Black Sea Coast Guard
The Azov Host was instantly involved in the Caucasus War, and General Yermolov's aide A.Velyaminov suggested to press the Circassians from the south-western slope of the Caucasus ridge, which runs along the Black Sea from the Strait of Kerch (the mouth of the Azov) all the way to Abkhazia. A defence line was proposed from Anapa all the way to Sukhum. The first marine landings by the Russian Black Sea Fleet took place in 1830 near Gagra, prior to the formation of the Azov Host. After Gladky arrived in 1832, he immediately formed 10 commands numbering 20 Cossacks (later the number of commands were increased to 26) and their specially made barka boats (based in Sukhum and Konstantinovka) were regularly carrying out pre-landing reconnaissance and offered fire support to the Russian marines and sailors who were faced with conquering the very difficult landings.
The Azov Cossacks also helped to intercept numerous English, French and Turkish contraband supplies, and in 1835 off the coast of Novorossiysk they destroyed two Schooners and later captured the English cargo ship Vixen which carried a whole arsenal of illegal rifles. However despite the success in 1839 Imam Shamil sent his naib Magomet-Amin who instead of rallying the Circassians on the northern Kuban approach, unleashed them onto the Black Sea line in 1840. Outnumbered and after several Russian forts and garrisons were overrun, it was decided to abandon the Black Sea Coast and the Azov Cossacks proved their importance in evacuating the surviving Russian units.
Despite the unsuccessful operation in building the line, the Russian evacuation did not affect the Azov Cossacks' role in patrolling the Black Sea Coast. In 1845 the 26 commands were re-organized into two groups. The first one numbering 147 Cossacks and 7 Starshinas patrolling the coast from Anapa where they were based to Navaginsk fort (modern Sochi), and the southern group numbering 164 Cossacks with 20 officers from Svyatogo Dukha to Svyatogo Nikolaya (Sukhum). During the following years, as quoted by General M.Rayevsky The Azov Cossacks recommended themselves as a potent force and stroke fear to the captains of contraband ships and Circassian galleys. The success of the Azov Cossacks, led to a plan being drawn in 1843 to once again re-settle them to the whole Black Sea Coast from Mingrelia to the mouth of the Kuban river. This however was never realised.
Read more about this topic: Azov Cossack Host
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