Chapter XIII: Part 13

Had served upwards of twenty-two years in the corps; and was a
shrewd man and a skilful carpenter and overseer. He was appointed
in October, 1836, to Guernsey, where he died in February, 1854.
His eldest son, a very promising young man, is now foreman of
works in the department at the Tower.

Footnote 282:

Joined the corps a lad, and by perseverance made himself competent
for higher duty. To smartness in person he united much activity of
body, and in September, 1843, was advanced to the civil branch,
first to Corfu and then to Gibraltar; where, in the excess of his
zeal on the works, he fell from his horse by a stroke of the sun,
and sustained an injury in the head. He is now at Dublin, a
lunatic, passing away his life on a retirement of 32_l._ a-year.
He served seventeen years in the sappers.

Footnote 283:

Was an excellent mason and very efficient as a foreman. He had
been on a mission to Constantinople, and received from Sultan
Mahmoud II. a gold medal for his services. After a service of
twenty-one years in the corps, he was, in June, 1844, appointed to
Gibraltar, where he fell into habits of excessive intemperance and
committed suicide in 1852.

Footnote 284:

As master mason at Vido he constructed the works with remarkable
ability. He also superintended the erection of the half-moon
battery in the citadel and the defensive buildings at Fort Neuf.
Colonel Hassard said, on his leaving, that he hardly expected a
man of equal talent to fill his place: and it may be observed that
he could speak with fluency the different languages of the civil
workmen at Corfu. By Colonel Hassard he was recommended to visit
Rome and other places for artistic improvement, but the usages of
the service did not permit the concession of this favour. In 1837
he finished the erection of the Longona cistern at Paxo, which
relieved the inhabitants from the necessity of taking long
journeys to procure supplies. The work was very creditable to him,
and gained for him the eulogy and good will of the whole island.
To commemorate its completion a procession of the functionaries
and _élite_ of Paxo took place, and Wood, the great object of
attraction, was warmly greeted by the grateful populace. He became
foreman of works in November, 1844, first at Cephalonia, and next
at Corfu. His service in the corps was over twenty-three years.

Footnote 285:

He gained his promotion very rapidly, for he was in all respects a
very clever artificer and foreman. In the works of the department
at Woolwich he was found a great acquisition, and after serving
for a few years at Bermuda, where his usefulness was greatly
appreciated, he was discharged in May, 1845, and appointed to
Canada. There he passed seven years, and is now serving at
Gibraltar.

Footnote 286:

A good mason, and bore an unblameable character. After twenty
years' service, chiefly at Halifax and Corfu, he was appointed to
Malta in April, 1847, where he is still serving with efficiency
and credit.

Footnote 287:

When he joined the corps a lad, in 1826, he could scarcely write,
but by diligent application he soon exhibited talents which in
after years caused him to be selected for important duties.
Promotion he received rapidly, and for his intelligence and
ingenuity at Sandhurst in 1839 he was honourably noticed in the
‘United Service Journal,’ ii. 1839, p. 420. For many years he
served at Gibraltar and the Cape of Good Hope, became a fair
draftsman and architect, and in July, 1848, after a service of
twenty-two years, was appointed foreman of works, first at the
Cape, and then at Woolwich. He is now clerk of works at
Shoeburyness.

Footnote 288:

Was a superior mason, and trained before enlistment as an
overseer. Most of his military service—nineteen years—was spent on
the surveys of Great Britain and Ireland, in which he had made
himself so proficient a surveyor and mathematician, that he was
one of three non-commissioned officers sent to the royal
observatory at Greenwich to receive instructions in the mode of
making astronomical observations. This was with the view to his
employment on the boundary survey in America, in which he
afterwards served for a season with approbation. Colonel Estcourt
wrote of him,—“He is intelligent, well educated, and efficient for
almost any duty.” These acquirements, coupled with his good
conduct, gained for him the vacant foremancy at Zante, in
September, 1848; but, it must be added, he commenced the duty in
dishonour by unwarrantably drawing a bill on the Assistant
Adjutant-General of the royal engineers, and then having run a
career of dissipation that nothing could check, was justly
dismissed in disgrace in July, 1849.

