861.00/6359: Telegram
The High Commissioner at Constantinople ( Bristol ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 14, 1920—7:25 p.m.]
127. From Admiral McCully [,Sevastopol]:
“15. February 12, 11 p.m. Arrived Sevastopol. In port British battleship Marlborough, French Detach, Greek destroyer, and United States [garbled group]. Harbor cluttered with shipping most of it useless, town crowded with refugees. General demoralization of morale and administration. Streets full of soldiers and ablebodied men whom no authority seems to direct. General atmosphere extremely gloomy, although news from Crimea front is good. Volunteer army still holds Crimea Isthmuses, and Reds have not been able to advance lately although lagoons on either side of Isthmuses are solidly frozen over. General Schilling is commander-in-chief pursuit forces in this area, and left today for the front. Persona] impressions of him are favorable in spite of his failure at Odessa; [Page 584] and there are 1,000 people registered as wishing to leave Sevastopol, and 11,000 more on ships from Odessa with inadequate food, protection and medical attendance. British are not evacuating anyone from Sevastopol at this time as they have no port to which they may be sent. It is necessary to begin and carry out an evacuation of at least a portion of these people, in order to avoid the repetitions of such incidents at Odessa, as that of playing machine guns on thick mass of frantic refugees to prevent them boarding already over loaded vessels. McCully.”