HISTORIC CRIMEA.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 8 (Supplement)

HISTORIC CRIMEA.

TAPPED BY ROAD.

Tho rocky mid inhospitable Crimean const of tho Black Sea, with, its long and turbulent history, has bTen opened to tourists through the efforts of the Soviet Government. The region is now tapped by a good motor road, making accessible the battlefield of Balaclava, immortalised by Tennyson in his "Charge of the Light Brigade." Tho battlefield contains the present village of that name, with its population of 3000, mostly fishermen. It is about ten miles from Sebastopol. The famous cavalry charge wae a spectacular incident in tho Crimean War, but back of that struggle between the British and Russian forces lies a long record of other struggles. The town itself is believed to have been founded by Scythians in tho second century 8.C., when it wae called Balakion and was a pirate rendezvous. In the Bay of Balaclava, moreover, lies tho wreck of tho British warship Black Prince, which sank in a storm with £200,000 in gold aboard shortly before the famous Crimean War battle. The wreck was located in 1025.