Footnote 289:

Joined the corps from the military asylum at Chelsea. Until the
Russian war broke out he had not been noticed for any particular
aptitude or efficiency. When at Constantinople, thrown by
circumstances into boundless difficulties consequent on the
frightful pressure for hospital accommodation, his services were
invaluable. “I have no hesitation,” wrote Captain E. C. A. Gordon,
20th August, 1855, “in saying, that I believe the success of the
works that were executed was owing, in a great measure, to his
excessive and untiring zeal and activity.” This recommendation was
the occasion of his appointment at Scutari, from whence, after the
return of peace, he was removed to the engineer department at
Devonport.

Footnote 290:

Entered the corps a boy from Chelsea school. With a fair share of
common sense, he made the best of his chances as a military
foreman at the Cape of Good Hope, where he had served for many
years. The recollection of his usefulness at Natal, and in other
districts of the frontier, led to his being appointed civil
foreman of works in that colony. In 1842, Deary fought in the
actions against the insurgent Boers at Natal.

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Quartermaster James Galloway died on the 9th November at Wellesley House, Shooters' Hill, after an active service of forty-five years, which he performed with a faithfulness amounting to devotion. Few officers in the army in passing from the ranks to a commission, gained higher respect than he did, and in his death few were more regretted or more honoured.

Sergeant-major James Hilton succeeded to the vacancy—a distinction he merited by his long services, uniform zeal, and soldier-like qualities. He was presented on the occasion by the officers of royal engineers at Woolwich with a sword, and a grant was made to him of 20_l._ to assist him in his outfit.

Sergeant James Forbes was promoted to be sergeant-major by Sir Hussey Vivian as a reward for his services. For six years he had been employed, during every spring and autumn, at the royal military college at Sandhurst, in the instruction of the gentlemen cadets, and returned to his corps on every occasion with fresh claims to approbation. Every season at the college was marked by his effecting some improvement in the course and in rendering some new and essential service to the institution. Among many minor subjects necessary to complete the experimental course, he introduced the use of various mechanical expedients in connexion with purposes of military science, and the construction of military bridges of different kinds, from the rudest adaptations of rough timber and wicker work to the finished formation of a pontoon bridge.[291] Observing his indefatigable exertions in carrying out his professional duties at the institution, Sir George Scovell, the Lieutenant-Governor, was induced to say, that “sergeant Forbes had laid the college under great obligations to himself and the admirable corps to which he belonged;” and in acknowledgment of that obligation, Sir Edward Paget, the Governor, presented him with a valuable case of drawing instruments. Subsequently he had the high honour of being admitted to an audience with his Majesty, William IV.;[292] in which interview the King graciously commended his conduct, ability, and zeal. Soon afterwards the Master-General, who frequently wrote in eulogistic terms of his services, promoted him from the rank of sergeant to be sergeant-major.[293]

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Footnote 291:

‘United Service Journal,’ iii. 1834, p. 561, and ii. 1835, p. 277,
278.

Footnote 292:

Forbes’s Pamphlet, ‘National Defences,’ 1852.

Footnote 293:

The father of the sergeant-major, who also held that rank in the
corps, died of fever at Walcheren in 1809, and, as soon as his son
was old enough, he was enlisted into the sappers. His age on
joining was only eight years! For a few years he was stationed at
Dover, but the chief of his career was passed at Chatham, where,
under Sir Charles Pasley, he received that instruction in field
fortification and drawing which made his services at Sandhurst so
important and successful. Here it should also be noticed that he
kept his detachments in the best order; and by their steadiness
and willing exertions, they earned for themselves a character
which has greatly raised the corps in public estimation.

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In December, Lieutenant Robert Dashwood, R.E., was appointed acting-adjutant at head quarters, to assist the brigade-major in the office and parade duties. This was the first appointment of the kind in the corps at Woolwich. Smart, strict in discipline, and exact in the performance of duty, he promised to advance the sappers to the high development attained in well-disciplined regiments, but his career of usefulness was suddenly cut short by disease of the heart, of which he died on the 21st September, 1839.[294]

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Footnote 294:

The names of the succeeding acting-adjutants at Woolwich will be
found in the Appendix III.

