Chapter XII: Part 12

At the close of the year a party of the corps was attached to Captain Drummond to assist him in carrying on experiments and observations with his lamp and heliostat. The observing station was on Divis Mountain, near Belfast, and the season was fearfully inclement. Frequently the mountain and the camp were enveloped in snow, and the blowing of a keen cold wind made their situation anything but agreeable. On two or three occasions a storm visited their desolate location, and carried away in its blast, tents, baggage, and stores. Still the men were sturdy in frame, willing in disposition, and exerted themselves in the discharge of their duties under trials of no ordinary character. A few men of the party, thirteen in number, were removed to Slieve Snacht in Donegal, to exhibit the light, that it might be observed from Divis. The distance between the heights was sixty-six miles. The camp on Snacht was at an altitude of 2,000 feet, and the party peculiarly exposed. Few in number, they were ill able to buffet with the tempests of those cold regions; “and the tents were so frequently blown down,” and had become so shattered and torn, “that, after the first few days, they abandoned them, and constructed huts of rough stones, filling the interstices with turf.” On this bleak mountain the success of the light was first proved. At night the lamp was directed on Divis. It was then dark, and both the camps were covered with snow. The wind blew piercingly over the mountain tops, and almost flayed the faces of the men as they worked. But it was on that stormy night that the light, first seen by the sapper sentry, “burst into view with surpassing splendour,” and afterwards became one of the most useful agencies in the prosecution of the survey.[251]

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Footnote 251:

‘Prof. Papers,’ iv.; preface, pp. xiv. xvii.

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Of this mountain party one man in particular was noticed for his hardihood and endurance. This was private Alexander Smith. In the morning he would leave the camp, and, after journeying about twenty miles, return to the height weighed down with a mule’s load, and on gaining the summit, would after relieving himself of his burden, resume his work in the camp, without exhibiting any symptoms of fatigue, or evincing a desire for rest. On one occasion, having been at Buncrana, about ten miles from the station, he was returning late with his freight, comprising a side of mutton, a jar of spirits, a number of lesser articles, and a bag of letters. Wrapped up in his greatcoat, and his cap pulled over his ears, he commenced to pick his way up the ascent; but the tempest beat against him, the piercing wind opposed his progress, and the snow covered alike the lone traveller and the waste. As he encountered this war of elements, darkness closed upon him, and, losing his track, he passed the night exposed to the pitiless storm, wandering about on the mountain. At day-break he crawled into the camp—a picture that gave a melancholy interest to the wild landscape around; but such was his endurance, and such his fortitude, that beyond the pain of numbness, he felt no inconvenience from the sufferings and exertions of that dreadful night. The devotion of this man was the admiration of Captain Drummond, and his promotion to second-corporal was the reward of his willing zeal. Ultimately he reached the rank of sergeant, and was discharged in October, 1839, from a chest complaint, which traced its origin to his labours and exposure on Slieve Snacht.

The third company, of sixty strong, under Lieutenant Gregory, R.E., embarked at Woolwich, 26th February, on board the ‘Shipley’ transport for the West Indies, and was wrecked on the morning of the 19th April on the Cobbler’s Rocks near Barbadoes. The ship had made the land at half-past ten o’clock the preceding evening, and, hauling up to S.S.E., the agent on board counselled that the ship should stand off till 3 o’clock. Soon after 12 at night, the master, contrary to the naval officer’s advice, ordered the ship to stand for the land, and went to bed, leaving in charge a man who soon became intoxicated and fell asleep. Thus left to herself, the vessel got out of her course, and about 3 A.M. dashed with a frightful crash upon the reef. At this time it was pitch dark, and the frequency of the shocks split and tore the ship in every direction. While the crew and the sappers were getting tackle ready to hoist the long-boat out, the cook-house caught fire, but it was promptly extinguished with wet blankets and sails. The freshness of the wind driving the sea against the shore, and the steepness of the cliffs which were higher than the ship’s royal mainmast, made it impracticable to land a boat; but the boatswain, taking with him a deep sea-line, gained a craggy pinnacle on the rocks, and throwing it to a black fisherman on the top, who chanced to reach the spot at the moment, a six-inch tow-line was quickly passed to him, by which the troops, with their wives and families, in slings and cradles, worked themselves to the summit of the precipice. In ten minutes after the ‘Shipley’ became a total wreck, and the company lost its entire baggage, equipment, &c. Lieutenant Gregory was the last to quit the sinking ship. Being almost naked and barefooted, a number of greatcoats and ample land-carriage were sent for the company; and in this state, under an oppressive sun, they reached their quarters at St. Anne’s on the evening of the 19th April.[252]

A party of this company was constantly detached to Berbice for the service of the engineer department; and second-corporal Thomas Sirrell, an able artificer, superintended the construction of the iron hospital at Antigua, where he died. To acquire a knowledge of the application of iron to be used in the erection of barracks in the West Indies, he had been specially employed for six months under Lieutenant Brandreth in the foundries at Birmingham.

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Footnote 252:

‘Morning Herald,’ June 5, 1826.

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1827-1829.

Augmentation—Reinforcement to Bermuda—Companies for Rideau
Canal—Reinforcement to the Cape—Monument to the memory of
General Wolfe—Increase to the survey companies—Supernumerary
promotions—Measurement of Lough Foyle base—Suggestion of sergeant
Sim for measuring across the river Roe—Survey companies inspected
by Major-General Sir James C. Smyth; opinion of their services by
Sir Henry Hardinge—Sergeant-major Townsend—Demolition of the
Glacière Bastion at Quebec—Banquet to fifth company by Lord
Dalhousie—Service of the sappers at the citadel of Quebec—Notice
of sergeants Dunnett and John Smith—Works to be executed by
contract—Trial of pontoons, and exertions of corporal James
Forbes—Epidemic at Gibraltar—Island of Ascension; corporal
Beal—Forage-caps—Company withdrawn from Nova Scotia—Party to
Sandhurst College, and usefulness of corporal Forbes.

