Skirmish at the Genitchi Strait


The Skirmish at the Genitchi Strait was a minor action in the Crimean War, which occurred on 3 July 1855. It is notable in that it was the occasion on which a Victoria Cross was awarded, to seaman Joseph Trewavas.

The action

The Russians had built a large floating pontoon bridge across the Genitchi Strait, Sea of Azov, to connect the town of Genitchi to the Arabat Spit, and it served as the main supply route to reinforce their troops at Sevastopol. The destruction of the bridge would force the Russians to travel an extra to deliver supplies, and it therefore became a strategic objective for British forces. Two attacks to cut the floating bridge's hawsers had proved unsuccessful and alerted the Russian garrison. The British made a third attempt on 3 July 1855 using HMS Beagle's four-oared gig, commanded by Gunner John Hayles, and a small paddle-box steamer with one gun, under Midshipman Martin Tracy. The paddle-box steamer moored where the crew could see Russian soldiers marching about on shore and fired the first round in the breech, which drew the gun's securing bolts and made it useless. That left six men in a four-oared boat, one rifle, ten rounds of ammunition, and a cutlass apiece to face two hundred enemy on shore behind heaps of coal.
In Trewavas's own words: