Russians Naval Operations.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 33, 27 August 1887, Page 3

Russians Naval Operations.

A cobrespondebt signing himself "L. G." writes to the “ St. James Gazette ” as follows :— The coolness of the Russians in making plans of our new forts at Singapore and in openly surveying the ports under our protectorate in Borneo, is in keeping with the systematic reconnaissance of Australasia which they have been carrying on for mnny years. It began in 1867, when a Russian man-of-war spent several months in Hobson’s Bay, the gulf at the end of which is Melbourne. After they had surveyed and mastered the intricacies of the navigation through the Heads they ostensibly took their departure; and it was not till after some considerable time had elapsed that they were discovered at anchor in 'Western Port—a bay of which the then uninhabited shores run to within 20 miles of Melbourne, and which has always been considered from a military "point of view as the most vulnerable spot in the neighbourhood of the capital. In 1872 Russian ships made an exhaustive survey of the southern coasts of Tasmania, especially of the estuary of the Derwent, upon which stands Hobart, the chief town of the island. At that time, although already admitted to be one of the most important strategic positions in the South Pacific, Hobart was absolutely defenceless j and even now, although the Tasmanians have spent so much money in batteries and guns, it is far from being in a position to offer any effective resistance to heavily-armed cruisers. Since then a Russian warehip of some kind or other has generally been hanging about Australia. When questioned as to their intentions, the officers blandly reply that they are pursuing the science of surveying, in which they can have no better instructors than the English, whose soundings on the Admiralty charts they are humbly verifying. Not content with studying the ports of the different colonial capitals, the Russians have thoroughly visited all the smaller seaport towns where the British navy never touch, and thus possess more local knowledge than our own naval officers. “In 1882 there was a Moscovite squadron of three heavily-armed swift steamers, ex-Atlantic liners, in Australian waters. They had announced their intention of paying a visit to the capital of South Australia. Adelaide is on a gulf the entrance to which is protected by the natural breakwater of Kangaroo Island. The navigation on either side is not of the easiest; and most strangers prefer bringing their ships through the shoals of St. Vincent's Gulf slowly and by daylight. The lighthouse-keepers were on the look-out for the squadron, but the Russians, selecting a very dark night for their arrival, slipped past unperceived, and, steaming at their hardest through these unfamiliar waters had anchored before dawn of Glenelg, six miles from Adelaide, to the astonishment of the inhabitants of that fashionable watering-place.

“ The officers of the local militia duly entertained the Russian visitors, and after a sufficient expenditure of champagne, so far succeeded in unloosing the tongues of some of the younger guests that they confessed they were studying Australia from the point of view of the next war, and deciding which of the seaport towns it would be most easy either to ransom or to destroy. The British squadron, tbev boasted could not catch them. * W e know the speed of every one of your ships on the Australian station, and eould run aw ay from any of them. Our policy will be to hang about your coasts, burn your wool-ships, and capture the gold on board the P. and O. and Orient steamers.’ ”