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.