EGYPTIAN NAVAL SHIPWRECKS IN NOVEMBER, 1854

From Russkii Invalid, No. 256, 16 November, 1854:

The fate of one of the transport ships sent from Egypt with troops has caused the greatest unease: the military steamer Said was towing this ship when a strong storm forced it to abandon it 140 miles from Alexandria. There were only enough food supplies on this ship for two days, and it is likely that it has perished.

From Russkii Invalid, No. 261, 22 November, 1854:

According to news from Constantinople, from 9 November (28 October), announced in the newspaper Ostdeutsche Post, an Egyptian three-deck ship of the line and a frigate which had been wrecked on the night of 29 (17) October (in these notices, the ship is named as the Bakhiri and the frigate Muftakhi-Dzhekhad), have been completely sunk. From the crew of the Bakhiri, which consisted of 800 men, not less than 650 perished in this disaster, including Admiral Khassan-Pasha himself. From the frigate's crew 270 men drowned. This event shook all of Constantinople, where people are beginning to have great fears for the expeditionary fleets.

From Russkii Invalid, No. 263, 24 November, 1854 (Using the Zeit and L'Independence Belge):

The Triest Gazette reports: "The two lost Egyptian naval ships which on 30 (18) October were wrecked on the coast of Rumelia, were: the three-deck ship of the line Muftakhi-Dzhegat and the frigate Bakhiri (in earlier reports the names were switched). The death of Admiral Hassan-Pasha, who is confirmed as among those who perished, caused great sorrow. Of the Egyptian crew, 800 men perished in the waves; of the 140 men who succeeded in reaching the shore by swimming, 50 were were put to death by the Greeks living there, while the rest have arrived in Constantinople in very bad shape. Because all Allied steamships were otherwise engaged, the Austrian naval steamer Custozza was sent to the Black Sea to rescue the survivors of this shipwreck. But the Black Sea was so rough from two weeks of storms that the steamship Custozza had to spend several days off the mouth of the Bosphorus before it dared to approach the dangerous coast."
According to news from Alexandria, the Egyptian viceroy went into the desert with 12,000 soldiers to conduct military exercises and become accustomed to marching.

******************

Translated by Mark Conrad, 1997.