Great inconvenience was felt in carrying on the public works abroad, from the inadequacy of the strength of the corps to supply the number of workmen for services in which their employment would have been useful and economical; and as very heavy expenses had been incurred, in having recourse to a greater proportion of civil workmen, at high wages, than would otherwise have been necessary, General Gother Mann, in July, 1826, submitted some suggestions on the subject to the Master-General and Board, and obtained their authority to carry out his plans.

In December, consequently, orders were given for the formation of a company of 81 strong, for employment on the works at Bermuda, and for augmenting the company already there from 51 to 70 privates. The company was accordingly formed in January, 1827, and with the reinforcement to complete the other company, sailed from Devonport in the ‘Hebe’ freightship, and landed at Bermuda on the 25th of May. The sappers at the station were then divided between St. George’s and Ireland Island.

A royal warrant, dated 26th March, 1827, confirmed the raising of the company for Bermuda, and ordered a further augmentation of two companies of eighty-one strong each for the works of the Rideau Canal in Canada. The fifteenth and seventeenth companies were appointed for this service under Captains Victor and Savage, R.E. The former landed there from the ‘Southworth’ transport on the 1st of June, and the latter from the ‘Haydon,’ on the 17th of September.[253] The establishment of the corps now reached nineteen companies, and counted, of all ranks, 1,262.

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Footnote 253:

On the removal of the fifteenth company to Canada in March, the
Portsmouth station was without a company until November, 1827,
when the eleventh company was sent there from Chatham.

The sappers at the Cape of Good Hope were reinforced to thirty of all ranks by the arrival of one sergeant and eleven privates in August. At this period the men were chiefly employed at Cape Town and Graham’s Town. Occasionally, men are traced at Wynberg, Franch Hoek, and Simon’s Town. The detachment rendered essential aid in the execution of the services of the engineer department, and the necessity for maintaining its numerical efficiency was represented by Major General Bourke and Lord Charles Somerset.

The fifth company at Quebec, on the 15th of November, 1827, was present at the laying of the foundation stone of the monument erected to the memory of General Wolfe. All the masonic tools required for the ceremony were made by men of the company, and the stone was lowered into its bed by some selected masons with colour-sergeant Dunnett. The formal laying of the stone was accomplished by the Earl of Dalhousie and Mr. James Thompson, a venerable man in the ninety-fifth year of his age, the only survivor in Canada of the memorable battle of Quebec, in which Wolfe fell. A few days afterwards, the silver trowel used on the occasion was generously presented by his lordship to sergeant Dunnett.

Great interest was taken by the Duke of Wellington in the survey of Ireland, and he was anxious that it should be prosecuted with all possible despatch. Augmenting and completing the three companies being considered the most important means to facilitate that object, his Grace and the Honourable Board, on the 1st January, sanctioned an increase to the survey companies of nineteen privates each, and on the 13th of March, a further addition of thirty privates; both of which augmented the survey force from 186 to 273 of all ranks, and the establishment of the corps from 1,262 to 1,349 officers and men.

At the commencement of the survey, all promotion was suspended for a time, to enable Colonel Colby to select the ablest men for preferment. He found great difficulty in choosing individuals qualified for it; but in less than two years after, so satisfactory was the improvement made in the attainments and efficiency of the companies, that the Colonel felt it essential to create by authority, supernumerary appointments as a reward for past diligence and an incitement to future exertion. This measure was the more necessary, as the most important part of the work was performed by the non-commissioned officers, who were mostly detached in charge of small parties of the corps with an equal number of civil chainmen. Each non-commissioned officer was thus the chief executive of a certain portion of work, and was responsible for its correct and rapid execution to the officers of the divisions. On the 17th of January, the supernumerary appointments were sanctioned by the Duke of Wellington without limit as to number, and Colonel Colby made ample use of the reward. The advantage enjoyed by the supernumeraries extended only to pay, they receiving the rate of the rank to which they were appointed. Service in the supernumerary grades did not reckon for their benefit towards pension.

From the 6th of September, 1827, to the 20th of November, 1828, with occasional intervals of cessation, a detachment varying from two sergeants and twenty-three rank and file, to two sergeants and six rank and file, were employed on the measurement of Lough Foyle base in the county of Londonderry. A strong detachment of the royal artillery was also employed on this service. The duties of the sappers did not extend to the scientific and more precise details of the operation, but were limited to those subsidiary services which were essential to the rigid execution of the former. Their attention, in fact, was confined to the labours of the camp, the placement of the triangular frames, pickets, trestles, and such other incidental services as were indispensable to obtain an exact level alignment for the application of the measuring bars. A non-commissioned officer invariably attended to the adjusting screws; another frequently registered the observations, another attended to the set of the rollers and the regulation of the plates; and a fourth, with a few men, erected the base tents, moved them forward to the succeeding series of bars, and looked to the security of the apparatus for the night.[254] All these duties, though of a subordinate nature, nevertheless required the exercise of intelligence, and much careful attention on the part of those employed.

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Footnote 254:

Yolland’s ‘Lough Foyle Base,’ p. 25-27.

In connexion with the base operations, the name of sergeant Thomas Sim of the corps, is noticed with credit. Carrying the measurement across the river Roe, about 450 feet broad, was, through his ingenuity, found a more simple matter than had been expected. After giving a good deal of consideration to the subject, the sergeant proposed a plan, which enabled the measurement to be completed in one day and verified the next. This was accomplished, by driving, with the assistance of a small pile engine, stout pickets to the depth of about six feet into the sand and clay, in the exact line of the base, then placing on the heads of the pickets, by means of a mortice, a stretcher perfectly horizontal, and finally, laying upon the upper surfaces of the stretchers, a simple rectangular frame, with two cross pieces to support the feet of the camels or tripods.[255]

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Footnote 255:

Ibid., p. 28.

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By the month of August, the force of the sappers in Ireland amounted to 26 non-commissioned officers, 227 privates, 6 buglers and 11 boys, total 270. In September, the survey companies were inspected by Major-General Sir James Carmichael Smyth, royal engineers, and in his report he stated, “when the detached nature of the duty is considered, and how the soldier is necessarily left to himself, the appearance of the men under arms, as well as the zeal and goodwill they evince in the performance of a duty so new and so laborious, are very much to their credit.” In March previously, Sir Henry Hardinge, in his evidence before the Select Committee on Public Income and Expenditure, spoke of the services of the corps on the survey, as being cheap and successful. To put the question fairly at issue, certain districts of the same nature were conducted, some by engineers with sappers and miners; others, with engineer officers and civil persons and it was satisfactorily proved, that the progress made by the sappers under military authority, was greater than that made by the civil surveyors, and the cheapness commensurate.[256]

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Footnote 256:

‘Second Report Ordnance Estimates,’ 1828, printed 12th June, 1828,
p. 71, 72.

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On the 24th of January, sergeant-major Thomas Townsend was removed from the corps as second lieutenant and adjutant to the second battalion, 60th royal rifles, through the intercession of Lieutenant-Colonel Fitzgerald who commanded that regiment, and in the lapse of years became a captain. In 1844, he retired from the regiment by the sale of his commission, and obtained a barrack-mastership under the Ordnance.

To proceed with the formation of a new citadel at Quebec, it became necessary to remove a portion of the old French works called the Glacière Bastion, comprising the face and flank, about 260 feet in length and 25 feet in height, to give place to a new counterguard intended to cover the escarp of both faces of Dalhousie Bastion from the high ground on the plains of Abraham. This was done by mining, in which service the fifth company of the corps was employed. The whole operations being completed with the desired efficiency by the 19th of February, the Earl of Dalhousie, then Governor-General, accompanied by his staff and a vast assemblage of civil and military persons, attended to witness the demolition. The mines were to have been fired at three points to insure the entire mass coming down at once, but the sapper[257] stationed at the third mine, without waiting for the necessary signals, applied his match to the charge, and the whole of the mines, twenty in number, were simultaneously exploded, crumbling the escarp to pieces, without projecting a stone fifty feet from its original position, and levelling at one crash the whole of the work. The effect produced far surpassed the expectations of the officers employed. Of the services of the company, the commanding royal engineer, in his orders of the day, thus expressed himself: “To colour-sergeant Dunnett, sergeant Young, acting-sergeant Smith, and the non-commissioned officers and privates of the fifth company, Colonel Durnford begs that Captain Melhuish will convey his high approbation of the zeal and ability with which they have performed this portion of practical duty, and to assure them, that a report of it shall be made to the Inspector-General of Fortifications, in order that the success of the operations may be recorded to the credit of the fifth company.”[258] To mark his sense of the services of the sappers on the occasion, the Earl of Dalhousie, in a style of rare munificence, entertained them with a ball and supper on the evening of the 7th of March, in the casemated barracks erected by themselves in the citadel. All the wives, families, and friends of the company attended. Sir Noel and Lady Hill, the Honourable Colonel and Mrs. Gore, Captain Maule, aide-de-camp to his Excellency, the officers of royal engineers and artillery, and several officers of the garrison were present. After supper, the officers of the company and gentlemen visitors took their stations at the head of the table, and at the call of Captain Melhuish, the usual toasts were disposed of. After due honour had been paid to the toast for the health of the Earl of Dalhousie, Captain Maule then rose and spoke as follows:—

“Sergeant Dunnett and soldiers of the fifth company of royal sappers and miners, nothing will be more agreeable to me, than the duty of reporting to his lordship, the Commander of the Forces, the manner in which you have drunk his health. The trait in a soldier’s character, which above all others, recommends him to the notice of his General, is a cordial co-operation on his part, heart and hand, in the undertaking of his officers more immediately placed over him. The fifth company of royal sappers and miners have ever eminently displayed this feeling, but on no occasion more conspicuously than lately in the demolition of the old fortifications. The skill with which this work was devised, the zeal and rapidity with which it was executed, and the magnificent result, will long remain a memorial of all employed in it; and if I may judge from the manner in which you have done honour to his lordship’s health, this mark of his approbation has not been bestowed on men who will soon forget it. I beg all present will join me in drinking the health of Captain Melhuish, the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the fifth company of royal sappers and miners.”

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Footnote 257:

Corporal Daniel Brown.

Footnote 258:

‘Memoir of a Practice in Mining at Quebec.’

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Thanks being returned for the company by Captain Melhuish, sergeant Dunnett, in a most soldierlike manner, gave the health of the ladies and gentlemen who had honoured the company with their presence. Soon after, the company retired to the ball-room, accompanied by the officers and their ladies, and the festive entertainment was kept up with spirit and propriety until five o’clock the next morning.[259]

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Footnote 259:

‘Quebec Mercury,’ February, 1828.

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In the erection of the citadel at Quebec, the sappers were constantly engaged, and some of its chief work was executed by them. The superintendence was carried on by the non-commissioned officers—colour-sergeant Dunnett[260] and acting-sergeant John Smith[261] being the principal foremen. Soon after the arrival of the company, Mr. Hare,[262] the foreman of works at Quebec, died; and on the completion of the works at Kingston, the master mason there was sent to Quebec; but so efficiently had the masons' and bricklayers' work been executed under military supervision, that Colonel Durnford, the commanding royal engineer, ordered the recently-arrived master mason to attend to the repairs of the old fortifications and buildings, and not to interfere with the superintendents at the new citadel. The company quitted Quebec in October, 1831, with an excellent character, both as workmen and soldiers. Only five men had deserted during the period of the station, two of whom were recovered to the service and pardoned by the Earl of Dalhousie. This was another proof of his lordship’s high estimation of the services and conduct of the company.

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Footnote 260:

Was the principal military foreman, and had under his charge from
100 to 200 masons, with their labourers. In the arrangement and
management of this working force he displayed much tact and
judgment, and his work was always laid out and executed with
exactness and success. For his services he received a gratuity and
medal and a pension of 1_s._ 10½_d._ a-day in April, 1834. He was
soon afterwards appointed foreman of masons in Canada, where he
died.

Footnote 261:

See page 260.

Footnote 262:

Joseph Hare had formerly been a sergeant in the corps, and on his
discharge in October, 1822, was appointed foreman of masons at
Quebec.

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A select committee on public income and expenditure sat early this year to scrutinize the Ordnance estimates. By this committee the duties and services of the corps were considered. In the report upon the evidence adduced, the committee strongly recommended that all work which admitted of being measured should be done by contract, and that the sappers and miners employed on buildings at day-work should be diminished.[263] The effect of this measure was simply to confine the labours of the corps to the repairs and fortifications, and occasionally to building, without reducing its numerical establishment.

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Footnote 263:

‘Second Report Ordnance Est.,’ 1828, printed 12th June, 1828, p.
25.

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Another trial of pontoons took place at Chatham in July, and the exertions of the detachment employed on the occasion under Captain J. S. Macauley, R.E., were warmly acknowledged by Sir James Colleton, one of the competitors. Captain White of the royal staff corps, who was engaged on the part of Sir James, thus wrote of the sappers:—“During my long acquaintance with military men, I never witnessed in any troops a greater determination to perform to the utmost of their power the duty on which they were placed. Where all have done their duty with such energy, I cannot make any distinction in conveying to you my good wishes towards them, except in the conduct of corporal James Forbes, who appears to me to be a first-rate non-commissioned officer, and who has on this occasion done his duty in a manner highly creditable to himself.”[264]

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Footnote 264:

See page 296.

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An epidemic fever of nearly equal severity to the one of 1804 raged at Gibraltar in September and October. The greater part of the sappers at the Rock were seized with the complaint and nineteen died. Being quartered in the barracks near the unhealthy district and in the vicinity of the line of drains, the companies furnished the first victims to the disease;[265] and to lessen the mortality which this circumstance was likely to induce, they were, for a time, encamped on a rocky flat below Windmill Hill. The deaths at the fortress during the prevalence of the fever were 507 military and 1,700 civilians.[266]

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Footnote 265:

‘United Service Journal,’ i. 1831, p. 235.

Footnote 266:

Martin’s ‘British Colonies,’ v. p. 79.

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Lieutenant H. R. Brandreth, R.E., early in 1829 proceeded to Ascension, and having made a survey of the island, returned to England and reported on its capabilities for defence and eligibility for an Admiralty station. Lance-corporal William Beal was attached to that officer and employed under him from March to September. His duty was chiefly that of a clerk, but he also assisted in making the measurements of the survey, and in collecting geological specimens to illustrate the character of the strata. In the discharge of these services, his zeal and intelligence were found very useful, and on his return he was deservedly promoted to be second-corporal.

In June the forage caps were somewhat altered. The yellow band was abolished, and hoops and stiffening were forbidden. The cap was now of plain blue web, with leather peak and chin strap. The sergeants' caps were of plain blue cloth, hooped and stiffened, with three chevrons of gold lace in front over the peak. The staff-sergeants retained the gold bands.

Nova Scotia, which ceased to be a station for the corps in 1819, was again opened for a company this year, which landed from the ‘Sophia’ transport on the 10th June, 1829. A company of the corps has ever since been employed there in carrying on the ordinary works and fortifications, and in the erection of the citadel.

Twelve privates under corporal James Forbes, were, in September, for the first time, sent to Sandhurst to afford practical instruction in sapping, mining, &c., to the gentlemen cadets at the Royal Military College. The term extended over September and October, and the party returned to Chatham with the highest character. Much praise was awarded to corporal Forbes for his exertions and attainments, and his promotion to the rank of sergeant followed in consequence. From that time a detachment has, during each term, been attached to the college for the same useful purpose, and has invariably performed its duties with credit and effect.

1830-1832.

The chaco—Brigade-Major Rice Jones—Island of Ascension—Notice of
corporal Beal—Detachment to the Tower of London—Chatham during the
Reform agitation—Staff appointments—Sergeant M‘Laren the first
medallist in the corps—Terrific hurricane at Barbadoes;
distinguished conduct of colour-sergeant Harris and corporal
Muir—Subaqueous destruction of the ‘Arethusa’ at Barbadoes—Return
of a detachment to the Tower of London—Rideau canal; services of
the sappers in its construction; casualties; and disbandment of
the companies—Costume—First detachment to the Mauritius—Notice of
corporal Reed—Pendennis Castle.

The chaco was altered this year to one of a reduced form, and decorated with yellow lines and tassels, which fell upon the shoulders and looped to the centre of the breast. The brasses comprised a radiated star with three guns, carriages, and sponges, surmounted by a crown. The scales were, for the first time, worn under the chin, and a goose feather ten inches long, was held upright by an exploded shell. The ear-cover was removed, and a patent leather band was substituted.—See Plate XIV., 1832. The sergeants and staff-sergeants had chacos of a superior description with ornaments of fine gilt, bearing guns, carriages, and sponges of silver. The lines and tassels were of gold cord, and were worn only at reviews or on special occasions. Oil-skin covers were sometimes worn by the officers, and oil-skin cases for the feather by all ranks in rainy weather. Worsted mitts were also adopted at this time instead of leather gloves. The sergeants and the staff wore white Berlin gloves.

Major Frank Stanway, R.E., was appointed brigade-major to the corps on the 8th June, vice Lieutenant-Colonel Rice Jones removed on promotion. The post had been held by Colonel Jones for seventeen years. Under his guidance, a successful check was given to those deep-rooted habits of indiscipline which had characterized the corps, and cramped its efficiency. This was not accomplished without encountering many obstacles; but firm in his purpose, and decided in his bearing and orders, he soon reaped the reward of his perseverance and diligence; and when the custom of the service required that he should relinquish his charge, he delivered the corps to his successor in a state that reflected upon him the highest honour.

Second-corporal William Beal returned to Ascension in August with Captain Brandreth, and continued with him till September, 1831. During this period he assisted in marking out the sites of the principal works proposed to be erected for the improvement and establishment of the colony as a naval victualling station, and performed his duty in an able and satisfactory manner.[267]

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Footnote 267:

Was educated for a Baptist minister; but an introduction to Dr.
Olinthus Gregory failing to realize his hopes, he enlisted in the
corps in 1828. His intelligence caused him to be chosen for the
two surveys of Ascension. He afterwards served at Bermuda, and at
Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the former station he was wounded by the
accidental firing of a mine whilst blasting rock, and submitted to
the amputation of portions of his fingers with stoical composure.
Wherever he went he took with him a small but valuable library,
and was well read in the latest issues from the press. Byron,
Carlyle, and some abstruse German writers, were his favourite
authors. No man in his condition of life was, perhaps, as
conversant with the roots and eccentricities of the English
language as Beal, and his mental endowments rendered him capable
of grasping any subject, however deep, and turning it to profit
both in his duties and in his daily intercourse with men. Late in
his service he attained proficiency as a draughtsman, and later
still, an enterprising engineer in London submitted a plan for a
system of sewers in the metropolis, which was accompanied by a
report drawn up by this sergeant. He left the corps in April,
1849, with a pension of 2_s._; and the knowledge and experience he
had acquired by application and travel, are now being employed,
with advantage to his interests, in one of the settlements on the
Rideau Canal in Canada.

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Reform was, at this period, the turbulent cry of the country, and masses of the people in consequence of its delay, assumed a menacing attitude. Anticipating an outbreak in the metropolis, one sergeant, two corporals, and twenty-eight privates under the command of Lieutenant George Page, R.E., marched to the Tower on the 8th November. The two following days the detachment was under arms with the other troops to put down any attempt at insurrection, but both days passed off without any demonstration requiring the interference of the military. After constructing some temporary works in and about the Tower, the party returned to Woolwich 22nd January, 1831.

At Chatham during the same period, Colonel Sir Archibald Christie, the commandant, did the corps the honour of confiding to it the charge of the magazines within the lines. Repeatedly the guards were approached by suspicious persons; and on one occasion private John Herkes was fired at by an unseen hand, but the ball missed him and perforated the sentry-box. The vigilance of the men and the strictness with which they discharged their duty, gained them the highest credit.

Captain Edward Matson was appointed brigade-major to the corps on the 14th February, vice Major Stanway who resigned; and Captain Joshua Jebb was commissioned as adjutant to the establishment at Chatham from the same date in the room of Captain Matson.

Colour-sergeant James McLaren was the first soldier of the corps who received the gratuity and medal. The distinction was conferred upon him in April, and well he merited it, both on account of his excellent conduct and his good services at St. Sebastian, Algiers, New Orleans, and the Cape of Good Hope. He only survived the receipt of his honours a few days.

Barbadoes was visited by a hurricane at midnight on the 11th August, and its results far exceeded in magnitude the fearful storms of 1675 and 1780. The loss of life on this occasion was calculated at 2,500, and the wounded at 5,000 persons; while the value of property destroyed, exclusive of losses by the government and the shipping, was estimated at more than a million and a half of money. But in this universal devastation the military suffered but little. The company of sappers was quartered in the barracks at the parade-ground. The lower part, occupied by the artillery, lost only the jalousie windows; while the upper part, where the sappers were located, was considerably cracked, the roof uncovered, and several of the rafters broken, by the falling of the parapet upon them. Still with all this danger no accident happened which affected life or limb.[268] At the hospital the consequences were different. Strongly built and appearing to defy the most powerful storm, that building was blown down, and private Charles Shambrook crushed to death in the fall.[269] During the hurricane it is recorded, that colour-sergeant Joseph Harris signalized himself at the hospital of the 36th regiment by his praiseworthy exertions in rescuing sufferers from the ruins; and his skilful and zealous conduct was applauded by the officers who assisted him.[270] Corporal Andrew Muir of the corps also, at great risk to his life, distinguished himself by his activity in every part where his assistance was required, and being a very powerful man, was eminently successful in relieving his suffering fellow-soldiers of various corps.[271]

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Footnote 268:

‘Account of the fatal Hurricane at Barbadoes in 1831,’ p. 89.

Footnote 269:

Opposite the General Hospital, a monumental tomb, erected by his
surviving comrades, marks the spot where the mangled remains of
poor Shambrook were interred. Ibid., p. 95.

Footnote 270:

Ibid., p. 94.

Footnote 271:

Ibid., p. 97.

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Soon after the hurricane, the ‘Arethusa,’ of Liverpool, a ship of 350 tons, was blown to pieces by gunpowder in the harbour of Barbadoes, by colour-sergeant Harris and a party of the 19th company under the direction of Major, now Colonel Sir William Reid. The destruction of the ship was effected by a number of successive small charges of gunpowder applied to the ship’s bottom as near the keel as possible, and fired at high water;[272] and as it has not been discovered, in the history of engineering, that the entire demolition of a wreck was ever accomplished by these means, it is therefore memorable that the royal sappers and miners were the first who ever destroyed a sunken wreck by submarine mining.[273]

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Footnote 272:

‘Prof. Papers, Royal Engineers,’ ii. p. 36. ‘United Service
Journal,’ iii. 1838, p. 37.