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In the summer of 1834 an expedition under the command of Colonel Chesney was projected, to ascertain the practicability of the Euphrates for opening a route by steam navigation to India. A detachment of the royal artillery and five men of the corps were appointed to it. One, sergeant Thomas Sim, was a surveyor, and the rest were smiths, and their qualifications in steam machinery, surveying, and drawing, had particular reference to the wants of the enterprise. When selected their names were submitted to the King.[295] For their military dress was substituted a plain blue suit, consisting of a slouched cap, frock coat with gilt buttons, and loose trousers, as more suitable to the climate of the East. The beard and moustache after the oriental fashion were also worn.

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Footnote 295:

Chesney’s ‘Expedition to the Euphrates,’ Pref. x.

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In September the party was sent to the factory of Messrs. Laird and Co., at Birkenhead; and after receiving instructions in riveting and the management of steam engines, sailed on the 10th February, 1835, for Syria. Three of the party only landed; the other two having, by some mismanagement, returned to England from Malta. From the mouth of the Orontes to Bir, a distance of 145 miles, the three sappers, as well as the other soldiers and seamen, were employed in transporting the materials for the construction and armament of two steamers, across a country of varied and difficult features, intersected by a lake and two rapid rivers. Boilers of great weight were forced up hills, inch by inch, by means of screw-jacks; and through the unflagging exertions of officers and men, and their patient endurance of suffering and fatigue, was accomplished “one of the most gigantic operations of modern times.”[296]

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Footnote 296:

Chesney’s ‘Observations on Fire-arms,’ p. 197.

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While these arduous labours were in operation, two of the three sappers died—sergeant Sim and lance-corporal Samuel Gidens. For the most part, the sergeant had been employed with Lieutenant Murphy, R.E., or alone, in surveying the country from Latakia to the Gulf of Scanderoon; and in which, from his previous knowledge and experience, he was found of great use; but while prosecuting this duty, he frequently slept on the sands or in open boats, and thus contracted a disease no skill could eradicate. When surveying on Beilan mountain he suffered much from the keen and penetrating wind to which he was exposed, and was removed to Antioch for the benefit of his health. A slight improvement urged him to the field again; but at Suedia, being thrown from a horse and much injured, he was again sent in a litter to Antioch, where he breathed his last on the 19th September, 1835.

The corporal died at Fort William on the 3rd August. Up to the date of his illness he worked most diligently; and to mark the sense entertained of his services, a gratuity of 100l. was granted by the Treasury to his bereaved family on the recommendation of Colonel Chesney, to whose honour it should be recorded that out of his own purse, he liberally supported the widow and her children, until the award was made by the Government.

Feeling the want of the two smiths who had been sent home from Malta, Colonel Chesney applied to have them re-attached to the expedition. His wish was at once acceded to, and with them sailed two other privates, on the 3rd January, 1836, for Syria. Arriving at Malta, they were passed on with all dispatch in the ‘Columbia’ sloop of war, and reached Antioch late in February, in time to take part in the final preparations for floating the steamers. This reinforcement of “promising men, brought the party,” so the Colonel writes, “to efficiency once more,” and on the 16th March the descent of the river was commenced. There were now five sappers with the expedition—one surveyor, and four blacksmiths and millwrights, including corporal William Black, all valuable as artificers and engineers. Three were allotted to the ‘Euphrates’ steamer, and two to the ‘Tigris.’ Civil engineers were also attached to each vessel, to whom the sapper smiths acted as subordinates, and were styled assistant engineers.

On the 21st May a calamity occurred which deprived the expedition of nearly one half of its force. The steamers were descending the river with success, when they were overtaken by a hurricane of indescribable violence which placed both vessels in imminent peril. The storm raged only eight minutes, but during those fearful moments the ‘Tigris,’ caught up in its furious vortex, was engulfed with twenty of its officers and men. Corporal Benjamin Fisher and private Archibald McDonald of the sappers were on board: the former was dashed on shore and saved, the latter perished; but his comrades had the satisfaction of recovering and interring his remains on the banks of the stream, near Anna.

The descent of the “Great River” was accomplished by reaching its junction with the ‘Tigris’ at Kurnah, on the 18th June, 1836, and seventy-two guns having been fired the next day in honour of His Majesty William IV., the steamer crossed the Persian Gulf to Bushire, to meet expected supplies from Bombay. After three months' delay at the former port refitting the vessel and completing the engines with the assistance of the sappers, and a fresh crew having been obtained from the Indian navy, the steamer re-crossed the Persian Gulf, and the ascent of the river commenced.

The chief engineer having died the first day of the ascent, the engines were entrusted to the sole management of corporal Fisher, who continued to perform this duty most satisfactorily up to the termination of the service. Corporal Black was the senior non-commissioned officer of the party, but his health had previously become so much impaired that he was sent from Bussora to Bombay for its recovery. Of this non-commissioned officer Colonel Chesney wrote, that “both as a soldier and a man, in every way, he does credit to his corps.”

With the highest testimonials the party rejoined the corps at Woolwich in May, 1837.[297] As engineers they had been found of the greatest service to the expedition; and for the skilfulness and efficiency with which the engines were worked, the Government divided the engineers' pay among them for the period they were so employed in the following proportions:—corporal Black 13_l._; lance-corporal B. Fisher 19_l._; lance-corporal T. Edrington 21_l._

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Footnote 297:

On the completion of the service, the expedition was favoured with
a few days' location at Damascus, where the party removed their
beards and moustaches, and for the first time since the
commencement of the enterprise, had the advantage of attending
church for religious worship.

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Lance-corporal William Greenhill was attached to Lieutenant Murphy, R.E., and his duties were those which arose out of surveying and astronomy. In the whole of the survey of the two rivers and the countries adjacent to their banks, he took an important part, and after the death of that officer was employed on the line of levels between the two rivers, with reference to a canal of intercommunication for commercial purposes. Captain Estcourt, 43rd regiment, the second in command, in writing of this non-commissioned officer, says: “A more willing, honest, active man does not exist, and he is sober and trustworthy in the highest degree.” “All,” writes the same officer, “are valuable men, and capable of rendering important services wherever they may be employed.”

The approbation of the commissioners for the affairs of India was accompanied with the following gratuities:—to corporal Black 39_l._, and to each of the other three non-commissioned officers 19_l._ 10_s._; and further, Sir Hussey Vivian, the Master-General ordered the promotion of corporal Black to the rank of sergeant, second-corporal Fisher to corporal;[298] and lance-corporal William Greenhill to be second-corporal.[299]

In May the operations for the triangulation of the west coast of Scotland were resumed, for the third time, under Captain Henderson, R.E., by six non-commissioned officers and men of the corps, who were continued on the service till the early winter. They then returned to Woolwich with a good character for activity and exertion.

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Footnote 298:

Pensioned in May, 1843, and appointed assistant lighthouse keeper
at Europa Point, Gibraltar, under the Trinity Board of London.

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Footnote 299:

Greenhill was an intelligent man, pleasantly eccentric, and fond
of antiquities. While with the expedition he made a collection of
silver coins of remote times, which, with laudable feelings of
attachment to his native place, he presented to the Perth Museum.
His hair was as white as silver, but his beard, full and flowing,
was as black as ebony. To the Arabs he was quite a phenomenon, but
the singularity which made him so, did not save him, on one
occasion, from being rudely seized by a horde of banditti, and
plundered, with almost fabulous dexterity, of the gilt buttons on
his frock coat. They had nearly finished their work, when
Greenhill tore himself from their grasp, but finding that a button
still remained on the cuff, he audaciously pulled off the frock
and threw it at them. Suspecting that their work was incomplete
the Arabs pounced on the coat, and tearing off the remaining
button scampered away to the hills again. When, some years later,
the Niger expedition was forming, Greenhill volunteered to
accompany it. He had a notion that the service would be one of
suffering and vicissitude, and the better to inure himself to its
contemplated hardships he submitted his body to rigorous
experiments of exposure and self-denial, which, inducing
erysipelas, caused his premature decease in October, 1840.

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At the request of the court of Directors of the East India Company, seven rank and file were employed at the seminary at Addiscombe, in throwing up field-works for the instruction of the gentlemen cadets, during the months of August, September, and October. The corporal in charge received 2_s._ a-day working pay, and the privates 1_s._ a-day, each. For the two succeeding terms, a similar party was provided for the seminary, and on each occasion received much credit for its services. After the third term it was found desirable to discontinue the detachment, and the Addiscombe authorities drew the means of instruction from their own resources.

By an order from Lord Palmerston, Lieutenant Edward Vicars, R.E., and one sergeant and twelve rank and file, embarked at Woolwich on the 10th July, in the ‘Pluto,’ steamer, and landed at San Sebastian on the 19th, taking with them a limited supply of field equipment and engineer stores. The party was attached to the royal marines, with the British naval forces under the command of Lord John Hay, and was intended to take part in any operations deemed necessary to defend the Queen of Spain against the adherents of Don Carlos. All the men were volunteers, fully capable of constructing field-works and military bridges, and qualified, also to direct and take charge of working parties.

The major part of the detachment were men of notoriously bad character, appointed to the service to afford them a chance of reclaiming themselves; but their arrival in Spain was soon marked by those habits of turbulence and dissipation which rendered them a burden at home. Without zeal, spirit, or subordination, they were found almost useless on the works, and to such a pitch was their misconduct carried, that Lieutenant Vicars contemplated dispensing with their services as sappers and miners. By the removal, however, of a few of the grossest offenders, the punishment of others by the navy, and the infusion of a better class of men among them from England, the inevitable disgrace of the corps was prevented; and eventually, with few trifling exceptions, the detachment established a character for discipline, good conduct, and usefulness.

On landing, the party was removed to the eastern heights of Passages to complete works for the protection of the shipping in the harbour. Here the royal marines were employed for a time, as also a force of about 200 of the auxiliary legion. Late in September, a few of the party assisted in throwing up a work for the defence of a bridge leading into San Sebastian, and secured the position held by the force on the left of Passages. It was now understood that the Carlists intended to attack General Evans: a redoubt was forthwith constructed on a commanding hill in front of the enemy, and a battery for four guns and some breastworks were thrown up on the extreme left of the position. The legion furnished a working party of 200 men for these operations. On the 1st October, the enemy attacked the lines in front of San Sebastian, directing their fire principally on the picket-house, near which the battery was progressing. Against this battery, also, another battalion was sent, and having taken it, the column pressed on to the walls of the station; but the party within remained firm, and the Carlists were ultimately driven from the contest with the loss of 1,200 in killed and wounded. In this action were present four sappers, one of whom was wounded.

On the 31st October, the detachment in Spain was increased to twenty-five non-commissioned officers and men, by the arrival of twelve rank and file from Woolwich, in the ‘Rhadamanthus’ steamer, who were at once disposed of between San Sebastian and Passages, and assisted in the completion of the fort and barracks at the latter.

Experiments with the pontoons of Colonel Pasley and Major Blanshard, took place at Chatham on the 1st July. Sir Hussey Vivian, the Master-General, was present. For a few years previously, a portion of the summer of every year had been past in practically testing the projects of rival competitors for the passage of rivers; but on this occasion the trial ended in favour of the cylindrical pontoon of Major Blanshard. In all these trials a detachment of the corps was employed, and in this, the last experiment, executed under the disadvantage of extreme heat, Colonel Pasley warmly praised the party for its zeal and activity in working the two bridges.

With the mission to Turkey under the command of Captain du Plat, R.E., were embarked on the 15th September, two lance-sergeants of the corps on board the ‘Astrea,’ which entered the port of Constantinople on the 31st October. One was a surveyor conversant with the management of surveying instruments, and the other skilled in the details of the duties connected with the system of instruction carried out at Chatham. The mission took stores as presents to the Sultan. A sergeant of the royal artillery and a civil mechanic from the royal arsenal with Lieutenant Knowles, R.A., accompanied it. At the time of its arrival the plague was prevalent, and under orders from His Majesty’s ambassador at the Porte, the mission passed a few months in the ‘Volage’ and ‘Carysfort,’ lying in the Bosphorus. When the plague abated, the presents were conveyed to the Sultan—Mahmoud II.; and his Highness as a token of satisfaction presented each officer and soldier with a gold medal, and the artizan with a gold snuff-box. The non-commissioned officers of sappers who had the honour of receiving the distinction, were William Spry and William Richardson. Each medal bore a gold clasp, upon which was inscribed the name of the recipient and that of the Sultan. During their service with the mission each received 1_s._ 6_d._ a-day working pay, and on arrival in England in April, 1838, a gratuity of 10_l._

1837.

