1842. During its four years' service on the frontier, the total of

the company, with its reinforcement, counted ninety-nine of all ranks, and its casualties only amounted to eight men invalided, three discharged, and five deserted. Not a death was reported. From time to time it was stationed at Quebec, Fort Mississaqua near the Falls of Niagara, St. Helen’s Island, St. John’s, and Fort Lennox, Isle aux Noix. These were its several head-quarters, and as the company was removed from one to the other, parties were detached for service to each of the other stations, and also to Amherstburgh. In repairing and improving the defences at Mississaqua and Isle aux Noix they were found of great advantage. At the other stations they were no less usefully occupied in barrack repairs and other contingent services. From Amherstburgh the detachment rejoined the company in 1840. Whilst the latter was at St. Helen’s and afterwards at St. John’s, the men were exercised during the summer months in pontooning with bridges of Colonel Blanshard’s construction, which had been stored at Chambly until 1840. The pontoons were found to travel well on bad roads, but the breadth of the rivers in Canada did not permit of their being often used as bridges. After the removal of the company, Colonel Oldfield, the commanding royal engineer, thus wrote of it: “The discipline of the company was not relaxed by its four summers in Canada. It had suffered the inconvenience of several times changing its captain, but it was nevertheless maintained in good order and regular conduct. Lieutenant W. C. Roberts, R.E., however, was constantly with it, to whom and colour-sergeant Lanyon[419] and the non-commissioned officers, much credit is due. The desertions only amounted to six, although the company was on the frontier in daily communication with the United States. Of these six, one returned the following morning; a second would have done so but he feared the jeers of his comrades; and the other four found when too late the falsity of the inducements which had attracted them to the States, and would gladly have come back could they have done so.” And the Colonel then concludes, “The advantages enjoyed by well-behaved men, and the _esprit de corps_ which has always existed in the sappers have been found to render desertion rare, even when exposed to greater temptation than usually falls to the lot of other soldiers.” ----- Footnote 419: Ante, pp. 307-310. At the new barracks built for the dragoons at Niagara, sergeant Lanyon successfully constructed a circular well, about thirty feet deep, after two or three contractors had attempted it and failed. He laboured himself in laying the stones up to his hips in water, and afforded ample work for a strong party above in preparing the stones for placement, and pumping up the water. The service was effected under many difficulties and hazards, and while the weather was intensely cold. As an instance of his great strength it may be remarked, that six men complained to him of the heavy task they were subjected to in removing timbers about 15 feet long and 12 inches square for constructing a stockade at Fort Mississaqua. Lanyon made no observation, but shouldered one of the unwieldy logs, and, to the amazement of the grumblers, carried it to the spot unassisted. ----- In the meantime a second company had been removed to Gibraltar in the ‘Alban’ steamer under Lieutenant Theodosius Webb, R.E., and landed on the 6th July, 1842. This augmentation to the corps at that fortress was occasioned by the difficulty felt in procuring a sufficient number of mechanics for the works; and to meet the emergency, the company in Canada was recalled, as in both provinces works of considerable magnitude had been carried on by civil workmen, who could at all times be more easily engaged in a country receiving continual influxes by immigration, than in a confined fortress like Gibraltar with a limited population. On the return of the Niger expedition in November, to which eight rank and file had been attached, the establishment of the corps was reduced from 1,298 to 1,290 of all ranks. The survey of Ireland upon the 6-inch scale was virtually completed in December of this year, terminating with Bantry and the neighbourhood of Skibbereen. The directing force in that great national work was divided into three districts in charge of three captains of royal engineers in the country; and there was also a head-quarter office for the combination and examination of the work, correspondence, engraving, printing, &c., in charge of a fourth captain. To each of these districts the survey companies were attached in relative proportion to the varied requirements and contingencies of the service, and adapted to the many modifications which particular local circumstances frequently rendered imperative. A staff of non-commissioned officers and men was also stationed at the head-quarter office, and discharged duties of trust and importance. In framing his instructions for the execution of the Irish survey, Colonel Colby had to reject his old opinions formed from circumscribed examples of small surveys, and to encounter all the prejudices which had been fixed in the minds of practical men. The experience of these parties did not extend beyond the surveys of estates of limited space, performed without hurry and with few assistants. Colonel Colby, on the other hand, was to survey rapidly a large country, with much more accuracy. The two modes were therefore so entirely different, that it took less time to train for its performance those who had no prejudice, and who had been brought up by military discipline to obey, than to endeavour to combine a heterogeneous mass of local surveyors fettered by preconceived notions and conceits, deficient in habits of accuracy and subordination, and who could not be obtained in sufficient numbers to form any material proportion of the force. Hence the survey of Ireland became essentially military in its organization and control, the officers of engineers being the directors of large parties, and the non-commissioned officers the subordinate directors of small parties. In the later years of the Irish survey, however, the superintendence by the sappers became of much consequence and its advantages very appreciable in the reduction of expense. For the year 1827, the outlay for the survey was above 37,000_l._, at which period the sum paid to the officers was more than one-third of the whole amount; but in 1841, when the expenditure was more than doubled, the amount for superintendence had been reduced to a twelfth part of the total expenditure.[420] ----- Footnote 420: ‘Second Report Army and Ordnance Expenditure,’ 1849, p. 500. To such an extent was the diminution in the number of the officers subsequently carried, that in 1849 the amount of expense incurred by the superintendence of officers was reduced to one twenty-second part of the total expenditure; therefore by the more general employment of sappers in the direction of the work, the amount of superintendence was reduced from one-third and one-fourth, to one twenty-second part. ----- The general employment of the sappers and miners in this great national work embraced the whole range of the scheme for its accomplishment, and many non-commissioned officers and men trained in this school became superior observers, surveyors, draughtsmen, levellers, contourers, and examiners. Among so many who distinguished themselves it would be almost invidious to name any; but there were a few so conspicuous for energy of character, efficiency of service, and attainments, that to omit them would be a dereliction no scruples could justify. Their names are subjoined:— Colour-sergeant John West celebrated as an engraver. In 1833, the Master-General, Sir James Kempt, pointed out his name on the engraving of the index map of Londonderry to His Majesty William IV. in terms of commendation; and the Master-General, while West was yet a second-corporal, promoted him to be supernumerary-sergeant, with the pay of the rank. Most of the index maps of the counties of Ireland were executed by him, and a writer in the United Service Journal[421] complimented him by saying that the maps already completed by him were as superior to the famous _Carte des Chasses_ as the latter was to the recondite productions of Kitchen, the geographer. His also was the master hand that executed the city sheet of Dublin, and his name is associated with many other maps of great national importance. The geological map of Ireland, 1839, engraved for the Railway Commissioners, was executed by him; and in all his works, which are many, he has displayed consummate skill, neatness, rigid accuracy, and beauty both of outline and topography. In October, 1846, he was pensioned at 1_s._ 10_d._ a-day, and received the gratuity and medal for his meritorious services. He is now employed at the ordnance survey office, Dublin, and continues to gain admiration for the excellency of his maps. ----- Footnote 421: ii., 1835, p. 154. ----- Sergeant Alexander Doull was enlisted in 1813. After serving a station in the West Indies, he was removed to Chatham. There on the plan of ‘Cobbett’s Grammar,’ he commenced publishing letters to his son on “Geometry,” but after the second number appeared, he relinquished the undertaking. In 1825 he joined the survey companies, and was the chief non-commissioned officer at the base of Magilligan. He was a superior mathematical surveyor and draughtsman, and his advice in difficult survey questions was frequently followed and never without success. Between 1828 and 1833 he had charge of a 12-inch theodolite, observing for the secondary and minor triangulation of one of the districts, and was the first non-commissioned officer of sappers, it is believed, who used the instrument bearing that designation. In July, 1834, while employed in the revision of the work in the neighbourhood of Rathmelton, he introduced a system of surveying similar to traverse-sailing in navigation, which effected a considerable saving of time in the progress of the work, and elicited the approbation of Colonel Colby. While on the duty he invented a plotting-scale,[422] and subsequently a reflecting instrument,[423] both simple and ingenious in construction. After a service of twenty-three years, he was discharged in January, 1838. When the tithe commutation survey was thrown into the hands of contractors, Doull got portions of the work to perform, and his maps were referred to in terms of high commendation by Edwin Chadwick, Esq.[424] Among several towns that he surveyed, one was Woolwich, the map of which, dedicated to Lord Bloomfield, was published by him in 1843. In the proposed North Kent Railway, Mr. Doull was assistant-engineer to Mr. Vignoles, and he planned a bridge of three arches, having a roadway at one side and a double line of rails at the other, with an ornamental screened passage between, to span the Medway where the new bridge recently constructed, connects Strood and Rochester; which plan, had the proposed railway not been superseded by a rival line, would have secured an enduring fame for the designer. This was the opinion of Mr. Vignoles and Sir Charles Pasley. Afterwards when the competing companies were preparing their respective projects, Mr. Doull represented the engineering difficulties of the opposing scheme in a pamphlet under the signature of “Calculus.” In this his military knowledge and experience were well exhibited, inasmuch as he showed how the fortifications at Chatham would be injured by the adoption of that line; and the railway consequently, on account of this and other influences, has never been prolonged so as to interfere with the defences. A few years afterwards he published a small work entitled, “Railway Hints and Railway Legislation,” which obtained for him, from the South-Eastern Railway Company—the one he so perseveringly opposed—the situation of assistant-engineer to the line. More recently he issued a pamphlet on the subject of a railway in America,[425] which for its boldness and lucidity gained for him the praise of a rising literary genius in the royal engineers.[426] His last pamphlet on the subject of opening a north-west passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a distance of 2,500 miles, is more daring, and evinces more pretension and merit than any of his previous literary efforts. Mr. Doull is also known as the inventor of several improvements of the permanent way of railways,[427] and is a member both of the Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of Arts. ----- Footnote 422: Frome’s ‘Surveying,’ 1840, p. 40. Simms' ‘Math. Inst.,’ 1st edit. Footnote 423: Frome’s ‘Surveying,’ 1840, p. 44. Footnote 424: ‘British Companion and Almanack,’ 1843, p. 38. Footnote 425: First published in a series of letters to the ‘Morning Chronicle,’ and then collected, with additional matter, in a pamphlet. Footnote 426: Synges’s ‘Great Britain—one Empire.’ Footnote 427: These he patented in November, 1851. A description of the improvements, with sixteen illustrations, is given in the ‘Civil Engineer and Architects’ Journal,' xv., pp. 164, 165. ----- Serjeant Robert Spalding was for many years employed on the survey of Ireland, from which, on account of his acquirements, he was removed to Chatham to be instructor of surveying to the young sappers. To assist him in the duty he published a small manual for the use of the students. It was not an elaborate effort, but one which detailed with freedom and simplicity the principles of the science. In 1834 he was appointed clerk of works at the Gambia, where his vigorous intellect and robust health singled him out for varied colonial employment, and his merits and exertions frequently made him the subject of official encomium. Five years he spent in that baneful and exhausting climate, and in 1840, just as he was about to sail for England, the fever seized him, and in a few days he died. In his early career as a bugler he was present in much active service, and was engaged at Vittoria, San Sebastian, Bidassoa, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. Sergeant Edward Keville was a very fair and diligent artist. He engraved the index map of the county of Louth, and assisted in the general engraving work at the ordnance survey office in Dublin. In January, 1846, he was pensioned at 1_s._ 10½_d._ a day, and obtained re-employment in the same office in which he had spent the greatest part of his military career. Second-corporal George Newman was eminent as a draughtsman, and the unerring fineness and truthfulness of his lines and points were the more remarkable, as he was an unusually large man of great bodily weight. He died at Killarney in 1841. Lance-corporal Andrew Duncan was a skilful and ingenious artificer. His simple contrivance for making the chains, known by the name of “Gunter’s chains,” is one proof of his success as an inventor. Those delicate measures, in which the greatest accuracy is required, have by Duncan’s process been made for the last twelve years by a labourer unused to any mechanical occupation, with an exactitude that admits of no question. The apparatus is in daily use in the survey department at Southampton, and the chains required for the service can be made by its application with great facility and rapidity. He was discharged at Dublin in September, 1843, and is now working as a superior artizan in the proof department of the royal arsenal. Equally distinguished were sergeants William Young, William Campbell, and Andrew Bay, and privates Charles Holland and Patrick Hogan, but as their names and qualifications will be found connected with particular duties in the following pages, further allusion to them in this place is unnecessary. Colonel Colby in his closing official report, spoke of the valuable aid which he had received from the royal sappers and miners in carrying on the survey, and as a mark of consideration for their merits, and with the view of retaining in confidential situations the non-commissioned officers who by their integrity and talents had rendered themselves so useful and essential, he recommended the permanent appointment of quartermaster-sergeant to be awarded to the survey companies; but this honour so ably urged was, from economical reasons, not conceded. Seventeen years had the sappers and miners been employed on the general survey and had travelled all over Ireland. They were alike in cities and in wastes, on mountain heights and in wild ravines, had traversed arid land and marshy soil, wading through streams and tracts of quagmire in the prosecution of their duties. To every vicissitude of weather they were exposed, and in storms at high altitudes subjected to personal disaster and peril. Frequently they were placed in positions of imminent danger in surveying bogs and moors, precipitous mountain faces, and craggy rocks and coasts. Boating excursions too were not without their difficulties and hazards in gaining islands almost unapproachable, and bluff isolated rocks and islets, often through quicksand and the low channels of broad sandy bays and inlets of the sea, where the tide from its strength and rapidity precluded escape unless by the exercise of extreme caution and vigilance, or by the aid of boats. Two melancholy instances of drowning occurred in these services: both were privates,—William Bennie and Joseph Maxwell; the former by the upsetting of a boat while he was employed in surveying the islands of Loch Strangford, and the latter at Valentia Island. This island consisted of projecting rocks very difficult of access, and when private Maxwell was engaged in the very last act of finishing the survey a surf swept him off the rock. A lad named Conway, his labourer, was borne away by the same wave. The devoted private had been immersed in a previous wave by which his note-book was lost, and while stooping with anxiety, to see if he could recover it, another furious wave dashed up the point and carried him into the sea.[428] ----- Footnote 428: In consideration of this event, the Board of Ordnance granted his widow a donation of 20_l._; and she was, moreover, assisted by a very handsome subscription from the officers and men of the district in which her husband had served. ----- Hardship and toil were the common incidents of their everyday routine, for on mountain duty theirs was a career of trial and vicissitude. Comforts they had none, and what with the want of accommodation and amusement in a wild country, on a dizzy height, theirs was not an enviable situation. Covered only by a canvas tent or marquee they were barely closed in from the biting cold and the raging storm; and repeatedly tents, stores, and all, have been swept away by the wind or consumed by fire, while the hardy tenants, left on the bleak hill top, or the open heath, have remained for days together half naked and unsheltered. Such was their discipline and such their spirit, they continued to labour protected only by their great coats—if haply they escaped destruction—till, renewed with tents or huts, they pitched again their solitary dwellings far away on the height or the moor. Even on the less exposed employments of the survey, the men were subjected to many discomforts and fatigues. The marching was harassing; miles to and from work were daily tramped, frequently in a drenching rain; and in this kind of weather soaked to the skin, they barely permitted their work to be interrupted. Night after night for two or three weeks together, have these men returned to their quarters dripping wet; and when, in frosty weather, their clothes have frozen on their backs, the removal of boots and trousers have only been accomplished by immersing the legs in warm water. The average strength of the three companies set apart for the survey, for each year from 1825 to 1842, is subjoined:— Least Greatest Average for each Strength. Strength. 12 Months. 1825 61 109 86 1826 106 134 115 1827 129 220 177 1828 232 259 248 1829 234 257 242 1830 233 258 247 1831 248 268 255 1832 230 256 242 1833 211 231 220 1834 204 215 209 1835 199 204 201 1836 195 198 196 1837 191 213 199 1838 208 217 213 1839 199 220 208 1840 183 213 197 1841 87 179 142 1842 31 74 50 During the above period the casualties by death in Ireland only amounted to twenty-nine of all ranks, proving the general healthiness of their occupation. Of these, three were untimely: two by drowning as shown in a preceding paragraph, and one killed—private John Crockett—by falling from a car while proceeding on duty from Leixlip to Chapelizod. Here it should be noted that the sappers, in the prosecution of their duty, necessarily mixed with all descriptions of society, and were invariably treated with respect, civility, and hospitality. The spirit of agrarianism, the bigotry of religion, or the natural irritable temperament of the people, were seldom evinced against the companies in abuse or conflict. As the work was drawing to a close the sappers by rapid removals augmented the force employed in the survey of Great Britain, so that at the termination of 1841 there were no less than 143 men chiefly in the northern counties of England, and thirty-four carrying on the triangulation of Scotland, leaving for the residual work of the Irish survey only eighty-seven men of all ranks. In June, 1842, the payment of the companies in England commenced on a system of consolidating the detachments into a series of vouchers prepared for their respective companies. At that time the force in Ireland, left for the revisionary survey of Dublin and the northern counties and for the engraving office at Mountjoy, reached a total of six sergeants and forty-one rank and file; while the absorbing work of the survey of Great Britain had on its rolls a strength of 217 of all ranks. Southampton, in consequence of the destruction of the map office at the Tower of London by fire, was established as the head-quarters of the survey companies; and in the institution formerly known as the royal military asylum for the orphan daughters of soldiers, are now carried on those scientific and extensive duties which regulate with such beautiful accuracy and order, the whole system of the national survey. 1843. Falkland Islands; services of the detachment there—Exploration trips—Seat of government changed—Turner’s stream—Bull fight—Round Down Cliff, near Dover—Boundary line in North America—Sergeant-major Forbes—Operations for removing the wreck of the ‘Royal George’—Exertions of the party—Private Girvan—Sagacity of corporal Jones—Success of the divers—Exertions to recover the missing guns—Harris’s nest—His district pardonably invaded—Wreck of the ‘Edgar,’ and corporal Jones—Power of water to convey sound—Girvan at the ‘Edgar’—An accident—Cessation of the work—Conduct of the detachment employed in it—Sir George Murray’s commendation—Longitude of Valentia—Rebellion in Ireland—Colour-sergeant Lanyon explores the passages under Dublin Castle—Fever at Bermuda—Burning of the ‘Missouri’ steamer at Gibraltar—Hong-Kong—Inspection at Woolwich by the Grand Duke Michael of Russia—Percussion carbine and accoutrements. The settlement at Port Louis, in the Falkland Islands, was daily growing into importance, and works applicable to every conceivable emergency were executed. This year the old government-house was thoroughly repaired, and a new substantial barrack for the detachment erected. Unlike the other buildings of the colony, the foundation-stone was laid by the Governor with the usual ceremony, and in a chamber was placed a bottle of English coins of the reign of Queen Victoria. There were also built houses for baking, cooking, and to hold boats. A butcher’s shop was likewise run up, and cottages erected for the guachos and their major-domo, as well as a small calf house on Long Island and a large wooden peat-house at Town Moss. To add to the variety of their employment the sappers repaired the pass-house, put the pinnace in fine sailing condition, and constructed a jetty of rough stones for boats. Other services of less note but equally necessary were performed, such as quarrying stone, building a sod-wall to enclose a space for garden purposes, stacking peat for the winter, and removing stores and provisions from the newly-arrived ships, &c. Parties were detached on exploring services to North Camp and Mare Harbour. In both places wild cattle abounded and troops of horses made no attempt to scamper away. On one excursion sergeant Hearnden and corporal Watts accompanied Mr. Robinson to Port St. Salvador in the face of a snow-storm, opposed by a cutting wind. Several wild horses and a herd of savage bulls were met in the trip; and geese, too, crossed their track in vast numbers, merely waddling out of the way to prevent the horsemen crushing them. Night at length spread over them. To return in such weather was impossible; and looking about they discovered a heap of stones, which turned out to be a sealer’s hut. The ribs of a whale were its rafters and turf and stones served the purpose of tiles. Leashing their horses and fastening them in a grassy district some four miles from the hut, Hearnden at once repaired the roof of the desolate hermitage, and Mr. Robinson with his companions crept into it through a small aperture on their hands and knees. Here they passed a bitter night; and so intense was the cold that four of the five dogs taken with them perished. Next day they returned to the settlement with less appearance of suffering than cheerfulness, and with a heavy supply of brent and upland geese and some wild rabbits. Notwithstanding the inclement weather, the health of the detachment continued to be robust. Fourteen months they had been at the Falkland Islands without a doctor; but in March one was added to the settlement from the ‘Philomel.’ After having erected comfortable residences for nearly the whole of the official establishment, the seat of government, by orders from the Colonial Office, was removed to Port William. The proclamation for this purpose was read to the inhabitants of Port Louis by sergeant Hearnden on the 18th August, 1843. Jackson’s Harbour was selected by the Lieutenant-Governor for the future settlement. Soon after, the detachment marched overland to the spot, and continued there during the remainder of the year—except when temporary service required their presence at Port Louis—preparing the location for the Governor and the official officers. A sod-hut was soon run up for one of the married families, and the rest were tented on boggy ground about twenty yards from the river. In stormy weather the ground, as if moving on a quicksand, would heave with the fury of the wind; and what with the whistling of the gale through the cordage, the flapping of the tents, and the roaring of the waves, the men at night were scarcely free from the hallucination of fancying themselves at sea. Their early operations at Jackson’s Harbour were very harassing, much of the material required for building having to be brought from a distance; but before the close of the year a two-roomed wooden cottage was erected with some convenient outhouses for domestic purposes. A portable house for the surveyor was also constructed, and one built in Mare Harbour. A rough jetty of planks, piles, and casks was likewise made, and the high grass for miles about the settlement was burnt down. This service was not accomplished without difficulty, for the continual rains having saturated both grass and ground, prevented the spreading of the flames, and required unceasing efforts for more than a month to insure eventual success. While out on this duty sergeant Hearnden discovered a good ford for horses about 150 yards from Turner’s Stream, and marked the spot by a pile of stones, the summit of which was on a level with high-water mark. Turner’s Stream was named in compliment to a private of that name, who carried the Governor in his journeys over the shallow waters and lagoons that intersected his track. Much discomfort and some privation were experienced by the men in the first months of their encampment at Jackson’s Harbour. To get meat they usually travelled to Port Harriet, or some eight or nine miles from the location. The bulls they shot were always cut up on the spot and their several parts deposited under stones till required for use at the camp. In these expeditions the bulls were frequently seen in herds and wild horses in troops, sometimes as many as fifteen in a group. Once the camp was attacked by a number of wild horses and four savage bulls. The party, about four in number, were at breakfast at the time they approached, and, at once seizing their loaded rifles, ran out of the tent to meet them. Two of the bulls only, stood their ground; and though struck by two bullets, rushed on furiously, and forced the party to beat a hasty retreat. A position was rapidly taken up among some barrels and timber, under cover of which the men were reloading; but the onslaught of the bulls was so impetuous that the operation was interrupted and the party driven into the tents. One of the animals now trotted off; but the other, still pursuing, bolted after the men into the marquee. A ball from private Biggs’s rifle fortunately stopped his career, and, turning round, the infuriated animal tore up the tent, committed great havoc through the camp, and made a plunge at private Yates, who dexterously stepped aside, and, firing, shot the bull in the head, and the combat ceased. Lance-corporal John Rae and private Thomas Smith were employed in January under Lieutenant G. R. Hutchinson, R.E., in the demolition and removal by blasting of a portion of the Round Down Cliff, near Dover, for the purpose of continuing the South Eastern Railway in an open line, supported by a sea-wall, up to the mouth of Shakspeare Tunnel. The summit of the cliff was about 380 feet above high-water mark, and 70 feet above that of Shakspeare Cliff. The two sappers had the executive superintendence of the mines, the placement of the charges, and various duties connected with the management of the voltaic apparatus and wires. No less than 180 barrels of gunpowder were expended in the operation; and the explosion by electric galvanism brought down, in one stupendous fall, a mass of chalk—about 400,000 cubic yards—which covered a space of 15½ acres, varying in depth from 15 to 25 feet, and saved the South Eastern Railway Company the sum of 7,000_l._ Six corporals under Captain Robinson, R.E., with Lieutenant Pipon, were attached, under orders from Lord Aberdeen, to the commission of which Lieutenant-Colonel Estcourt was the chief, for tracing the boundary line between the British dominions in North America and the United States, as settled by the Ashburton treaty. Dressed in plain clothes, they embarked at Liverpool on the 19th April, and arriving at Halifax on the 2nd May, proceeded by Boston and New York to the Kennebec road and entered the woods late in the month. In May, 1844, the party was increased to twenty men by the arrival of fourteen non-commissioned officers and privates from the English survey companies. The co-operation of this party was urged as of paramount importance. It enabled the work, so says the official communication, to be carried on over a large portion of country at once with energy and rapidity, and in such a manner as to insure a more vigorous and correct execution of it than if the Commissioners were left to depend on the assistance to be met with on the spot; and which, although greatly inferior in quality, would have entailed more expense on the public than the employment of the military surveyors. Each sapper was selected as being competent to work by himself, and to survey and run lines of levels, besides keeping in constant employment a staff of labourers. Sergeant-major James Forbes retired from the corps on the 11th of April on a pension of 2_s._ 2_d._ a-day. He was succeeded by colour-sergeant George Allan,[429] an excellent drill non-commissioned officer, who was appointed to the staff at Chatham, vicê sergeant-major Jenkin Jones, removed to the staff at Woolwich. ----- Footnote 429: Became in time the quartermaster of the royal engineer establishment at Chatham, and when the siege of Sebastopol was at its highest, was removed from the corps by promotion into the Turkish contingent engineers with the rank of Captain. ----- The merits of sergeant-major Forbes have been frequently alluded to in these pages, but there still remain some other points in his history to be noticed. To the royal military college at Sandhurst, he presented several models made by himself on military subjects. About two years before his retirement he invented the equilateral pontoon, a vessel of a very ingenious character. Its sides consist of “portions of cylinders, supposed to be applied to three sides of an equilateral triangular prism, each side of the triangle being two feet eight inches long; so that the cylindrical portions meet in three edges parallel to the axis of the pontoon. The sagitta, or versed sine of the curvature being about one-fifth of the side of the triangle, it follows that each side of the pontoon forms, in a transverse section, an arc of nearly 90°. Each end of the pontoon consists of three curved surfaces, corresponding to the sides of the vessel, and meeting in a point, as if formed on the sides of a triangular pyramid.”[430] “The form,” says Sir Howard Douglas, “appears to be well adapted for the purposes of a good pontoon; as whichever side is uppermost it presents a boatlike section to the water, and a broad deck for the superstructure. It possesses, also, the advantage of a horizontal section gradually enlarging to the highest point of displacement, by which means stability and steadiness in the water are obtained in a high degree. The area of a transverse section of this pontoon is greater than that of the present cylindrical pontoon; and the greater capacity produces more than a compensation, in buoyancy, to the small excess of weight above that of a cylindrical pontoon.”[431] A raft of this form of pontoon was prepared under the eye of the sergeant-major and sent to Chatham for trial, but although it gained much favour for its decided excellences, it was finally set aside on account of “some inconvenience in the management causing a preference to be given to those of a simple cylindrical form”[432]—the construction, in fact, established for the service. He was however awarded by the Board of Ordnance, in consideration of his trouble and as a tribute to his skill, the sum of one hundred guineas. ----- Footnote 430: Sir Howard Douglas, ‘On Military Bridges,’ 3rd edit., p. 32. Footnote 431: Ibid., 33. Footnote 432: Ibid., 33. ----- On leaving the royal sappers and miners, he was appointed surveyor to a district of the Trent and Mersey canal, at a salary of 215_l._ a year, with a fine residence and five acres of land attached. He was also allowed forage for two horses, and all his taxes and travelling expenses were paid. Some two years afterwards his salary was increased to 280_l._ a year, and in 1846, so highly appreciated were his services, that the Directors of the company proposed him to fill the office of engineer to the canal. His integrity however was such, that he would not be tempted by the great increase of salary the promotion promised, and declined it, from a modest feeling that he might not be able to do justice to so important and onerous a charge. Quickly upon this, he received the thanks of the Directors, accompanied by a special donation of 100_l._ Determining upon other arrangements for the execution of their works, the company disbanded its establishment of workmen and superintendents, retaining only the engineer and Mr. Forbes; and such was his character for alacrity, resolution, and discrimination, that the Directors appointed him to superintend all the works undertaken for the company, both on the canal and the North Staffordshire Railway, which was now incorporated with the Trent and Mersey Canal proprietary. This alteration in the company’s affairs, caused his removal from Middlewich to a commodious residence in Etruria, in Staffordshire, where his energy and influence in the parish soon gained him the post of churchwarden, and the honour of being invited to a public breakfast, at which, while the Bishop of Lichfield held the chair, he had the distinction of filling the vice-chair. Latterly he has appeared before the public as a writer. His pamphlet on the National Defences, proposing a locomotive artillery, addressed to Lord John Russell, was perused by that nobleman and received the attention of Sir John Burgoyne. Frequently he has written in the public journals on pontoons. He has also published a pamphlet on the subject, and another relative to a pontoon-boat, which he has invented.[433] The latter is of great interest and may yet receive the attention its ingenious suggestions deserve. On the 6th of May, 1853, he was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, for which honour he was proposed by the great Robert Stephenson and Mr. S. P. Bidder, the two leading civil engineers of this country. Within the last year, he has been advanced to the post of engineer to the company, and he enjoys the perfect satisfaction and confidence of his employers. His salary and emoluments exceed 400_l._ a year. ----- Footnote 433: It is simply a half-cylinder, 20 feet long by 1 foot 9 inches wide, and 3 feet deep, strengthened internally by hollow tubes, and deriving its buoyancy from an ingenious distribution of water-tight compartments, which not only preserve the flotation but provide seats for the troops. To render the contrivance more efficient for rafts or bridging purposes, a similar half-cylinder is attached to its consort by strong hinges and bolts. When shut its form is cylindrical; when open, two boats in rigid connection, taking the same swing in the water—the same motion on the wave. In this Siamese connection it is intended always to be used; and fitted as it is with all the necessary details, and the means of applying a rudder or an oar for steerage at any end, it appears to be adequate for all the uses and contingencies, not only of a pontoon, but of an ordinary passage-boat. It moreover aspires to the merciful functions of a lifeboat, being capable, without risk of capsizing or sinking, of venturing out in heavy seas to save human life imperilled by squalls or shipwreck. ----- The operations against the wreck of the ‘Royal George’ were resumed, for the fifth time, early in May, with a detachment of fifteen royal sappers and miners, eight East India Company’s sappers, and about eighty seamen, riggers, &c., under the direction of Major-General Pasley, with Lieutenant G. R. Hutchinson as the executive officer. At the end of 1842, almost all the floor timbers had been got up and 101 feet of the keel, leaving only about 50 feet more at the bottom; and out of 126 tons of pig-iron ballast, 103 tons had been safely wharfed. There was therefore confident reason to expect the entire removal of the wreck before the close of the season; and such indeed was the success of the enterprise, that Major-General Pasley, on quitting the work in November, declared that the anchorage ground, where the wreck had lain, was as safe and fit for the use of ships as any other part of Spithead. At first four divers went down regularly, and afterwards five or six were at work at every slack tide, generally three times a day. After a few weeks of unsuccessful effort, the firing of three charges each of 675 lbs. of powder in puncheons, removed a bank of shingle which chiefly interfered with the divers' success. These charges were fixed by corporals Harris and Jones, and private Girvan. In one week afterwards, the divers effected as much as in the five weeks previously, for not only were the keel and bottom planking somewhat bared, but a great deal of the remaining iron ballast was rendered accessible. Six other charges, of 720 lbs. of powder each, and numerous smaller charges, were subsequently fired, with results that gave ample employment for all the divers and the detachment on board. One or two failures occurred which arose from want of experience in firing conjunct charges at Spithead; but in other respects, the operation, which was exceedingly difficult, was conducted with skill and success, owing to the able arrangements of Lieutenant Hutchinson, assisted by the leading riggers, and by lance-corporal Rae and private Alexander Cleghorn, who had the preparation of the charges and the voltaic batteries. The divers, too, did everything necessary at the bottom, and were well seconded in every department by the sappers and others employed. “In short,” adds the narrative,[434] “this operation, including the separation of the two mooring lighters before the explosion and bringing them together afterwards,” could not, in consequence of the severe weather, have possibly succeeded, “if all the men had not, from long experience, known their respective duties well and entered into them with laudable zeal.” “On the 9th of July private John Girvan slung the largest and most remarkable piece of the wreck that had been met with this season, consisting of the fore foot and part of the stem, connected by two very large horse-shoe copper clamps bolted together; the boxing by which it had been connected with the fore part of the keel was perfect, from which joint six feet of the gripe had extended horizontally, and terminated in the curve of the stem, which was sheathed with lead.—The length of this fragment was sixteen feet, measured obliquely, and its extreme width five feet.”[435] At another time he recovered an enormous fish-hook, no less than eight feet nine inches in length from the eye to the bow! By corporal Jones, on the 17th following, was slung a large iron bolt, ten feet long; which, on being brought on deck, was observed by him to exhibit marks of having been in contact with brass. He therefore rightly conjectured there must be a brass gun at the spot, and descending again recovered a brass 24-pounder, nine and a half feet long, of the year 1748.[436] ----- Footnote 434: ‘United Service Journal,’ iii., 1843, p. 139. Footnote 435: Ibid., p. 139. Footnote 436: Ibid., p. 138. ----- “On the 31st of July, private Girvan discovered a gun buried under the mud, but it was not till the 3rd of August that he succeeded in slinging it, assisted by corporal Jones, with whom he generally worked in concert this season;”[437] and shortly after, the latter diver recovered the last remnant of the keel, measuring nearly twenty-two feet in length, corporal Harris having previously sent up portions of it in the early part of the summer amounting in length to thirty-six feet,[438] and private Girvan, six feet. ----- Footnote 437: ‘United Service Journal,’ iii., 1843, p. 139. Footnote 438: Ibid., pp. 137, 140. ----- The only money got up this season was a guinea of 1775, found on a plank sent up by Jones. Increased exertions were now made to recover the guns, which were embedded some depth in the mud, and the divers cleared the way by sending up everything they could meet with, until nothing but insignificant fragments could be found. To assist them, two frigate anchors and the half anchor creepers with some auxiliary instruments, drawn backwards and forwards as well as transversely over the site of the wreck, were made to do effectual work. The East India Company’s sappers had been removed before these labours began;[439] the whole of the subsequent diving, therefore, was exclusively carried on by the royal sappers and miners,[440] and to their vigilance of observation and unceasing zeal, was attributed the recovery of thirteen guns late in the season. Of these, corporal Harris got up three iron and six brass guns, corporal Jones three brass, and private Girvan one iron. ----- Footnote 439: Quitted 28th August, 1843. Footnote 440: ‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1844, p. 143. ----- Here it should be explained “how much more successful than his comrades corporal Harris was towards the close of the season, in recovering guns, though the other divers, corporal Jones and privates Girvan and Trevail, had been equally successful in all the previous operations. Corporal Harris fell in with a nest of guns, and it was a rule agreed upon, that each first-class diver should have his own district at the bottom, with which the others were not to interfere.”[441] ----- Footnote 441: Ibid., p. 146. ----- Jones, though satisfied with the arrangement as a general rule, was a little disposed to feel aggrieved when, by contrast, the odds were against him. He was curious to know by what means Harris turned up the guns with such teasing rapidity, and going down with the secret intention of making the discovery, tumbled over a gun with its muzzle sticking out of the mud. This piece of ordnance legitimately belonged to Harris, for it was in his beat; but, as Jones enthusiastically expressed it, seeming to invite the favour of instant removal, he could not resist the temptation to have its recovery registered to his credit. He therefore securely slung it, and rubbing his hands with delight at the richness of the trick, gave the signal to haul up. Harris, suspecting that his territory had been invaded, dashed down the ladder and just reached the spot in time to feel the breech of the gun slipping through his fingers. Jones, meanwhile, pushed on deck, and was pleased to see that the plundered relic was a 12-pounder brass gun of the year 1739. Jones a second time applied to the district over which Harris walked with so much success, and filched from the nest a brass 12-pounder gun—the last one recovered this season. After the removal of the ‘Royal George’ had been effected, but while the search for the guns was going on, Major-General Pasley detached to the wreck of the ‘Edgar,’[442] the ‘Drake’ lighter, with thirteen petty officers and seamen of Her Majesty’s ship ‘Excellent,’ to learn the art of diving. Corporal Jones was attached to the party to instruct them. Violent gales prevailed at this period, “which repeatedly drove the ‘Drake’ from her moorings, not without damage, and at other times caused her to drift in such a manner that guns, discovered by a diver late in a slack, could not be found when the weather permitted his subsequent descent.” Hence only five iron guns of this wreck were got up during the season, with a piece of the keel and a floor timber. These were all recovered by corporal Jones, who had also been engaged one tide in finding an anchor that had been lost.[443] So anxious was he to add to the magnitude of his acquisition, that on one occasion he remained below as long as four hours, but his exertions were unattended with the hoped-for return. ----- Footnote 442: This ill-fated ship, built by Bailey of Bristol in 1668, was wrecked by an explosion in 1711, and every soul on board perished.—‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1844, p. 146. Footnote 443: ‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1844, pp. 145, 146. ----- An interesting fact with respect to the power of water to convey sound was ascertained on the 6th October. A small waterproof bursting charge containing 18 lbs. of gunpowder was fired at the bottom. Corporal Jones who happened at the time to be working at the ‘Edgar’—nearly half-a-mile distant—hearing a loud report like the explosion of a cannon, imagined that a large charge had been fired over the ‘Royal George.’ To those on deck immediately over the place, the report was scarcely perceptible. Private Girvan relieved corporal Jones at the ‘Edgar’ on the 16th October, and got up the breech part of an iron 32-pounder, which had been cut in two a little in front of the trunnions.[444] ----- Footnote 444: Ibid., p. 146. ----- The only mishap this summer occurred to private Girvan. Just as he appeared above the water the explosion of a charge took place, from which he sustained a slight shock and a wrench in the back producing a sensation of pain. Though eager to go down again his wish was overruled, and he remained on board for the day. Sergeant Lindsay fired the charge, and the accident was attributed to a nervous slip of his hand when ready to apply the wires to the battery. On the 4th November the divers descended for the last time, as the water had become so cold that their hands—the only part exposed—were completely benumbed, so that they could no longer work to advantage; and then, the operations ceasing from necessity, the detachment of the corps rejoined their companies at Woolwich. Major-General Pasley in according his praises to the various individuals and parties employed at Spithead, spoke highly of sergeant George Lindsay in subordinate charge, and the whole detachment; but more particularly of the intelligent and enterprising men to whom the important task of preparing all the charges fired by the voltaic battery was confided. The charges were numerous and of various quantities, amounting in all to 19,193 lbs. of powder, or nearly 214 barrels. The soldiers alluded to were lance-corporal John Rae and private Alexander Cleghorn who were promoted for their services. The still more arduous duty of diving gave the General every satisfaction. Frequently the duty was embarrassing and dangerous, and carried on under circumstances calculated to test most severely their courage and resources; and so indefatigable were their exertions, and so successful their services, that the military divers gained the character of being “second to none in the world.”[445] Most of the party this season attempted to dive, but, from the oppression felt under water by some, only two or three beyond the regular divers could persevere in the duty. ----- Footnote 445: ‘United Service Journal,’ iii., 1843, p. 141. ----- Upon the report made by Major-General Pasley of the conduct of the detachment engaged in the operations, Sir George Murray, the Master-General, was pleased thus to remark: “It has given me no less pleasure to be made acquainted with the very commendable conduct of the non-commissioned officers and privates of the sappers and miners who have been employed under Major-General Pasley, and have rendered so much useful service in the important undertaking conducted under his management.” From June to September about eight men under Lieutenant Gosset, R.E., assisted in the undertaking for determining the longitude of Valentia by the transmission of chronometers. Thirty chronometers were conveyed in every transmission; and to privates Robert Penton and John M‘Fadden was entrusted the service of bearing the chronometers, and winding them up at stated times and places. On receiving the chronometers from Liverpool the reciprocations took place repeatedly between Kingston and Valentia Island; one private being responsible for their safe transit a portion of the route, and the other for the remaining distance to and from the station at Feagh Main. Professor Sheepshanks and Lieutenant Gosset carried out the scientific purposes of the service, while the sappers not engaged with the chronometers attended to the duties of the camp and observatory at Feagh Main, under the subordinate superintendence of corporal B. Keen Spencer. The professor instructed this non-commissioned officer in the mode of taking observations with the transit instrument; and further, in testimony of his satisfaction, gave generous gratuities to privates Penton and M‘Fadden. Professor Airy, in speaking of the former, alludes to the perfect reliance he placed on his care, “and in winding the chronometers,” adds, “he has no doubt the service was most correctly performed.”[446] The duty was one in which extreme caution and care were required, to prevent accident or derangement to the instruments. ----- Footnote 446: Airy’s ‘Longitude of Valentia,’ p. xi. ----- Agitation for a repeal of the union, headed by O’Connell, was now the great excitement of Ireland, and a rising of the masses to enforce it was daily expected. With the reinforcement of troops sent there to preserve order was the first company of sappers, which was despatched by rapid conveyances, _viâ_ Liverpool to Dublin, where it arrived on the 26th July. The company consisted of ninety men of all ranks, and their duties embraced repairs to the barracks and the planting of stockades in the rear of the castle, to prevent the ingress, in case of revolt, of the rebels.