Footnote 273:

‘United Service Journal,’ ii. 1839, p. 183, 184.

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On the 7th October, the House of Lords threw out the Reform Bill, and as consequent riots had occurred in various parts of the country, it was expected that an attack would be made on the Tower of London. To assist in repelling any attempt upon that fortress, two sergeants and thirty-three rank and file under the command of Lieutenant John Williams, R.E., were sent there on the 8th November, but after being under arms for a week, they returned to Woolwich, without any necessity arising for the employment of their services.

Late in December, second-corporal Edward Deane and private James Andrews, accompanied Captain C. Grierson to Western Africa, where they were employed in surveying the coast and the town of Bathurst. On this duty they were found particularly useful, and rejoined at Woolwich in June, 1832.

The Rideau Canal, began in 1827, was finished in the winter of 1831, connecting the trade and commerce of the two provinces of Canada, on which, by means of locks and dams, vessels are raised to a summit level of 283 feet in eighty-four miles, and again descend 165 feet in forty-three miles.[274] The object of the undertaking was, in the event of a war with the United States, to have a secure water communication open between the lakes and Lower Canada.[275] Two companies of the corps were employed on this service under the command of Lieut.-Colonel By of the engineers, whose name was given to the town which rose up in the wild spot selected for the headquarters. The earliest hut in Bytown, now a flourishing settlement, was built by the sappers. For the first summer they were encamped on a height near the Ottawa, but before the winter set in were removed into temporary barracks erected by themselves. Most of the work of the canal was executed by contract, but in some parts of the line where the engineering difficulties were great, sapper labour was chiefly resorted to—the non-commissioned officers acting as foremen of trades and overseers. Parties were detached during the progress of the canal to Merrick’s Mills, Isthmus of Mud Lake, Upper Narrows, rivers Tay and Richmond, Jones' Falls, Claffey’s Mills, Newborough, and Isthmus of Rideau Lake.

Footnote 274:

Speech of Major Selwyn, R.E. ‘Graham’s Town Journal,’ 1842.

Footnote 275:

‘Prof. Papers, Royal Engineers,’ v. p. 157.

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Among the chief services rendered by the companies it is recorded, that a party levelled and cleared the channel of the river between Black Rapids and the head of Long Island. Over the canal they built a bridge connecting upper and lower Bytown, which still bears the designation of the “Sappers' bridge.” In the construction of the first eight locks at the Ottawa, the companies participated to an important extent, and Sir Henry Hardinge, in his evidence before the Select Committee in March, 1828, alluded to their employment at some of the most difficult parts of the work towards the Ottawa.[276] No less difficult was the work executed by them at Hog’s bank. The dam there had been commenced by the contractor, but he ultimately abandoned the undertaking. Sixty men of the corps were withdrawn from the Ottawa to recommence it, and, with some hundred labourers, were employed at the dam all the winter of 1828 and 1829. Before the breaking up of the frost, the masonry was nearly completed with a base of 25 feet; but on the 6th April, 1829, the water found its way through the frozen earth, and making a breach in the dam, carried away everything opposed to it. This was the second failure. Still a third time it was attempted, and under the superintendence of Captain Victor of the royal engineers, a strong framework of timber was formed in front of the breach, supported and strengthened by enormous masses of clay, stone, and gravel, with a base of 250 feet, which successfully overcame the difficulty; and the dam, in 1837, was the most substantial work on the whole line of canal.[277]

-----

Footnote 276:

‘Select Report Ordnance Est.,’ printed 12th June, 1828, p. 82.

Footnote 277:

‘Prof. Papers, Royal Engineers,’ i. p. 86.

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------------------------------------------------------------------------

Royal Sappers & Miners Plate XIV.
UNIFORM 1832 Printed by M & N Hanhart.

]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the completion of the work, which cost upwards of a million of money, the two companies were disbanded in December. Their united strength on leaving England was 160, and the casualties during their period of service at the canal were as follows:—

Deserted 35 Of whom two were apprehended and transported. Transported 1 Died 16 Killed 5 By blasting rock, either in the quarries or the canal. Drowned 1 71 Thirty-seven at the Isthmus of Rideau Discharged Lake, and thirty-four at Bytown.[278] Invalids, and remnant of } companies returned to } 31 England } ___ Total 160

-----

Footnote 278:

Most of these men received 100 acres of land each as a reward for
their services and good conduct, and several were provided with
appointments on the canal.

-----

By the reduction of these companies the establishment of the corps fell from 1,349 to 1,187 of all ranks.

A material alteration was made in the clothing this year by changing the colour of the coatee from scarlet to the infantry red, and the style and decoration of the dress were also modified, to correspond with the form of lacing adopted generally in the line.—See Plate XIV.

The coatee of the bugle-major remained in all respects the same as before. The buglers also retained the scarlet, but the style of wearing the lace accorded with that of the privates. For the working dress, a round jacket with bell buttons bearing the corps device, was established, instead of the jacket with short skirts. Of both uniform and working trousers, the colour was changed from light blue to dark Oxford mixture; but the uniform trousers as formerly, were much finer than the working ones. The red stripe down the outer seam was two inches broad on the former, and half an inch wide on the latter. Laced boots were also introduced this year in place of the short Wellingtons, issued for the first time in 1825. The leather stock hitherto supplied by the public, was now made an article of necessaries and provided at the cost of the soldier.

