160 years ago, Russia waged a difficult war with a coalition from Great Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia (Italy) and Turkey, which tried to seize the southern part of Ukraine, including the Northern Black Sea region and Crimea.
Among the episodes of the Crimean War, in contrast to the well-known defense of Sevastopol, the defense of Odessa in the spring of 1854 is much less memorable.
On April 20, a strong Anglo-French squadron tried to capture this important port and a major economic center. But unexpectedly for itself, the enemy armada was repulsed, although a single Russian battery of four guns operated against nine enemy frigates. One of the enemy ships was damaged and caught fire. Then the allies, having withdrawn to the sea, with massive artillery fire from a safe distance destroyed half of the city, destroying the ships of neutral countries in the port and turning the houses of civilians into ruins. Among the many residents of Odessa, the "Frenchman" was also hit by a shell - the ball landed on the pedestal of the monument to the founder of Odessa, Duke de Richelieu.
On April 30, the enemy's fleet, deciding to repeat the blow, sent three steam British frigates to Odessa for reconnaissance. One of them, "Tiger" ("Tiger"), came too close to the shore and ran aground in the fog. The arriving field battery and cavalry patrols managed to accomplish the unheard of - almost hand-to-hand to capture the newest British warship. Among the participants in this unusual operation was my fellow countryman, the squadron commander of the Belgorod Uhlan regiment, Mikhail Oshanin, a descendant of an old Suzdal family.
Cavalier in Odessa
The Oshanins are one of the oldest surnames of the Suzdal-Rostov Territory, counting their ancestors since the 14th century. According to legend, the founder of the clan was a certain "honest husband" Sten, who left Venice for Russia during the reign of Dmitry Donskoy. Traditionally, the Oshanins asceticised in the military field. The grandfather of the future hero of the capture of the English frigate, Alexander Ivanovich Oshanin, served in the Suzdal Infantry Regiment, in which he participated in many battles of the Seven Years' War of 1750-1764. with Prussia, was wounded and retired after the conclusion of peace with the rank of second-major. The officer was also the father of the brave lancer Dmitry Alexandrovich, who became famous for his charity work and even built a church at his own expense.
Hereditary officer Mikhail Dmitrievich Oshanin was born in 1808, and the question of which career to choose was not for him. After graduating from the Moscow Cadet Corps, he graduated from the course in a special educational unit and in 1827 was assigned to the Ukrainian Uhlan regiment with the production of cornets. By the beginning of the Crimean War, Mikhail Oshanin, who was part of the Belgorod Uhlan regiment, had served in the cavalry for more than a quarter of a century. Behind him was a difficult war with rebellious Poland and participation in the bloody assault on Warsaw, on his chest - three military orders. In 1853, Captain Oshanin was granted the rank of lieutenant colonel for his distinction. In the spring of 1854, Belgorod lancers were stationed on the outskirts of Odessa, where they were transferred in order to repel a possible enemy landing.
And on April 20, when nine British and French steam frigates fired at Odessa, 19 boats with a landing party were sent from other ships of the allied squadron, which kept aloof. However, an attempt by the British and French to land ashore several miles from the city was repulsed. The paratroopers were fired upon by Russian artillery, then the cavalrymen arrived.
as a result, the boats, without having landed a single person, hastened back under the protection of the warships. On April 20, the Belgorod lancers showed courage and perseverance, holding demonstrations to intimidate the landing under the fire of enemy ships. The record of Colonel Mikhail Oshanin, now kept in the State Archives of the Vladimir Region, says that on April 20, 1854, this officer took part in the defense of Odessa “during the appearance on the Odessa roadstead of an Anglo-French squadron of 19 battleships and 9 steam frigates and the announcement of the city in blockade"
Unusual fight
On the morning of April 30, in thick fog, 6 versts from Odessa, under the steep bank of the Maly Fontan, the British 16-gun steam frigate Tiger, which was sailing along with two other steam frigates Vesuvius and Niger, ran aground on reconnaissance. The team's attempts to withdraw from her were unsuccessful. At first, due to the fog, the steamer was not visible from the shore, but then a gardener who happened to pass nearby heard English speech and noise, which he reported to the horse picket. When the fog cleared a little, it turned out that the frigate, which had run aground, was only 300 meters from the coast.
Immediately, several artillery batteries and cavalry were brought up to that place, including the battalion of the Belgorod Uhlan regiment, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Oshanin. After firing on the steamer with field guns, its commander, Giffard, was seriously wounded, and several sailors were also injured. The dismounted cavalry, having plunged onto boats, decided to board the frigate, as was the case in the time of Peter the Great. But it did not come to an assault, as the British lowered the flag and surrendered.
24 officers and 201 sailors were taken prisoner, whom the cavalrymen transported to the shore. When the column of prisoners was going to Odessa, on the way to the city, the British saw high pillars with crossbeams from a swing, which, according to the custom of that time, were used at the fair festivities that had just ended. Frightened by their own command, which instilled fears in their subordinates about the atrocities of the Russians against the prisoners, the sailors from the Tiger took the swing for a gallows and decided that they were being taken to the place of execution. Some Britons even burst into tears. But the prisoners were treated well, and after the end of the war, all of them, except for the brave captain, who died and was buried in Odessa, were sent home to England.
English cannon
They managed to take some of the trophies off the Tiger, when Vesuvius and Niger, seeing that their brother was captured by the Russians, tried to pull it off the shore. They did not succeed, since the Russian artillery opened fire again. After a long shelling, the "Tiger", on which by that time not a single person remained, exploded.
However, most of its hull remained intact. Later, with the help of divers, the newest English steam engine was removed from it. Steam frigate "Tiger" with a displacement of 1200 tons was built just 4 years before the start of the war as a yacht of the British Queen Victoria, and then included in the navy. In order to humiliate the "mistress of the seas", Emperor Alexander II ordered to build an imperial yacht of the Black Sea Fleet, call it "Tiger" and install a car from the sunken "Briton" on the ship, which was done. The flag of the British frigate was transferred to the Naval Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg for storage.
Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Oshanin was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus II degree and St. Anna IV degree "For Courage". In total, Mikhail Dmitrievich had six military orders, including the officer's cross of St. George IV degree. In 1858 he retired with the rank of colonel "with a uniform and a full-salary pension." The colonel spent the rest of his life in his native Vladimir province. He died in August 1877 at the age of 69. The capture of the Tiger turned out to be, perhaps, the most striking episode in the 30-year career of this honored officer.
It is curious that the English guns removed from the Tiger were kept in Odessa for a long time, and in 1904, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the unusual battle, one of these guns was installed on Odessa Primorsky Boulevard. There he can still be seen by everyone, including the heirs of Western "gunboat diplomacy," who are still sending missile frigates and destroyers to the Black Sea to put pressure on Russia. Perhaps now is the time to remind them of the deplorable fate of the British "Tiger" …
