an ire area ot of geographical miles it opens from the german sea between 58 deg and 9 deg north latitude f between the north coast oi of jutland and the south coast of corway by a gulf pointing N NE E called the sleeve or rack which extends rather more than miles from the nae 0 of norway jq to thie the coast of sweden and is in average width about 70 miles it next passes several degrees south jin what is called the mattegat Catte gat to the 8 E of which is the sound S of elsinore a narrow strait about three miles in breadth between the coast of sweden and the bland of zealand this Is ii the general passage for ships going from the north sew sea into the 11 baltic altic and a tolli toll i is 1 paid here by way of courtesy to the crown I 1 of Den delmira mira which in in return erects lighthouse light fight house I 1 and keeps them chemin th emin in broor proper repair this toll has been aan the subject of dip diplomatic lowal remonstrance tranee I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 after passing zealand the sea spreads widely I 1 to the northeast north east and at last bra branches out iota into the two extensive gulfs of both bochnia nia and finland the latter extending two handrea han dreJ mile almost due dae east till within a short distance anee of lake ladoga cadoga with a mean breadth of seventy miles i the waves of the baltic do not swell so high as in the ocean tut but they are much more dangerous and harassing to shipping as they pue cue I 1 aeed each ocher with greater rapidity and impe 1 tuo sity while it small depth amounting to an average of fifteen to twenty fathoms but in many places haral so much the shallow hiis ness of of the russian shore the rugged batule of the swedish coast and the sudden an and d frequent changes of the wind render this dormi 1 dable to navigators I 1 I 1 the southern basin is surrounded by sandy bandyl 1 prams plains and slightly rising hills of chalk the hiie eastern easter coast of sweden and the southern of fi finland nia are belted belied with granite rocks and avadna ma I 1 berous reefs the bottom of the gulf of finland is of calcareous rock ebent the baltic has all characteristics ofa great lake no sea has rp ip pro proportion porting Wits to its size so ro great geatan an influx of fresh water hence it contains but little salt in pro portion to the no north rth sed sea this ls i is found to be ask a to the great amount of mud and sand sand carried down by the rivers has considerably raised the bottom of this i sa and closed the be mouths of nany of its navigable streams so 00 that tb atthe the ships which formerly entered those rivers must now be anchored ancho r ea st t a a considerate distance irona them this gradual I 1 movement of the sea is rated at seve several ra if feekin I ee t kp a cent century llly and with sandbanks sand banks renders rende rs the f rather dangerous some goo lists how vir ever pretend tend thattie that the waters are ree receding ediht slowly and principally at the northern w ide where on the rock sweden and finland have been discovered in the last century inscriptions in the runic character chay acter previously coer exl with water 1 1 I 1 the baltic is fir far more cold than the north sex sea and the ocean at the same latil latitude ade it has no io t ides or rather the effect D of f the tides is so little as not to be observable but it is subject to changes of level depending on the winds retarding or accelerating the passage of path ohp waters through the sound and the belts befi these winds rise sud suddenly dehly find and with the utmost violence D during in i the winter this sea aea is usually frozen t to cag a greater ree or less distance alofia the coast and I 1 in in severe winters not no only tonly the Soun dand the belts but buta great part rt of f its surface is is covered with kh ice the gulf of F inland finland thaws generally in april I 1 the Baltic receives its waters from the lakes of sweden finmann Fin lann lama duna oder vistula riga raga cessante Pes sante inte Nie Niem vian anand and numerous other streams not less leas thau than io two hundred ind and fiat fifty y in in number nu tober I 1 in the spring ap on the melting of the ice and snow the aurnt is is very strong the ate ale in the aalf os of bochnia Both nia the river about 20 miles long the mu muonio miles the cisna 35 miles deli dal miles leini uiles miles ind and ten or twelve smaller ones oneff amounting ti together ether to I 1 the he length of the neva is lese than I 1 00 miles about the middle of its course is is 1 situated st petersburg and thirty miles mile A down at its mouth the etty and the military and com commercial harbor barbor of af bonstadt Cro Mon stadt between cronstedt Cron stadt land nd st petersburg the channel has in some parts no more than two water the is a short stream at whose mouth is situated the commercial city of narva of some historical celebrity the defeat of peter