The weather during this period was unusually cold for the Crimea, apart from a few hours of blazing sunshine in the middle of the day, and the very heavy dew ensured that the start of the day would be damp and uncomfortable. The sailors managed to shrug this off without suffering to their health, thanks probably to their daily dose of quinine and their habit of tearing down whole vines just outside their temporary camp near Kadikoi to feed abundantly off the grapes.This in spite of doctors' orders, as wild fruit was considered a cholera risk.
There were the occasional perks for the night shift. During one of the inevitable jumpy alarms professing enemy attack in the dark, the bluejackets had gambled on it being false and had stood their ground, reaping the harvest of abandoned army canteens. The soldiers who returned sheepishly to reclaim their rum rations realised from the vista of prostrate snoring sailors that greeted them, that their precious spirit was beyond retrieval!!
The battery on the extreme right of the allied position was positioned just to the left of the Carenage Ravine, sited to target the Malakoff, at a distance of 1600 yards from the Mamelon. Known as the Five Gun Battery ('Five-Eyed Battery' to the Russians), it consisted of one 10 inch Lancaster and four 68 pounder guns. The remaining initial seven naval guns, 32 pounders, were positioned at Battery 4 in the Right Attack, in the Frenchman's Hill area to the east of the Worontzov Road, some 1400 yards from the tip of the Redan. This formed part of a four-battery extended gun position, known as the Twenty One Gun Battery.
Once the guns were up on the ridge, the Brigade sited what they intended to be their permanent camp on the eastern side of the Worontzov Road. A landmark by the road on the crest of the upland, looking down onto the town, was a small plastered building, a one-time posting house. The Light Division had a picquet positioned there, and for the remainder of the campaign it was known as the Picquet House. Though a semi-ruin, it was much frequented by all ranks, as it commanded an unrivalled panoramic view of the town. The Naval Brigade settled slightly less than half a mile behind it, on the reverse slope close to the Light Division. Their camp attracted envious attention - they all had tents, the Army did not.
