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26 Nov 55 Peter on board 'Alipore' Mother ______________________________________________________________________________________________

H.M. Transport ‘Alipore’

Balaklava 26 Nov'r 1855

My dear Mother

Since my last letter the weather has been so wretched that I have literally been able to do nothing at all. It is pouring with rain and the ground is one mass of mud, so that I am unable to get ashore without a pair of jack boots which I asked you to send out to me & which are worn here by every one equally on shore & at sea.

You do not say in your letters what you have sent out or I should know what to get here – for as a last resource I could buy at a large premium the warm clothing served out to the troops after having slightly ‘elevated’ them.

John had drawn a seal skin coat by mistake which he is going to let me have. They are famous coats for out of doors but I want something to wear all day – at meals included.

I cannot thank you too much for what you are sending me out tho’ I am afraid I shall just miss it. Thank my Father for me & tell him my next letter shall be to him but I have a strong objection to writing the same thing over & over again.

I have been thinking of sending home the smaller part of my Russian Relics if I can find a steamer to take them, but I hardly like to trust them out of my sight.

You have no idea how Balaclava is improved since I was last here. The wharves are fast building & built and large stores face the Harbour. All business is admirably conducted & everything admirably managed. Ships now discharge as quickly as ever they can. No ships remain outside except of course when the harbour is full.

We are alongside the wharf shooting the Bags over the side and the Turks carry them off and stack them or put them on their mules & carry them off as fast as we & all the other vessels can discharge.

Balaclava is quite a contrast to Kamiesh. There was a report the other day down here that the Russians had abandoned the North Side & our fleet was in the Harbour – but it was only a report. Nevertheless there is I believe some truth at the bottom of it for I do not think the Russians will hold out there much longer as no one seems to see the advantage of their position.

We can do nothing, it is true, but they cannot either, & we might remain there for centuries in the same happy state.

The men have all got their winter clothing served out consisting of a lofty fur cap (waterproof), a fur coat like the officers had last winter (I should say summer), a pair of enormous yellow jack boots with red scarves, gloves &c. and they present a most cavalier-like appearance, something in the Cromwell style.

I have not been able to go up & see John on account of the state the roads are in – i.e. not having a good stout pair of boots. We have made a splendid road up to camp which will be quite an acquisition to the Russians when we leave the country to them, for I suppose by our destroying everything we intend doing that.

The popular opinion here is that next spring our army will be divided into two ‘Corps d’Armée’ – one for Nichelaief* & the other for Asia. The former is to be a second Sebastopol so that altho’ we are in no mistake playing great havoc with Russia, it is very slow work indeed.

The mail is now due two or three days; in fact I think a second mail is due but we have as yet received no letters. I received two & a paper the other day. I often ask you to send me the Illustrated but I never get or see any. You have no idea what a Godsend they are, besides which they contain a week’s, and the Times only a day’s news and there is something so slow in knowing nothing of what is going on.

Julius is I suppose quite a hero. It was not my fault but they would not wound me altho’ very nearly did it once or twice. I conclude he is getting on all right.

How was it you never told John where I was? It was not in my power to let him know & he was in utter ignorance up to the day of my arrival at Balaclava. I have not seen him since my last letter. In fact the weather has been sufficient to account for that.

Remember me to all with many thanks for sending out all sorts of good things which I seem doomed never to get.

Believe me ever

Your affect Son

Peter Laurie

* Nichelaief – Now Nickolaev on the River Bug, near Odessa