Change in the dress—Increase of non-commissioned officers—Services
of the detachment at Ametza Gaña—Oriamendi—Desierto convent
on the Nervion—Fuentarabia—Oyarzun—Aindoin—Miscellaneous
employments of the detachment—Trigonometrical survey west
coast of Scotland—Inspection at Woolwich by Lord Hill
and Sir Hussey Vivian—Staff appointments—Labours of sergeant
Lanyon—Staff-sergeants' accoutrements—Expedition to New
Holland—Corporal Coles selected as the man Friday of his
chief—Exploration from High Bluff Point to Hanover Bay;
difficulties and trials of the trip; great thirst—Exertions
and critical situation of Coles—His courageous bearing—Touching
instance of devotion to his chief—Employments of the
party—Exploration into the interior with Coles and private
Mustard—Hardships in its prosecution—Threatened attack of the
natives; return to the camp.

This year the colour of the coatee was changed from red to scarlet—Plate XV., and the huge Kilmarnock woven cap was superseded by a neat superfine blue cloth cap, stiffened, with peak and chin-strap. The sergeants were distinguished by black oak-leaf bands and gilt ornaments, comprising a grenade, encircled by a laurel wreath, and surmounted by a crown and three chevrons. The other non-commissioned officers wore chevrons according to their ranks. The oil-skin chaco of the staff-sergeants was put aside for a forage-cap, with a gold oak-leaf band and gilt ornaments of a crown within a laurel-leaf.

By a royal warrant dated 24th April, an increase of one sergeant, one corporal, and one second corporal was made to each company by reducing five privates per company. Recourse to this expedient was necessary on account of the control of the companies being much diminished by the several detached duties upon which non-commissioned officers were employed, as well as a number being always required to take charge of the workshops and working parties. The strength of each company was now fixed at 1 colour-sergeant, 3 sergeants, 4 corporals, 4 second-corporals, 2 buglers, 75 privates; equal 89; which, for 11 companies, gave an establishment of 977. The Corfu company, paid by the Ionian government, did not, from its weak numbers, participate in the alteration. Its strength, therefore 62, with the 3 officers and 4 non-commissioned officers of the staff, made the total establishment of the corps sanctioned by the warrant reach the total of 1,048. The number reduced was 22 privates.

In the early months of the year the detachment in Spain was employed on the eastern heights of Passages in superintending the completion of the fort and barracks, and also on the island of Santa Clara in making platforms and repairing batteries.

On the 10th March, seventeen of the party were present in the attack on Ametza Gaña, and were subsequently employed in strengthening the redoubt previously occupied by the Carlists on that position.

In the action at Oriamendi on the 15th and 16th March, they also served. Ten of the number assisted in levelling the enemy’s parapets and destroying their barricades and works. The other seven, under Lieutenant Burmester, R.E., did duty with the royal artillery commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Colquhoun. Their help, readily afforded at a time when it was of much value, enabled a third gun to be brought into action; and in cutting fuzes and loading shells, &c., they were found but little inferior to experienced artillerymen. Lord John Hay complimented Lieutenant Vicars upon the good service of this detachment; and the officers of the royal and marine artillery were loud in their praises of the exertions of the sappers, and of the efficiency of their assistance at the guns. One private was wounded.

A brief interval of repose followed, in which the detachment was occupied in fortifying the eastern entrance of Passages, also in barricading the advanced picket-house near that point, and in completing the batteries on Santa Clara. Four men were likewise detached to the river Nervion, and, with the crews of the ‘Scylla’ and ‘Savage,’ restored the works of the Desierto convent which protected the communication with Bilbao. On the return of the men, the commander of the ‘Savage’ brig spoke most favourably of their conduct.

In the operations of the army under Espartero on the 14th May, fifteen of the detachment were present and assisted in working the guns of the royal artillery. On the 17th they embarked to act in an attack on Fuentarabia, and were present at its capitulation on the 18th May. Here the detachment restored one of the ruined bastions of the fortress, and, besides making embrasures for two heavy guns, cleared away the debris from other parts of the defences and placed them in temporary repair.

At Oyarzun the Carlists were in the habit of creeping up to the town and annoying the troops. To prevent this, the hill above was crowned with a square redoubt for two guns. Ten of the detachment superintended its construction, and the work was executed in so excellent a manner, that experienced officers spoke of it with unqualified satisfaction. The working party consisted of peasants who were skilful in the construction of earth-works, and zealous in the use of the spade and pickaxe.