A detachment of seven masons and bricklayers under corporal John Reed, embarked for the Mauritius on the 25th May and arrived there in the ‘Arab,’ transport, on the 13th November. This was the first party of the corps that had ever landed at the Isle of France. On board ship, great irregularity prevailed among the troops; but corporal Reed’s party behaved in so exemplary a manner, that the report of their creditable conduct was made the subject of a general order to the corps.[279] The detachment was sent to the island at the recommendation of Lieutenant-Colonel Fyers of the royal engineers, for the purpose of leading and instructing the native artificers, and were quartered in some old slave huts at the Caudon. The first work undertaken by the sappers was the tower at Black River. While this was in progress, a reinforcement of one colour-sergeant, and twenty-two rank and file, under the command of Captain C. Grierson, R.E., landed from the ‘Royal George,’ freightship on the 22nd January, 1833, and afterwards assisted in the works at Black River, and also in the erection of two martello towers at Grand River. When these were completed, the services of the entire detachment were chiefly confined to the building of the citadel on the Petite Montagne.

-----

Footnote 279:

Corporal Reed, when returning home an invalid from the Mauritius,
was wrecked on the 17th July, 1836, in the barque ‘Doncaster,’ on
the reef L’Agulhas, 70 miles S.E. of the Cape of Good Hope, and
perished with his wife and family of four children.

-----

In May six rank and file were detached from Plymouth to Pendennis Castle. In June of the next year the party was increased to two sergeants and eighteen rank and file, who were employed there until August in repairing the barracks and strengthening the ramparts.

1833-1836.

Inspection at Chatham by Lord Hill—Pontoon experiments—Withdrawal
of companies from the ports—Reduction of the corps, and
reorganization of the companies—Recall of companies from
abroad—Purfleet—Trigonometrical survey of west coast of
England—Draft to the Cape—Review at Chatham by Lord Hill—Motto to
the corps—Reinforcement to the Mauritius—Inspection at Woolwich by
Sir Frederick Mulcaster—Mortality from cholera; services of
corporals Hopkins and Ritchley—Entertainment to the detachment at
the Mauritius by Sir William Nicolay—Triangulation of the
west coast of Scotland—Kaffir war—Appointments of ten
foremen of works—Death of Quartermaster Galloway—Succeeded
by sergeant-major Hilton—Sergeant Forbes—Notice of his
father—Lieutenant Dashwood—Euphrates expedition—Labours of
the party—Sergeant Sim—Generosity of Colonel Chesney,
R.A.—Additional smiths to the expedition—Loss of the ‘Tigris’
steamer—Descent of the Euphrates—Sappers with the expedition
employed as engineers—Corporal Greenhill—Approbation of
the services of the party—Triangulation of west coast of
Scotland—Addiscombe—Expedition to Spain—Character of the
detachment that accompanied it—Passages; action in front of San
Sebastian—Reinforcement to Spain—Final trial of Pontoons—Mission
to Constantinople.

The corps at Chatham, consisting of two companies and a detachment, were inspected by Lord Hill, the Commander-in-Chief, on the 16th August, 1833, and his Lordship was pleased to express his approbation of their efficiency and appearance.

On the 20th of the same month, some experimental practice was carried on with Major Blanshard’s cylindrical pontoons on the canal in the royal arsenal at Woolwich, in the presence of Lieutenant-General Sir James Kempt, the Master-General. In these trials two non-commissioned officers and twenty-four privates from Chatham assisted, and their activity and energy elicited the thanks of the inventor and the commendation of the Master-General.

On the recommendation of a committee appointed by the Master-General, the company at Plymouth with the detachment at Pendennis, was removed to Woolwich on the 18th August, 1833, and the company at Portsmouth was also transferred to head-quarters on the 29th of the same month. For nearly fifty years a company had been quartered at each of those ports, and their withdrawal was caused by some approaching alterations in the construction and distribution of the corps.

The expediency of reducing it, and remodelling the organization of the companies, had been under consideration for months; and it was believed that even after providing an adequate establishment of sappers and miners proportionate to the strength of the infantry, the numbers of the corps might be so diminished as to lessen its expense 5,000_l._ annually. Major-General Pilkington, the Inspector-General of Fortifications, laid down the rule that 100 sappers was a fair number to be attached to 4,000 infantry, subject, however, to augmentation in particular cases, according to the nature of the country in which operations might be carried on. On these data, Sir James Kempt ordered, on the 30th August, 1833, the companies of the corps to be compressed from seventeen into twelve, and the establishment to be reduced from 1,187 to 1,070 of all ranks.

Under the same order, the eight general service and three survey companies were composed of the following ranks and numbers:—

Colour- Ser- Cor- 2nd Bugl. Priv. Total. General
sergeant. geants. porals. corp. Total.
1 2 3 3 2 80 91 for 11 Comps.=
1,001
The Corfu Comp- }
any, paid by }
the Ionian Gov- }
ernment, was } 1 2 3 3 2 51 62 62
unchanged in }
its establish- }
ment, and }
consisted of } _____
1,063
The Staff, including Brigade-major, Adjutant, Quartermaster, }
2 Sergeant-majors, 1 Quartermaster-sergeant,[280] and } 7
1 Bugle-major, amounted to }
_____
Making of all ranks a total of 1,070
=====

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Footnote 280:

One quartermaster-sergeant was now reduced, and Francis Allen, who
held the rank for twenty-two years, was discharged in October,
1833, and pensioned at 2_s._ 8½_d._ a-day, having completed a
service of more than forty years. One of his sons, formerly in the
corps, is foreman of works at Alderney, and another, until
recently, was clerk of works in the royal engineer department,
London district.

-----

The distribution of the companies was fixed as follows:—

Companies.
Woolwich 3
Chatham 1
Survey 3
Gibraltar 1
Corfu 1
Bermuda 1
Halifax 1
Cape of Good Hope ½
Mauritius ½
Mauritius ½
____
Total 12
====

The companies at Barbadoes and Quebec, and the second companies at Gibraltar and Bermuda, were recalled and incorporated with the newly-constructed companies, or reduced as the circumstances of the service required. The reduction was a progressive measure, and not finally effected till the 6th November, 1834.

