Actions around Barosund

Notes on Action

The Swedes had collected in Barosund a small squadron of vessels from Stockholm, and between this and the Russian Porkala detachment there was a certain amount of fighting. Rayalin, the Swedish commander, tried on July 31st to attack the Russian battery on the point at Porkala, but was prevented by head winds. On August 21st the Sv. Mark 20 and Letutchii 28 attacked two Swedish storeships near Porkala, but were driven off by two gunboats and two smaller boats. On the 26th Rayalin made another unsuccessful attack on the Russian battery; three galleys and two gun-vessels passed the headland and engaged the Russian squadron of two battleships, one frigate, and two cutters, while four galleys and some gunboats attacked the battery. The Russians were too strong, and Rayalin had to retreat. Tchitchagov's withdrawal from Karlskrona left the way open for the Swedish sailing fleet to put to sea. The object of the detachment which the Russians had intercepted at the beginning of the month had been to attack the ships at Porkala, and on August 25th Fust, the Swedish captain in charge, got to sea. Another battleship had been added to his force, so that he now had the three battleships Wladislaff 76, Omhet 64, and Rattvisan 62; three 40-gun frigates, Thetis, Minerva, and Camilla; and some small craft. On September 4th he was off Hango, and the same day the Russian squadron at Porkala was joined by the Rodislav 66, bringing its strength up to three 66-gun battleships Evropa, lanuarii, and Rodislav, with the Sv. Mark 20 and Letutchii 28. On the 6th the Swedes reached Barosund, but here they sighted the masts of a large fleet towards Revel, and at once decided to return; on September 15th they were back at Karlskrona. The masts which they had seen were, in fact, those of Tchitchagov's fleet, which had just left Revel to cruise in the Gulf of Finland. This cruise lasted till October 21st, but nothing of interest took place, and Tchitchagov was never in command of his full fleet. At first he left at Revel the No. 8 74, No. 9 74, and Deris 66. On September 10th and 11th three of his ships, the Syevernyi Orel 66, Panteleimon 66, and Aleksandr Nevskii
74, arrived at Porkala, while three others, the Metcheslav 66, Svyatoslav 66. and Pamyat Evstafia 66, were detached to IsTargen. On September 10th Kruse, who had returned to the Sv. Nikolai 100, reached Revel with that ship, and the Ne iron menya 66. On September 21st he was off Nargen, and took charge of the three last-named of Tchitchagov's ships. On October 12th the Vseslav 74 and Yaroslav 74 arrived from Tchitchagov's fleet, and on the 21st the rest of that fleet entered the Revel harbour.