Of course, Dundas being drowned was merely the British version. The Russian version was that, out of respect for the defeated, they had preserved his body in a wine barrel.
As for why his eyes were wide open, perhaps everyone looked like that after death.
But compared with Dundas's death, what shocked the British more was the Mediterranean Fleet's defeat.
According to the British Royal Navy's earlier estimates, the hardest step would be entering the Black Sea Straits, followed by driving the Russian Black Sea Fleet into a corner.
Yet the Russians had accomplished both of those steps for the British, so the British Royal Navy had remained optimistic.
But it was precisely this optimism that led Britain's upper ranks to subconsciously regard the matter as unimportant. They did not take it seriously enough, and even demanded that losses be kept to a minimum.
The result of using a politician's mindset to command the military was that the navy had no choice but to hold back at every turn in order to meet the targets set by politicians.
In truth, Dundas had possessed the ability from the very beginning to wipe out the Russian Black Sea Fleet within Sevastopol's bay.
But constrained by orders from above, he could not lead the Mediterranean Fleet in a proactive attack. As a result, after a long wait, he met with this crushing defeat.
Although Britain's Mediterranean Fleet had lost, it had not been completely wiped out. On the contrary, thanks to the earlier policy of splitting its forces, coupled with a timely retreat, it had preserved more than half of its effective strength.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet was in far worse shape. After the British withdrew, even counting the Karl Augustus and the two modified vessels that arrived afterward, Nakhimov had fewer