[447] They also prepared several thousands of sand-bags for breastworks. Detachments of one sergeant and twenty rank and file were sent to Limerick and Athlone in November, where they strengthened the barracks and loopholed the outside walls for musketry. The store-rooms of the artillery barracks were also loopholed. Effectually, however, was the anticipated outbreak suppressed, and, under the authority of Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary, the company was recalled to England and arrived at Woolwich on the 22nd August, 1844. ----- Footnote 447: Owing to a rumour that the castle at Dublin could be entered by a subterranean passage or sewer from the Liffey, colour-sergeant Lanyon was directed to explore it. He did so, and found that a strong iron grating existed in the passage, which would effectually prevent the supposed entrance. In this duty, being much exposed to the influence of noxious vapours, he soon afterwards was seized with fever and jaundice, which shortened his days. ----- The yellow fever broke out at Bermuda in August, and continued with unabated virulence and fatality until the middle of September. In that brief period, out of a strength of 165 men, it carried off no less than thirty-three men of the eighth company and four men of the fourth, besides Captain Robert Fenwick, R.E., in command of the latter, and Lieutenant James Jenkin, the Adjutant.[448] The two companies were distributed to St. George’s and Ireland Island; at the former, where the fever chiefly raged, was the eighth company, about ninety strong, and at the latter the fourth. Eighty-eight men had been seized with the malady, of whom twenty-four were admitted with relapses, and four had suffered three seizures, none of whom died. Dr. Hunter, a civil physician, attended the cases in the absence of a military medical officer. With the civil population his practice was remarkably successful; for out of 101 natives who took the fever only one died. He therefore concluded that the artillery, who lost nine men, and the sappers thirty-seven, fell easy victims to the epidemic from their intemperate habits. No comparison, however, was justifiable between coloured people, upon whom the fever had but little effect, and Europeans; but an analysis of the cases, as far as the sappers were concerned, confirmed the doctor’s views to the extent of sixteen men. The remainder, twenty-one, were men of sobriety and general good conduct. ----- Footnote 448: Mr. James Dawson, foreman of masons, formerly colour-sergeant in the corps, also died during the fever. He was a clever tradesman and overseer, and while in the sappers did good service at St. Helena, Corfu, and Bermuda. He was succeeded as foreman by sergeant John McKean, who was discharged in November, 1843, and still fills the appointment with ability and faithfulness. ----- Lance-corporal Frederick Hibling being the only non-commissioned officer _not_ attacked, performed the whole duties of the eighth company, and for his exertions and exemplary conduct was promoted to the rank of second-corporal. Seven widows and twenty-two orphans were left destitute by this calamity, among whom a subscription (quickly made through the corps, assisted by many officers of royal engineers, nearly amounting to 200_l._) was distributed, in proportion to their necessities—one woman with six children receiving as much as 33_l._ The lowest gift was 14_l._ to a widow without children. A monument of chaste and beautiful design, consisting of a fluted column surmounted by an exploded bomb, resting on a neat and finely proportioned pedestal, was erected in the military burial-ground at St. George’s, in mournful commemoration of the victims. On three panels of the pedestal were inscribed their names, and on the fourth was sculptured the royal arms and supporters. The work was executed by the surviving stonemasons of the company, and the royal arms were cut by private Walter Aitchison. On the 26th August, in the evening, the ‘Missouri,’ United States' steamer, Captain Newton, took fire in the bay of Gibraltar, and a detachment of the corps at the Rock was sent out by Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor, in charge of two engines under Captain A. Gordon, R.E., to assist in extinguishing the flames; but all their diligence and intrepidity were unavailing, for the vessel was soon afterwards burnt to the water’s edge. During the service the men were in much danger from falling masts and spars, and from the explosion of a powder-magazine on board. The Governor, in orders, thanked Captain Gordon and other officers of royal engineers, and the non-commissioned officers and privates of royal sappers and miners, for the creditable and useful zeal displayed by them on the occasion; and added, “that the marines, military, and boatmen of Gibraltar have the consoling reflection that nothing was left undone to save the vessel, and that the gallant crew was preserved by their united labour and devotedness.” To each sapper employed at the fire was issued a pint of wine by his Excellency’s order. One sergeant and thirty-three rank and file under Lieutenant T. B. Collinson, R.E., sailed for China in the ‘Mount Stuart Elphinstone,’ and landed at Hong Kong the 7th October. A party of variable strength had been stationed there, employed superintending the Chinese artificers in carrying on the public works until July, 1854, when the sappers were recalled to England. Some of their first services embraced the construction of roads and sewers, the erection of barracks for the troops and quarters for the officers, with various military conveniences, such as stores, guard-houses, &c. A residence was also built for the General in command, and a sea-wall of granite to the cantonment on the north shore of the island. They also directed the Chinese in cutting away a mountain to a plateau, of about eight acres, for a parade-ground, much of which was granite; and the several explosions rendered necessary to dislodge the mass were fired solely by sergeant Joseph Blaik. A company of Madras sappers also assisted in the superintendence of the coolies, who sometimes exceeded a thousand in number. The working pay of the royal sappers and miners was 1_s._ 6_d._ a-day each until the removal of the East India Company’s establishment, when the allowance was reduced to the ordinary payment of 1_s._ each. Before the party was quartered in barracks it was housed for a time in a bamboo hut and afterwards in a bungalow. The smiths and plumbers were invariably employed at their trades, as the Chinese were very incompetent in these branches of handicraft.[449] ----- Footnote 449: In May, 1851, when the tour of service of the detachment had expired, only six men were at the station to be relieved. The remainder comprised one discharged in China, who soon afterwards died, twelve invalided to England, and fifteen deaths. ----- On the 9th October his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Michael of Russia inspected the troops at Woolwich, on the common. The royal sappers and miners at the station were also drawn up with them, and marched past. Next day the Grand Duke, accompanied by Lord Bloomfield, visited the sappers' barracks, walked through the rooms, examined the carbine of the corps, and then looked over, with every mark of attention, the small museum of the non-commissioned officers attached to the library. On leaving, he expressed his gratification at what he saw, and of the efforts made by the soldiers to improve themselves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: Royal Sappers & Miners. Plate XV. UNIFORM 1843. Printed by M & N Hanhart. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The percussion carbine and sword-bayonet, were generally adopted in the corps this year, superseding the flint-lock musket and bayonet.[450] The length of the musket with bayonet fixed was six feet two inches, but the carbine with sword was constructed an inch shorter. The carbine itself was nine inches and a-half shorter than the musket, but to make up for this reduction, and to enable a soldier to take his place in a charge, the sword-bayonet measured ten inches longer than the rapier-bayonet.[451] ----- Footnote 450: Arms of the percussion principle had been on trial in the corps since July, 1840. Footnote 451: These figures would seem to make the carbine and sword 1½ inches longer than the old musket, but the loss of the supposed additional length was occasioned by the greater depth of the socket required to give strength and stability to the weapon. The comparative weight of the two arms gave a reduction in favour of the carbine of 2 lbs. 3½ ozs. ----- The shoulder-belt for the bayonet for all ranks was at this time abolished, and a waist-belt two inches broad, with cap-bag and sliding frog, substituted. This new accoutrement is the same as the present one; and the breast-plate then, as now, bore the royal arms without supporters, within a union wreath, based by the word “_Ubique_,” and surmounted by a crown. The sword-bayonet was this year worn vertically for the first time, instead of obliquely as formerly. The pouch-belt was not altered, but the pouch, the same as at present worn, reduced in dimensions, was made to contain thirty instead of sixty rounds of ball ammunition. The brush and pricker were now abolished. The sergeants' swords were also withdrawn, and their arms and appointments made to correspond with the rank and file, the only difference being the addition of ornaments on the pouch-belt, which, with the waist-plate, were washed with gilt. The ornaments comprised a grenade bearing on the swell of the bomb the royal arms and supporters; detached from this, underneath, was a scroll inscribed “_Royal Sappers and Miners_,” to which a ring was affixed sustaining a chain united to a whistle, resembling an old round watch tower; the whistle itself forming the battlemented crown, inscribed with the motto “_Ubique_.”[452] These ornaments, the suggestion of Major—now Colonel—Sandham, are still worn by the sergeants. ----- Footnote 452: The idea for this ornament was taken from the martial custom among the Romans of presenting a mural coronet of gold or silver to the undaunted soldier who should first scale the walls of a city and enter the place. Bailey in his Dictionary of 1727 says, “It was given to the meanest soldier as well as the greatest commander.” As the assault of fortresses in sieges is the chief business of the sappers, the round tower with its mural crown on the sergeant’s appointments, is an appropriate symbol for the corps. ----- The buglers' short sword with three guards was replaced this year by one after the pattern of the Ceylon rifles' band. The hilt formed an ornamental Maltese cross with fleury terminations, and on the flat between the horizontal limbs, above the blade, was an exploded grenade. The blade was straight, two feet ten inches long, and the mounting on the scabbard was chased and embellished. The weapon is still worn by the buglers, and is altogether neat, pretty, and convenient.—See Plate XVII., 1854. 1844. Remeasurement of La Caille’s arc at the Cape—Reconnoitring excursion of sergeant Hemming—Falkland Islands—Draft to Bermuda—Inspection at Gibraltar by General Sir Robert Wilson—Final operations against the ‘Royal George’—and the ‘Edgar’—Discovery of the amidships—incident connected with it—Combats with crustacea—Success of corporal Jones—Injury to a diver—Private Skelton drowned—Conduct of the detachment employed in the work—Submarine repairs to the ‘Tay’ steamer at Bermuda by corporal Harris—Widening and deepening the ship channel at St. George’s—Intrepidity of corporal Harris—Accidents from mining experiments at Chatham—Notice of corporal John Wood—Inspection at Hong-Kong by Major-General D’Aguilar. The detachment set apart to measure the base line on Zwartland Plain at the Cape commenced the second season in September, 1841. It opened under a somewhat different arrangement with respect to the issue of provisions. Captain Henderson managed it in 1840, Mr. Maclear in 1841, and sergeant Hemming was appointed to act as his quartermaster-sergeant. Captain Henderson left the work in December and returned to England. As soon as the base was measured, the triangulation began, and was carried on, with the exception of the winter interval, until January, 1842. Then the work was completed to the north extremity of La Caille’s arc in the vicinity of St. Helena Bay. A few months were now spent in effecting the triangulation to the south as far as Cape Point, and in December, 1842, the work was resumed to the northward.[453] ----- Footnote 453: ‘Professional Papers,’ N. S., i., p. 32. ----- In January, 1843, the triangulation commenced at a headland north of St. Helena Bay, latitude about 32° S., and continued nearly parallel to the coast line, and about thirty miles from it until it reached Kamiesberg a little south of Lat. 30°. Here the arc was expected to terminate. The difficulties encountered this season were of a formidable kind, and the care required in the transport of Bradley’s zenith sector and a large theodolite, occasioned much tedious anxiety for their preservation. The party, too, was formed of different materials; the infantry soldiers had quitted, and the shipwrecked crew of the ‘Abercrombie Robinson’ had been engaged in their stead. Most of these sailors were rough, ill-behaved fellows, and, therefore, the chief responsibility of the preparations and the conveyances devolved upon the sappers. In addition to this, the country passed over north of the Oliphant river was a straggling desert, and the points used were at high altitudes—one of which exceeded 7,000 feet.