peer by chara charles XII from WB russia comes the dwi dwina na or duna whose mouth month is ia at t rigs riga forming a small bay called the L Lr vonian its ita length is miles the a river froni from lithuania is miles long its mouth at memel in prussia the V in poland issues from the carpathian mountain south of cranow cracow and is miles and emptier at dantzic the oder comps comes froin froan silesia miles and d empties near i stettin in numerous s islands ar are scattered in the baltic and lia ad guns tha the T he principal one at the entrance of the gulf of bochnia Both nia is the island of ahland belonging to russia guthland Goth land mid and ahland in ia the sea itself belong to sweden among th the chief harbors which maybe occupied during the coming contest is kiel in hols hole tein belonging to denmark it is safe ind and commodious and will probably be chosen aai as a rallying point forthe for the british fleet next come stettin dantzic koenigsberg memel and others of smaller note I 1 1 the principal rin theatre of th the e wb will wib I 1 be the gulf of of finland and the entrance of te ye gulf of bochnia Both nia where the island of aaland is situated this thia is strongly forti fortified ged lies opposite to the city of AW abo in ia Fh ahland finland land and menaces menace S even stockholm england wih try to seize it next comes Swea burg guarding arding cru the harbor and city of Hensing fore in finland it is called the baltic gibraltar and Is one ot 0 the regular stations of a russian squadron then cron stadt with its fortress I 1 both defending defendi st petersburg and abd the principal object of sir charles expedition 14 i cronstedt Cron stadt is 50 56 deg N latitude and 29 deg 49 min nun JS longitude and it is built at the southeast south east extremity of coltin 16 miles from of the nya neva and 31 miles from st Pete petersburg isburg t it is on an island seven miles long by y one mile broads broad on the island too opposite the citadel is the saable or fortress of built by peter the harbor has one channel fortified with a double I 1 tine line of guns between this and cronstedt Cron stadt 1 is Is 2000 paces in width and ample depth for the lar largest greit of vessels going to toPete petersburg isburg are sear searched here and such as are too large for the upper waters of the neva are unloaded and their cargoes are placed in smaller crafil craft a raft in fact by which they are floated up the neva over ever the bir bar which has seven feet of water I 1 has the form of an irregular triangle it is strongly fortified it has three bar harbors lying edthe to the south of the town the outer oi or military harbor is entirely fortified by amole a rectangle 7 stretching out into the sea and capable of holding besides small smaller or vessels thirty five line it is so shallow at low water that many of the ships are obliged to anchor in th the 0 middle harbor harac which is properly intended tor for the fitting out and repairing of vessels it has a powder magazine a manufactory manu I 1 facto of pitch tar and so forth the third west or innermost harbor w which aich has space for siy sig hundred merchant vessels and runs parallel lel with the middle harbor admits only merchantman merchantmen merchant men for which there is besides an excellent roade roadstead tead immediately outside the port defended also by the citadel constructed on a ro rock ek in the middle of the sea of cronstedt Cron stadt there is is alarae canal running into the town where vies vessels sels ue ae repaired cronstedt Cron stadt is regAl regularly arly built and contains many fine straight welt well paved streets and several public squares I 1 the houses housed excepting government buildings are one story and of of wood the city has haft three gates it contains vartohe public institutions including a naval hospital accommodating 2500 patients the permanent population tion is is not considerable during the summer it amounts goberni go government verni ment function functionaries aries and strangers and sailors to A after fotr the russians the english ari are the most numerous it is very lively in the worm warm seasons but the ahe reve reverse iiii in cold peter the great founded it in 1710 such is the place the english fleet must operate against either by cutting off 0 its trade or me aftring balls balli a shells bells bombs and infernal ingenuity jene generally raily with inthe if the war continue in kanbe good od earnt earnest it may take precedence of the danube even for the burang horrors of which it is the thi theatre atie when mr asks what will russia do with her raw finateri ina materials teri als mr toots at once to re cook if the does not cook gheta tn england gland seems iii va a f fair air way of doing it for he cpr 1 I judging ing from th the cirei fire ary death and h hell ell I 1 pa stop nollies it es d describe ac ti its as the expedition of sir charles Na KY Trib tto I 1 I 1 |