Letter, secretarial, Signed "A. Komiloff", presumably of the Russian Navy and perhaps relative of Admiral Komilov of Crimea fame, to Admiral R. Vesey Hamilton of the Royal Navy, about British fleet visiting Vladivostok.

One page, 4to,fold marks, good condition. In English as follows: "The harbour of Vladivostock is not bvery large indeed, but still there is sufficient room for the wellcom [sic] guests, who are now present, and as you wish that I let you know where some of [H J Bitt?] ships, belonging to your squadron, are to be anchored, changing the place tomorrow, I beg to inform you that it is the best for them to remain in the same place, where they are now. The shallow water end of the harbour, where the gun-boats are at anchor, is sacrifised [sic] for torpedo practice and usually we avoid to place our ships there, but the season of that kind of practice is now over and therefore there is no objection for the gun-boats to remain also unmoved. | Regarding the defects of 'Champion' the engineer of the port is instructed to do what is required and he will be tomorrow on board the mentioned ship. | We have no Government stores of coal, and all the requirements about the coal are to to be made to the representative of the Sahalien coal camp Mr. Makovsky. The coal is always on hand in a large quantity." The visit by a British fleet was apparently a surprise. See DNB: "After promotion to vice-admiral in 1884, he returned the following year to the China station as commander-in-chief. In 1886 he took his fleet into Vladivostok harbour, through a thick fog. His unexpected appearance inside a major Russian naval base had a powerful effect on the Russians." Hamilton had become Commander-in-Chief, China Station in September 1885.