[454] ----- Footnote 454: ‘Professional Papers,’ N. S., i., p. 32. ----- In its progress northward, the party crossed the Oliphant or Elephant river on the 15th June, 1843, and the day being Sunday, encamped on its north bank to spend the sabbath. Six days after the expedition arrived at the foot of the Kamiesberg, where fell heavy rain for three days and two nights; and when the march was recommenced, the ground was so saturated, that the whole train had to be dug out of the mud repeatedly every day. In three days only eighteen miles were accomplished and that with great exertion. The oxen were now so knocked up that the farmers refused to go any further, and a fresh supply was procured at a missionary establishment twelve miles distant. When nearing that institution, the provisions were very low, and the difficulties of the expedition in this respect were greatly augmented by a heavy fall of snow. For the whole day the party were without food, nor could they make a fire to warm themselves.[455] They laboured, however, with excellent spirit, and succeeded that night in bringing three of the waggons to the missionary station; but the other two, sticking fast in the deep ruts, were not brought up till the next day. The men were badly shod, and suffered greatly. About a week after, the instruments were fixed and the observations commenced, which continued until October 1843, when the party returned to Cape Town,[456] and afterwards marched up the country to join their company. ----- Footnote 455: About twelve miles from the sea ice was found three-eighths of an inch thick. Footnote 456: ‘Professional Papers,’ i., N. S., p. 32. ----- The objects used for reflecting or observing were heliostats about 7 inches in diameter, and were chiefly attended to by the sappers, who were sometimes detached on this duty for several months at a time with a couple of natives under them to assist. On account of the heat, the observations were discontinued at 11 A.M., and not renewed until 3 P.M. Notwithstanding this intermission, the signal duties were oppressive. All supplies were got from a distance, which fully occupied the two natives in procuring them. The sappers were also intrusted with large sums of public money to pay all demands as the work progressed. On the Kamiesberg mountain they helped in the observatory in working the great sector to determine the position of some stars. Two stone-cutters of the number were detached from the Kamiesberg to Zwartland and Groenekloof to cut and build a pillar of stone at each end of the line, to mark the termini of the newly-measured base; and all, as the general service of the expedition permitted, erected at every fixed point a strong pile twenty feet high, secured to a base of twenty feet, to indicate the sites of the several trigonometrical stations. Sergeant Hemming, before the close of the duty, was sent by the colonial astronomer on a reconnoitring excursion to discover a track from the neighbourhood of St. Helena Bay along the mountain range to the eastward, to Cape L’Agulhas on the coast. He was out fourteen days exploring the country, but from its inaccessible nature returned not only disappointed and exhausted, but unsuccessful.[457] In March, 1844, his connection with the astronomical department ceased.[458] ----- Footnote 457: Ibid., p. 33. Footnote 458: These particulars are chiefly collected from a paper by sergeant Hemming in the ‘Royal Engineer Professional Papers,’ i., pp. 31-39. This non-commissioned officer was pensioned at 1_s._ 8_d._ a-day, in May, 1845. Of his survey services Colonel Portlock gives an interesting outline in his prefatory remarks to the sergeant’s paper. His duties appear to have been confined chiefly to the mountains of Ireland, where in winter he was exposed to fearful inclemency and subjected to much hardship. “On one occasion,” says the Colonel, “I had to place a young gentleman, who had graduated at Cambridge, under the sergeant for instruction, to whose zeal, intelligence, and respectability the pupil warmly bore testimony. Before receiving his discharge, he was appointed clerk and storekeeper to the road department in Cape Town, and some idea of the responsibility of his office may be inferred from the fact that he expended in four years, 1844-48, upwards of 36,000_l._!” ----- The detachment at the Falkland Islands continued throughout the year to labour in the establishment of the new settlement at Port William, which was situated on the south side of Jackson’s Harbour, and sloped from the shore to a ridge of rocks about a quarter of a mile inland. Notwithstanding the stormy character of the seasons, the detachment constructed three good jetties, made roads and pathways, and formed several ditches to drain the land and mark the different boundaries. They also erected and finished with interior fitments, the Governor’s house, and besides building a temporary barracks for the party with workshops and other convenient premises attached, small commodious cottages were run up for persons in official employment. Of the services and intelligence of sergeant Hearnden the Governor wrote in terms of unqualified praise. Both as a soldier and private individual, the influence of his example was felt in the colony, and he is stated to have been in an eminent degree faithful and successful in the discharge of his duty. Most of the men were also well spoken of for their excellent behaviour and zeal; and amid the innumerable inconveniences of their situation and services, they maintained their military character and discipline unimpaired. This was the more commendable as the temptation to drunkenness—the prevailing vice in the colony—was, from the absence of the common recreations so usual in England, and the inclemency of the weather, almost irresistible. On the 16th February, forty-four rank and file embarked for Bermuda under the command of Lieutenant C. R. Binney, R.E., to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the epidemic in the previous year, and landed from the ‘Prince George’ transport on the 8th April. Corporal David Harris, the chief military diver, under Major-General Pasley at Spithead, was in subordinate charge of the party. Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor of Gibraltar, inspected the companies of the corps at the fortress in common with the other troops under his command, in May and October, and on each occasion made flattering allusion to their conduct and discipline. On the 13th May, after some general remarks of commendation, Sir Robert Wilson adds—“All the corps and battalions merited unqualified approbation, and the Governor bestows it with pride and pleasure. The royal sappers and miners, however, whose laborious daily duties occupy their whole time, except the afternoons of alternate Saturdays, deserve, without any invidious preference, particular commendation for preserving a soldier-like mien, and exercising as if they had been in the habit of daily practice.” And again, on the 13th October, he wrote:—“The practice of the royal artillery yesterday was highly satisfactory and impressive, and the royal sappers and miners, including the detachment which arrived only the night before, presented under arms an appearance and proficiency which corresponded with the character established by the capacity and assiduous labours that have distinguished this corps during its employment on the works of the fortifications since the Governor has had the honour to command.” Early in May, Major-General Pasley resumed, for the sixth and last time, his operations at Spithead. Lieutenant H. W. Barlow, R.E., was the executive officer under whose charge were placed sergeant George Lindsay and thirteen rank and file of the corps, with an equal number of the East India Company’s sappers, and a strong force of seamen, riggers, &c. The removal of the ‘Royal George,’ notwithstanding that there still remained nineteen guns of that wreck at the bottom, was reported to be perfectly accomplished, and the roadstead quite safe for the anchorage of shipping. The Major-General, therefore, turned his attention to the recovery of the guns of the ‘Edgar’ man-of-war, which was blown up at Spithead in 1711. She had been armed with 70 guns, technically termed demi-cannons, sakers, and falconets. The first were 32 and 12-pounders; and the others respectively 9 and 6-pounders. The great mass of timber, embedded in mud, composing the centre of the hull of the wreck, was discovered by corporal Richard P. Jones on the 23rd May. The sweeps from the boat having been caught by an obstruction below, Jones descended by them till he found himself astride a 32-pounder iron gun, which was peeping through a port-hole on the lower deck. It happened at the time to be unusually clear at the bottom, and to his amazement there stood upright before him the midship portion of the vessel, with an altitude above the general level of the ground, of thirteen feet and a half. From the open ports, in two tiers, yawned the mouths of about twelve pieces of ordnance, grim and deformed with the incrustations of 133 years. This part of the ‘Edgar’ was not much shaken by the explosions, but when the fore and after magazines took fire, the head and stern of the vessel were blown away from the body and scattered to distances exceeding three hundred fathoms. So violent indeed had been one of the explosions, that the best bower anchor was not only broken in fragments, but its flukes and shank were separated from each other, nearly half-a-mile. The midships, sharing but little in the convulsion, went down like a colossal millstone, scarcely heeling on her bottom; and the armament of the decks remained as if ready for battle, without a carriage unjerked from its platform, or a gun from its carriage. All the woodwork, however, was so completely decayed by the ravages of worms, and the insidious action of the sea, that when the guns were slung, they were hauled through the decks, as if no obstruction interposed.[459] ----- Footnote 459: A few minutes elapsed before Jones quitted the hobby-horse he was exultingly riding. Meanwhile curious to explore the gun, he thrust his hand up the bore, where a member of the crustacean family, already in quiet possession of the apartment, and not over-pleased with the unceremonious intrusion, fiercely disputed the passage. Jones, unwilling to yield, did his best to capture the exasperated crab, but its inveterate shears had so nipped and lacerated his hand, he was forced, at last, to beat a retreat. Ever after, the cruel wounds inflicted upon him by this peevish red-coat, had the effect of fixing in Jones’s memory, the date of his discovery of the ‘Edgar.’ It may strike the reader as remarkable that for the six summers of the operations at Spithead the divers were seldom attacked by any of the finny tribe; nor was it their privilege ever to meet in their subaqueous labours with any fishes larger than those ordinarily supplied for traffic in the markets. A lobster, a crab, or a conger-eel would now and then exhibit a wish to break lances with the intruders, but beyond these few instances of piscatorial interference, the under-water men had little reason to complain of the ungenerous treatment of the inhabitants of the deep. More than once Jones was threatened or assaulted by crustacea. As on one occasion he was traversing for guns, a lobster, measuring not less than sixteen inches in length, approached him with so quick a motion, it seemed as if a bird were hovering round him. Thus attracted, he stood still to learn a fact or two in the history of its habits. The lobster stared inquisitively at Jones, as if to discover what the strange phenomenon could be. Apparently dissatisfied with the extent of the information it had acquired, it darted off like an arrow, using its fanlike tail as a rudder to shape its course. Its movements were sharp and rapid—its track in circles, each less than the other, till poising for a while within a few feet of the diver, it settled warily on the ground to resume observations. Startled by an action of the phenomenon, the lobster sailed off again in concentric circles, swishing the fan furiously to augment its speed; then, reaching the ground it spread out its feelers and claws and was soon engrossed in a brown study. Accepting the series of evolutions as a challenge, Jones prepared for the combat. Gently lifting his pricker, so as not to excite the instinctive suspicions of the lobster, he suddenly plunged it forward and pinned his antagonist to the earth. Instantly grasping it with his powerful hand behind the claws, Jones hurried on deck, and its body, weighing as much as a young goose, furnished a luxurious banquet for the captor and his friends. Another lobster, less inquisitive but more combatative, advanced upon Jones with true military boldness. Having performed the magic circles, it was evident that the fish in armour had taken the measure of its opponent. Pushing out its claws in front like a couple of blunt spears, the lobster furiously battered against Jones’s legs, which, being cased in flannel, Mackintosh cloth, and impenetrable canvas, were proof against scars and punctures. Thick and fast came the blows, as from a ram or catapult; and it occurring to Jones that there was a chance of damage to his shins if the contest were prolonged, he turned upon his intrepid enemy, and with one kick from his leaden toe, broke up its morion and cuirass and gained the victory. At another time, when Jones was busy making fast to a gun, a conger eel curled up in its muzzle forced out its slimy head to reconnoitre. Not relishing its savage attitude, Jones considered it best to make short work of the interview, and striking it on the cranium, the eel recoiled within its lurking place. A tompion being handy, Jones took it up and plugged up the bore. The gun in due time was hauled on deck, and on removing the tompion, the eel floundered out, and though small for a conger—about four feet long—it fought desperately, and was with great difficulty captured and decapitated. ----- Before the close of the season, the whole of this mass was got up, by the continual removal of pieces loosened by frequent small explosions. Almost the whole of the keel was likewise sent up, with innumerable fragments of timber, spars, &c., and many guns, eight of which had been recovered in one week. The first was found by corporal Jones. A great number of sinkers or large stones, by which the wreck buoys were moored, and a number of small anchors were also recovered. In the early part of August the operations were much retarded by some very violent gales, preventing the divers working from time to time; but as soon as the weather moderated, corporal Jones, with his usual zeal, taking down with him a large crate, sent up at one haul, besides a load of staves of casks, &c., ninety-one shot of various sizes. The guns of the ‘Edgar’ were much scattered at the bottom by the explosion of her magazines, and the unexpected distances to which they were thrown, rendered a more extended sphere of action necessary. This was effected by a simple arrangement of ropes as guides, upon which worked a transverse line just over the bed of the roadstead, that caught in its track any object rearing itself above the general level. In this way the entire area of the bottom, supposed to conceal any of the fugitive cannons, was traversed, Jones and Sticklen being the operators; and was attended with so much success, that nearly the whole of the guns and wreck were sent up and deposited in the dockyard before the 31st October, when the season closed. The party rejoined the corps at Woolwich on the 2nd November.[460] ----- Footnote 460: The ‘Times,’ August 19, 1844. ----- In addition to Jones, the divers were John Girvan, Donald McFarlane, Philip Trevail, and William Frame, besides four of the East India Company and five others occasionally.[461] ----- Footnote 461: These were sergeants Reid and Clarke, and privates Sticklen, Herbert, McDonald, Vallely, Canard, Robertson, Gillies, Mais, and Whelan. Clarke sent up two guns, Sticklen six, Herbert five and a half, and McDonald two. Sticklen, the most successful diver of the batch, met with an accident. In pulling him up from the bottom, he was drawn against some hard substance, which broke one of the side eyes of his helmet. His dress instantly filled, and the water rushed into his mouth. So quickly however was his removal to the deck accomplished, that his struggles for relief were short, and the injury he received was scarcely more than a temporary inconvenience. ----- During the season corporal Jones got up nineteen guns, besides an immense pile of other articles in endless variety; and when the rough and generally unfavourable state of the weather which prevailed is taken into account, his activity and industry appear strikingly prominent. “Whatever success,” writes General Pasley, “has attended our operations, is chiefly to be attributed to the exertions of corporal Jones, of whom as a diver I cannot speak too highly.”[462] ----- Footnote 462: With the reputation of being the best diver in Europe, he sailed for China in February, 1845. In April, 1847, he was present in the expedition to Canton, and took part in the capture of the Bogue and other forts. Soon after he was reduced from sergeant, but his energy of character and perseverance brought him again into favour, and he is now a sergeant in the corps. He was present during the summer of 1854 at the capture of the Aland Islands, including the demolition of the forts of Bomarsund. After his return from the Baltic he was placed at the disposal of Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney of the House of Commons, to learn the properties and management of a brilliant light that gentleman had discovered, and which he proposed to use in the trenches before Sebastopol to exhibit the enemy, at night, in their works. The experiments were carried out under the auspices of Lord Panmure; and the sergeant evinced so complete an acquaintance with its principles, that the inventor determined to intrust him with its use in the field. Submitted, however, for trial with rival lights to a committee at Woolwich, it was soon seen that its results did not equal its pretensions, inasmuch as the light at a distance was far less intense than in the vicinity of the operator. In this way sergeant Jones was relieved from a nightly exhibition, which would have made him a certain mark for the enemy to shoot at. On the occasion of the trial he also used the Drummond light, a twin invention with that of Mr. Gurney. The third light was an electric flame; all of which were condemned for the sole and sufficient reason that our own workmen would have been more exposed by the illumination than those of the garrison. Sergeant Jones served subsequently in the Crimea. ----- Corporal Girvan was also very successful as a diver while health permitted, but he was prevented from rendering any particular assistance after the 27th July, from an accident occasioned by the air-pipe of his apparatus blowing off the pump on deck. He was aware that something had gone wrong, and making the signal, was drawn up sensible, but much injured about the throat and head, and blood was flowing copiously from his mouth and ears. The air rushed violently out of his helmet, as if no safety valve had been attached to it. This arose from the valve not having been taken to pieces since the commencement of the season, and, moreover, being clogged with verdigris, could not be properly shut, and hence the air was enabled to escape.[463] ----- Footnote 463: The ‘Times,’ August 19, 1844. ----- Private John Skelton, so frequently praised for his ingenuity as a workman and for his daring as a diver, was during the operations drowned by accident off Southsea Castle. The conduct and exertions of the whole detachment were flatteringly spoken of by Major-General Pasley, particularly sergeant Lindsay,[464] who, next to the officer in command, had the chief superintendence. Corporal John Rae[465] and private Alexander Cleghorn were also named for their intelligence and services in the management of the voltaic batteries and firing of the charges, and their duties, next to the divers, were the most important. The divers occasionally went down as many as twenty times in a tide, and the remuneration of each was from 1_s._ 3_d._ to 2_s._ a tide, besides the usual working pay of 1_s._ a-day. This enabled each first-class diver to realize between 5_s._ and 6_s._ a-day, exclusive of his regimental allowances. ----- Footnote 464: Discharged with a pension of 1_s._ 10_d._ a-day, in April, 1848, and obtained from the Surveyor-General of Prisons the appointment of foreman over the contractors, on the part of the Government, at 5_s._ a-day. Subsequently he was removed by promotion to be foreman of works in the convict establishment at Woolwich, which embrace the supervision of the convicts working both in the arsenal and dock-yard. His salary, with rent and rations, exceeded 130_l._ a-year. He now fills a similar situation at Chatham, with a more lucrative recompense. Footnote 465: Subsequently became a sergeant, and was employed on special duty at Round Down Cliff, Dover, and in the drainage works at Windsor. After passing five terms at Sandhurst, he was rewarded for his intelligence and good service, with a case of drawing instruments; and in September, 1848, was promoted to the rank of staff-sergeant at the College. Several interesting models, made by himself, of military importance, he presented to that institution. ----- The royal mail steamer ‘Tay,’ on her passage to Bermuda, sustained some damage to her bottom by running a-shore on the Cuban coast. On her arrival at Bermuda on the 16th August, corporal Harris was employed to examine her. Supplied with a diving-helmet and suit from the dockyard, he went down and found part of her cutwater and keel and about twelve feet of planking on her starboard side carried away. Forty-one times he dived in repairing the injury, and in three days so effectually finished his work that the vessel was enabled to return safely to England with the mails. By an order from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, then Lord Stanley, this non-commissioned officer was attached, late in the year, to the department of the Naval Inspector of Works at Bermuda, for the purpose of removing, by submarine mining, coral reefs from the entrances of harbours, so as to make them accessible to ordinary vessels. Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, R.E., the Governor of the Island, carried on a correspondence which extended over a period of eighteen months, to obtain the services of this diver.[466] The first work undertaken by him was widening and deepening the ship channel leading into the harbour of St. George. For three or four years he confined his exertions to this point, and so well planned and skilfully executed were his operations that all natural impediments militating against the safety of the channel, were at length completely removed by the explosions of innumerable charges of gunpowder, fired through the agency of voltaic electricity. Under Colonel Barry, the commanding royal engineer who had the superintendence of the service for most of the period, the work was successfully prosecuted. The spaciousness of the channel for the passage of steam-vessels of large tonnage and great draught of water, was practically tested on the 26th February, 1848, by Her Majesty’s steamer ‘Growler,’ of 1,200 tons, Captain Hall. The vessel steamed into the harbour against wind and tide, drawing fifteen and one-third feet of water, and effected the passage with ease and steadiness, having beneath her keel when passing “the bar,” the worst part of the channel, at least five feet of water.[467] These signally successful operations saved the Government several thousands of pounds; and in the event of Hamilton losing its commercial importance, the harbour of St. George will, no doubt, be selected as the chief water for the passage of the mails and the trade and marine of the Islands. ----- Footnote 466: ‘Second Report, Army and Ordnance Expenditure,’ 1849, p. 617. Footnote 467: The ‘Bermudian,’ March, 1848. ----- At Chatham, late in the year, some mining operations were carried on under Colonel Sir Frederick Smith, the director of the royal engineer establishment. The works were pushed under the glacis in front of the left face of the ravelin, and the right face of the Duke of Cumberland’s Bastion. All the corps at the station, with the East India Company’s sappers, were present, working night and day in three reliefs of six hours each, and the numerous explosions that took place, and the attempts made to render abortive the schemes of opposing parties, invested the operations with the character in many essential respects of subterranean warfare. The exciting experiments, however, were not concluded without casualty, for on one occasion from inhaling foul air, a sapper of the East India Company named James Sullivan was killed, and three of the royal sappers were drawn out in a state of dangerous insensibility. These were privates John Murphy, John A. Harris, and Edward Bailey. Lieutenant Moggeridge, R.E., who had charge of the party, also fainted, but he was saved from serious injury by colour-sergeant George Shepherd rushing into the gallery and bringing him out. At the time of the accident, the miners were about one hundred and fifty feet from the mouth of the shaft; and several who went in to rescue their comrades suffered more or less from the air. Singular, however, as it may appear, lights were burning near the ground the whole time, and instantly after the last man was carried out of the gallery, it was traversed in its whole length by lance-corporal John Wood,[468] who carried a light in his hand and experienced no great difficulty in breathing.[469] ----- Footnote 468: Joined the corps from the military asylum at Chelsea. By his attainments and merits he was in time promoted to the rank of corporal. His career, however, was marked by occasional intemperance, which at length settled into confirmed drunkenness and mental eccentricity. Unable to control his propensity to intoxication, he became a useless soldier, and after twenty years' service was discharged without a pension. He is now a vagrant and a beggar. Footnote 469: ‘Professional Papers,’ viii., pp. 156-180, in which will be found an interesting detail of the operations. ----- The Hong Kong party under Major Aldrich, R.E., was inspected in the autumn by Major-General D’Aguilar, C.B., in command of the troops in China; and his Excellency in his official report “regretted that a detachment of so much importance, and so well constituted, should have been reduced by six deaths and three invalided during the half year, and that the men present should, in their appearance, show the effects of climate.” In December following the detachment was ordered to be increased to a half company, and the reinforcement of fifteen rank and file, sailing from the West India Docks in the ‘William Shand’ freight-ship, in February, 1845, landed at Victoria on the 28th June following. In May, 1851, the party returned to England, but its strength was reduced by casualties to six men only. Of the remainder, four were invalided, three died, one was drowned on passage from Victoria to Macao, and one was killed by falling over a precipice. 1845. Sheerness—Increase to the corps at the Cape—Survey of Windsor—Skill of privates Holland and Hogan as draughtsmen—Etchings by the latter for the Queen and Prince Albert—Unique idea of the use of a bullet—Inspection at Gibraltar by Sir Robert Wilson—Falkland Islands—Discharges on the survey duty during the railway mania. On the 15th May twelve rank and file were detached to Sheerness, and, with little variation in its strength, continued to work there till April, 1849. The men were employed at their trades, and assisted in carrying out some boring experiments to ascertain the nature of the strata. Corporal Charles Hawkins, who discharged the duty of foreman of works, was highly spoken of for his activity and ability, and the men were praised for their good conduct and exertions. A company was added to the strength of the corps at the Cape of Good Hope by the arrival from Woolwich of the ninth company under the command of Captain R. Howorth, R.E., on the 20th August. On landing at Algoa Bay, the reinforcement was removed to the different military posts on the frontier.[470] The two companies in the colony now reached a total of 174 of all ranks. This addition to the command did not occasion an augmentation to the corps, but reduced one company of the disposable force at home. ----- Footnote 470: The voyage was full of incident. On the freight-ship, ‘Gilbert Henderson,’ sailing from Woolwich, the crew mutinied and left her at the Nore. A fresh crew, chiefly foreigners, unable to speak English, was engaged, and soon after putting to sea, the ship took fire, but the exertions of the company soon extinguished it. Near Dungeness she ran on a sand-bank, but by working all night, she was got off. When about a fortnight’s sail from Port Elizabeth, she was overtaken by a heavy squall, which carried away the greater part of her gear, and her fore and main masts. To complete the chapter of accidents, the disembarkation took place in a heavy surf, and as boats refused to venture out, the men, women, and children were borne to land on the backs of nude blacks. ----- The survey of Windsor, including the Home Park, Castle, Frogmore, and the Royal Gardens, undertaken by Her Majesty’s command in 1843 by a party of about twenty non-commissioned officers and men of the survey companies, was completed in the summer of this year. Captain Tucker, R.E., had the direction of the work, and colour-sergeant Joseph Smith the executive charge. The drawings were accurately and very beautifully executed on a scale of five feet to a mile, which admitted of the fretwork of the ceilings being penned in for each apartment of the castle. So exquisitely was the work performed, that the drawings by privates Charles Holland[471] and Patrick S. Hogan[472] were constantly mistaken for engravings; and Prince Albert, to mark his approbation of their merits, presented each with a useful and elegant case of mathematical drawing instruments. The plans were made to show the contour levels at every four vertical feet above and two vertical feet below the flood-line of 1841. Several sectional plans were also executed by the party to assist Sir Henry de la Beche in the drainage of the town and castle, which, at the time, was considered very defective. The plan for the office of Woods and Forests, designed with a view to the improvement of the sewerage, was drawn on a sheet eleven feet square; and a reduced plan was also drawn for the library of the Prince Consort. His Royal Highness and other distinguished personages frequently visited the office to view the progress of the work, and never quitted without graciously commending the party for their zeal and proficiency. ----- Footnote 471: Became second-corporal, and after being pensioned in April, 1847, returned as a draughtsman to the ordnance map office at Southampton. He is, perhaps, the best man of his class in the department, and his drawings are always executed with fidelity and beauty. Frequently their neatness, and richness of colouring and ornament, give them an effect truly artistic and pictorial. Footnote 472: Made an etching of the ‘Adelaide Oak,’ in the Home Park, which, submitted by Sir Henry de la Beche to Lord Liverpool, obtained for him a complimentary introduction to Prince Albert. His Royal Highness accepted the etching, and expressed himself much pleased with the beauty and minuteness of the execution.—‘Morning Post,’ Saturday, August 19, 1843. The tree had a pretty seat hut nearly half round the bottom of its trunk, and in another part of it was a remarkable hollow occasioned by time. Her Majesty the Queen Dowager had been known frequently to sit reading under its ample shade, and on that account it was considered to be her favourite oak. Hogan afterwards presented, through Colonel Wylde, an etching of the ‘Victoria Oak,’ in the Green Park, to the Prince; and His Royal Highness, in thanking the giver, expressed the admiration he felt for his talents as an artist, and rewarded him with the sum of 5_l_. These handsome pair of etchings are now the property of Her Majesty. Hogan never received promotion in the corps, as he was unqualified for command; and being discharged, on the usual pension in January, 1845, soon afterwards emigrated to South Australia. An anecdote, which is unique in its way, may be added of this good easy man. At Trinity College, Dublin, he had gained prizes as an artist, but when he enlisted, was as ignorant of the use of fire-arms as a child. Having fired blank cartridge in the usual routine of drill, he was considered to be ripe enough to enter upon the more advanced stage of firing ball. Accordingly, with others of his company, he was ordered to attend this instructional duty. When directed to prime and load, he was observed to separate the bullet from the cartridge and throw it away. Sergeant Hilton, who had charge of the party, picked up the discarded bullet; and on asking Hogan his reason for biting it off, he replied, “Sure, sir, I didn’t know that the knob was of any use!” Sir Robert Wilson inspected the companies at Gibraltar in October, and when he concluded, was pleased to convey the expression of his satisfaction in these words, “that on parade, they showed they had duly attended to their military acquirements whilst employed at work, which,” he added, “will be a lasting monument to their merits.” The Falkland Islands' detachment was still toiling in the formation of the colony, subjected to all the inconveniences and vicissitudes of a bad and depressing climate. Their duties embraced every variety of hard and laborious service, such as making excavations, drains, roads, jetties, building houses, huts, &c. Carrying heavy burdens of stores, and loading and unloading boats, were among their roughest tasks, accompanied as they were with the necessity of wading in the water on sharp stony beaches, which destroyed in a week or two the strongest boots. The wear and tear of clothes was almost ruinous; and to make up for the expenses incurred in replacing them, and in purchasing provisions which were dear, working pay, exclusive of regimental allowances, was granted to the men from 1_s._ 6_d._ to 4_s._ 6_d._ a-day. The sergeant received the highest rate, the privates the lowest. In winter they lived mostly in tents, with snow around and a humid soil beneath; and being constantly at work out of doors, they frequently returned at night, wet through, to a small cheerless fire, never lending heat enough to dry their dripping clothes. At times they were on short allowance; and when flour was selling at 6_l._ 10_s._ per barrel of 192 lbs., the men were glad of the chance of buying a small handkerchief-full of damaged biscuit for 4_s._ 4_d._ To the recklessness of a wretched and lawless community, composed of men of the lowest class, was opposed the five or six gentlemen in official appointments and the sappers. The latter, however, from constantly working with them, were incessantly exposed to every kind of evil influence; and without amusement or subjects of interest to occupy their attention in the intervals of labour, four of the party gradually yielded to the prevailing corruption and were removed from the settlement. The residue were highly commended for their “esprit de corps,” and sergeant Hearnden in particular, for his admirable conduct, was specially noticed in the Governor’s despatches to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The sergeant’s trials were very great, his exertions unflagging, and his unrestricted devotion of every hour to the public weal was frequently warmly acknowledged by the Governor. A mania for railways set in this year which caused an excessive demand for surveyors to trace and survey the lines. This occasioned the withdrawal of more than 200 civil assistants and about 60 labourers, besides 1 sergeant, 1 corporal, 6 second-corporals, and 19 privates, who were discharged from the survey companies at their own request. Many of those who quitted, possessed superior abilities as surveyors and draughtsmen. The offers made were too tempting to be resisted; and some of the men secured employment, which enabled them to realize an income of more than six guineas a-week. To make up for the loss in the survey force, Colonel Colby proposed the augmentation of another company for the duty; but the measure was not acceded to till April, 1848. 1846. Boundary surveys in North America—Duties of the party engaged in it—Mode of ascertaining longitudes—Trials of the party; Owen Lonergan—The sixty-four mile line—Official recognition of its services—Sergeant James Mulligan—Kaffir war—Corporal B. Castledine—Parties employed at the guns—Graham’s Town—Fort Brown—Patrols—Bridge over the Fish River—Field services with the second division—Dodo’s kraal—Waterloo Bay—Field services with the first division—Patrol under Lieutenant Bourchier—Mutiny of the Swellandam native infantry—Conduct of corps in the campaign—Alterations in the dress—Drainage of Windsor—Detachment to Hudson’s Bay—Its organization—Journey to Fort Garry—Sergeant Philip Clark—Private R. Penton—Corporal T. Macpherson—Lower Fort Garry—Particular services—Return to England. The survey of the boundary between the British possessions in North America and the United States, as settled by the treaty of Washington, was completed this year. Six non-commissioned officers selected for the duty embarked at Liverpool in April, 1843, and landing at Boston, thence re-embarked on board a coasting steamer, and sailed to St. John’s, New Brunswick. By boat they then passed on to Fredericton, and on the 1st June commenced operations at the Grand Falls. All were dressed in plain clothes. Corporals James Mulligan, Daniel Rock, and Alfred Garnham had been for three months at the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and were instructed in the mode of making and computing such astronomical observations, as were considered best suited to the service to be performed.[473] Very soon the detachment “drew forth the praise and admiration of the American party. The Americans,” adds the despatch, “had no persons to stand in the place of them.” So useful were they found in the service, that, in the second season, when the work of the commission had to be extended, the detachment was increased to twenty men of all ranks.[474] ----- Footnote 473: ‘Military Annual,’ 1844. ‘Corps Papers,’ i., p. 107. Footnote 474: ‘Corps Papers,’ i., p. 107. ----- Captains Broughton, Robinson, and Pipon, R.E., commanded the party under Lieutenant-Colonel Estcourt, the chief commissioner; and at the close of the second season, the survey had so far progressed, that nine men were removed from the duty, and arrived at Woolwich in January, 1845. The services of three other men were dispensed with at the close of 1845, and reaching head-quarters in December, they were followed, on the 9th July, 1846, by four more. Three were discharged in Canada, and the twentieth man, corporal Garnham, arrived in England 10th September, 1846. A few details of this international service would seem to be required to explain the nature of the duties intrusted to the men. Having once entered the woods, the survey was continued without interruption, until the termination of the out-door operations of