A party of six rank and file was sent in January to Purfleet; and a like number continued for more than twenty years to be employed there in carrying on the current repairs to the departmental property with advantage to the public service.

In May, sergeant George Derbyshire and five rank and file were detached under Captain Henderson, of the engineers, on the trigonometrical survey of the west coast of England. The operations embraced the triangulation of the Lancashire and Cumberland coasts with the Isle of Man, and part of the coast of Scotland. The sergeant and one of the privates were employed as observers; the remainder assisted in the erection of objects for observation, stages, &c., and attended to the duties of the camp. The party quitted the mountains in October and rejoined their several companies.

In the same month, at the Cape of Good Hope, the detachment was augmented to half a company of forty-eight of all ranks. The necessity for this addition had been repeatedly represented by the commanding royal engineer at the station. Scarcely a bricklayer or mason could be found in the colony who had served an apprenticeship; and those who professed these trades were not only unskilful and indolent, but generally drunken and dissipated. It therefore became an object of much importance to increase the sappers at the Cape to a number sufficient to meet the exigencies of the service.

On the 3rd June a company and detachment of the corps were reviewed at Chatham with the troops in garrison by Lord Hill, who expressed his approbation of the soldier-like appearance and effective state of the sappers.

His Majesty, in July, 1832, ordered the motto “Ubique quo fas et gloria ducunt” to be borne on the appointments of the corps, in addition to the Royal Arms and Supporters; and this year the cap-plates and breast-plates were made to accord with the King’s command. The cap-lines or cords and tassels issued in 1830 were abolished this year, and the staff-sergeants were permitted to wear, instead of the forage-cap, a silk oilskin chaco of the same size and shape as the regimental chaco.

In July a reinforcement of fifteen rank and file landed at the Mauritius from the ‘Valleyfield’ freightship, increasing the detachment to a half company of forty-five strong.

On the 16th August the three companies and detachment at Woolwich were inspected by Major-General Sir Frederic Mulcaster, the Inspector-General of Fortifications, and the perfect satisfaction he felt at what he witnessed was made the subject of a general order to the corps.

For four years the cholera had been prevalent in many parts of Great Britain and the colonies, but owing to the admirable precautions adopted, the disease was not only less formidable, but much less fatal among the military than the civil population. In the royal sappers and miners the numbers seized with the malady were comparatively insignificant; and during this period, though the disease had visited most of the stations where companies of the corps were quartered, the fatal cases only amounted to sixteen men, five women, and four children. Those cases occurred at the following stations:—

Serg. Priv. Wom. Child. Quebec, in July and September, 1832 .. .. .. Portsmouth, August, 1833 .. 1 1 2 Gibraltar, July, 1834 1 3 3 3 Halifax, N.S., in August and September, 1834. .. 7 .. ..

At Portsmouth ten men were admitted into hospital with the disease. The company was consequently removed to Southsea Castle and the cholera disappeared. At Gibraltar thirty-one men were admitted, and the deaths were few in proportion to the loss of some regiments in garrison, the 50th regiment having lost nearly fifty men. Of the military at the fortress about 140 died of cholera, but the civilians counted 470 fatal cases. During the raging of the disease, corporal John Hopkins and lance-corporal William Ritchley were conspicuous for their zeal and attention to the sick. Their duties were attended with considerable personal risk; and to the valuable assistance they rendered to the men in the early stages of the attack, both by their cheerful exertions and judgment, is attributed the rapid recovery of many of those who were sent to the hospital. Corporal Hopkins was promoted to the rank of sergeant in consequence. At Halifax, Dr. M‘Donald of the ordnance medical department, gained much credit for his indefatigable attention to his numerous patients, twenty-six of whom recovered under his skilful treatment; and his great success in so many cases was lauded both by the medical chief of his own department, and the Master-General.

In December the foundation stone of the citadel of La Petite Montagne, Mauritius, was laid by Major-General Sir William Nicolay, the governor of the colony, with all the parade and ceremony usual on such occasions. The company was present, and private William Reynolds, the most skilful mason in the detachment, had the honour of assisting his Excellency in the deposition of the stone. In the evening of the same day to commemorate the event, the detachment with their wives and families partook of a sumptuous supper generously furnished by his Excellency.

From June to October, sergeant George Darbyshire and five men were employed under Captain Henderson, R.E., in the triangulation of the west coast of Scotland, and were encamped during the operations on the mountains.

At the Cape of Good Hope the incursions of the Kaffirs brought on a desultory war this year, and the detachment of the corps in the colony was scattered in small parties over the frontier. Though much employed with the advanced forces in superintending the construction of redoubts and other indispensable defensive works, they were never called upon to take any particular part in attacking the enemy. The marching to which they were subjected, through a country of bush and mountain, was severe, and exposed under canvas or in bivouac to every variation of the climate, they shared all the trials and sufferings incident to the troops.

Sir Hussey Vivian, the Master-General, entertained so favourable an opinion of the corps, that he felt it right, on the 6th October, to order increased encouragement to be given to non-commissioned officers of proper attainments and merits, by appointing them occasionally to be foremen of works in the royal engineer department. The first appointed under this order was sergeant Henry French,[281] and at distant intervals the following non-commissioned officers were promoted to that rank—viz., sergeants Nicolas Markey,[282] William Spry,[283] John Wood,[284] William Jago,[285] Hugh Munro,[286] John Hopkins,[287] second-corporal Daniel Rock,[288] sergeant William Sargent,[289] and quarter-master sergeant Noah Deary.[290]

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Footnote 281: