Abstract
The Russo-Finnish victory at Gamla Carleby undeniably resulted from Captain Glasse’s tactical error, which was acknowledged by Plumridge, Napier, and even Parseval-Deschênes. Yet the French vice admiral raised several analytical points in his initial meeting with Napier on June 18, 1854. Parseval-Deschênes wondered why the British were occupying themselves with “petites affaires rather than using their forces to strike grands coups,” or great blows, against targets such as Cronstadt.1 The French commander attributed Napier’s persistence in his opinion to the “well-known” English tradition of destroying commerce and mentioned that it would be advantageous to spare the Finnish people’s interests so that they would make common cause with the Allied fleets.2 Napier was also dissatisfied with Plumridge’s actions because they distracted from “the principal part” of the Plumridge’s mission, which involved providing “concrete information on the navigation and defences of Åland and Åbo.”3 This particular mandate, in fact, allowed Parseval-Deschênes to realize that Napier had more important concerns than coastal raids on small towns.
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Notes
Andrew Lambert, “Looking for Gunboats: British Naval Operations in the Gulf of Bothnia, 1854–1855.” Journal for Maritime Research, (June 2004), 6.
See, for example, “Great Britain. House of Commons Debate,” June 29, 1854. Hansard’s vol. 134, CC. 909–921; Basil Greenhill and Ann Giffard, The British Assault on Finland 1854–1855: A Forgotten Naval War (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1988), 171, and 190–192.
David Bonner-Smith and Capt. A. C. Dewar, eds., Correspondence between the Admiralty and Vice -Admiral Sir C. Napier Respecting Naval Operations in the Baltic. 1854, vol. 83 (Colchester, UK: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne, 1943), 85.
BB4 149 [June 27, 1854] (SHD) and Bartholomew James Sulivan and Henry Norton Sulivan, eds., Life and Letters of the late Admiral Bartholomew James Sulivan, K.C.B., 1810–1890 (London, UK: John Murray, 1896), 190.
Henry Woodfall Crowe and Bernard Crowe, eds., The Crimean War Journals of Henry Woodfall Crowe (Victoria, Australia: Softsand, 2012) [July 1, 1854].
Andrew Lambert, “Great Britain, the Baltic, and The Russian War: 1854–1856,” Doctoral dissertation, King’s College, London 1983, 92.
Sir Arthur Otway, ed., Autobiography and Journals of Admiral Lord Clarence E. Paget, GCB (London, UK: Chapman and Hall, 1896), 92.
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David Murphy, Ireland and the Crimean War (Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts Press, 2002), 134.
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See, for example, Palojarvi, Eila [Finnish language], “The Effect of the Crimean War on the Foreign Trade of Oulu.” Master’s thesis, University of Oulu, 1985.
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© 2015 Andrew C. Rath
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Rath, A.C. (2015). Bomarsund, Sweden, and Sweaborg. In: The Crimean War in Imperial Context, 1854–1856. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137544537_4
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