At the solicitation of General O’Donnell of the Spanish service, nineteen of the sappers, under the command of Lieutenant Vicars, were attached to his force. The party reached Aindoin on the 11th September, and were set to work with a company of Gastadores under them, on a height on the extreme left of the position. Very rapidly, a large hedge surrounding the height was turned into a parapet; and in places where it was too high to cut down, loopholes were formed. A dense wood that joined the hedge was partly felled, and from its ample resources abattis were thrown out in front of the line of hedge. For three days the work progressed; at intervals under heavy rain; and on the 13th September a formidable work of more than half a mile in length was ready to obstruct the advance of the enemy. At daylight on the 14th the Carlists opened fire on Aindoin, and the first shot went through the house where the sappers were quartered. At once they were withdrawn to the church, and ultimately removed to a circular fort to attend to orders either from Lord John Hay or General O’Donnell. Scarcely had they commenced the movement before the enemy approached the church with irresistible impetuosity, and drove the forces of O’Donnell from the town with signal disaster. The escape of the detachment of sappers was almost miraculous; a few moments later would have thrown them wholly into the hands of the Carlists.

During the later months of the year the detachment repaired Fort Morales, and the lines on the western heights of Passages. There also they fitted up barracks for the royal marines, and strengthened the advanced picket-house. Four of the men superintended a working party of the royal marines in completing and arming the redoubts around San Sebastian, in which service much difficulty was experienced from the want of an adequate working party and materials. So impoverished were the stores, that to provide planks and sleepers for the platforms and magazines, recourse was had to old splintered timbers from ruined sheds and buildings. Among other services performed by the detachment was the construction of a redoubt at Cachola on the high road from San Sebastian to Hernani, to protect that communication.

On the 13th May, six rank and file were attached to Captain A. Henderson, R.E., and were employed for the fourth summer under his direction in the trigonometrical survey of the western coast of Scotland for the Admiralty. The nature of the operations, as on former occasions, necessitated their encampment on the mountains; and when the service closed in November, the party returned to Woolwich.

Lord Hill and Sir Hussey Vivian, the Master-General, inspected the seventh company and detachment of the corps at Chatham on the 15th June, and afterwards witnessed the siege operations carried on by the troops and sappers under Colonel Warre. At the steadiness of the latter on parade, and the able manner in which the siege details were executed, his lordship expressed the highest gratification; and Colonel Warre, in his public orders of 16th June, also eulogised the corps for the cheerful and indefatigable manner in which they had worked in the field, adding, “that the construction of the works did credit to their skill as engineer workmen, and their appearance to their discipline and efficiency as soldiers.”

Second-Captain Henry Sandham, R.E., by commission dated 1st August, was appointed adjutant to the corps at Chatham vicê Captain Jebb promoted. The latter had filled the office with much advantage to the public service; and his many excellent qualities, as evinced in the discharge of his duties, commanded the esteem of the corps, and caused him to be much regretted at his leaving.

Sergeant Hugh Lanyon, after Sergeant-major Forbes’s removal, was appointed to the charge of the detachment at Sandhurst College, and carried on the field details in every way to the satisfaction of the authorities. For many years, as a private and non-commissioned officer, he worked at the college, and his example had the best effect on the successive parties with which he served. As a practical sapper he was one of the ablest and most skilful in the corps, and in the rapidity with which he threw up earth-works was unsurpassed. Sir Charles Pasley has done him honour by noticing the extraordinary labours of the sergeant in his ‘Practical Operations for a Siege.’[300] His willingness and ability in this respect, covered, in great measure, his educational deficiencies. In charge of the detachment he displayed his usual industry and exertion, kept his men in perfect discipline and order, and the excellent work resulting from their united efforts elicited an encomium in a popular periodical very creditable to the sergeant and his party.[301] Indeed, so effectually were all the instructional operations carried out, that the governor of the college, with the sanction of the Master-General, presented him in November with a case of drawing instruments, bearing an inscription flattering to his zeal and services.[302]

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Footnote 300:

Pages 51 and 57, notes, 1st part, 2nd edit. It may be tolerated to
mention the instances in which Lanyon figured, to deserve the
record. In October, 1828, he finished a parallel in very easy soil
of 262 cubic feet in 2 hours and 41 minutes, whilst an able-bodied
sapper, unskilful at the pickaxe and the shovel, only completed
the same content of excavation in 8 hours and 4 minutes! Thirty
men were employed at the same time at similar tasks, the result of
whose labours showed that for each man, strong and trained, it
required to execute the work an average period of 4 hours and 54
minutes. The other instance refers to his completing the first
task of a parallel, nearly 109 cubic feet, in easy soil in 16
minutes. In the Peninsula sieges, no more than 42 cubic feet of
excavation appears to have been excavated by each individual of
the military working parties as his first night’s work; but at the
rate which rendered Lanyon celebrated, an active workman in these
sieges ought to have finished his first night’s task in seven
minutes! The comparison makes the difference so excessive, that
credulity has scarcely sufficient tension to accredit it; but
coming from an authority so proverbial for his accuracy, there is
no alternative but to wonder at the achievements of the man who so
signalized himself as a sapper; and to add, with the Colonel, the
expression of mortification, “that the exertions of the British
army should have fallen so miserably short of their brilliant
exploits in the field.”

Footnote 301:

‘United Service Journal,’ ii. 1837, p. 279.

Footnote 302:

Lanyon was afterwards promoted to be a colour-sergeant, and passed
a few years in Canada during the revolt. On his return, his
health, shattered by the exertions of his laborious life, caused
him to leave the corps. Obtaining a situation as surveyor on the
Trent and Mersey canal under Mr. Forbes, his former fellow
labourer, he devoted himself to his new duties with his accustomed
zeal: but in a few short months his powerful frame broke up, and
he died at Lawton in Cheshire, in June, 1846. The integrity of his
conduct and the utility of his services induced the directors of
the company to honour his remains by the erection of a tomb to his
memory. Here it would be proper to notice, he was one of those
brave and humane miners who, in the ‘Cambria,’ bound for Vera
Cruz, assisted to rescue the crew and passengers from the burning
‘Kent’ East Indiaman, in the Bay of Biscay, in February, 1825. The
souls saved were 551, including 301 officers and men, 66 women,
and 45 children of the 31st regiment.

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Late in the year the shoulder-belt of the staff-sergeants was superseded by a buff waist-belt, two inches broad, having carriages for the sword, with gilt plate, buckles, swivels, and hooks. The plate bore the royal arms—without supporters—within a wreath, with the motto “Ubique” at its base, and above, a crown. The sword was the same as issued in 1824, and as at present worn, but adapted by rings to be slung to the improved accoutrement.—See Plate XVI., 1854.

Under orders from Lord Glenelg, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, corporals John Coles and Richard Auger were attached to the New Holland expedition under Captain Grey, the object of which was to gain information as to the real state of the interior and its resources. On the 5th July, 1837, they sailed in the ‘Beagle’ from Plymouth, and at the Cape of Good Hope were removed into the ‘Lynher’ schooner. There, private Robert Mustard joined the party, and all reached Hanover Bay, Western Australia, on the 2nd December.

Captain Grey had early formed a good opinion of corporal Coles and made him his chief subordinate.[303] He was emphatically his man Friday, and his conduct in striking instances of suffering and peril was marked by unfaltering devotion and fortitude, combined with diligence and humanity. Auger was ‘jack of all trades;’ the mechanic and architect; equally a tailor and a tinker; the ready mender of boats, and the efficient millwright and armourer of the party.

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Footnote 303:

‘Grey’s Travels,’ 1841, i. p. 35.

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On the day of arrival the Captain landed with five persons and three dogs at High Bluff Point, to explore from thence to Hanover Bay. Coles was one of the number. The sun was intensely hot. A long confinement on ship-board had made them unequal to much exertion. Forward, however, they journeyed, without the advantage of trees or foliage to screen them from the sun’s burning rays. The country, too, was rocky; and its surface, jagged and torn into crevices, being overgrown with spinifex and scrub, they frequently either slipped or fell into the covered fissures. Soon the party was overcome by thirst and lassitude. Two pints of water was all that was brought from the ship, and this, shared with the panting dogs, left but little for the adventurers. As time wore on, their weariness, before excessive, became worse, and the dogs falling back exhausted, were never recovered. Water was at length observed at the bottom of a ravine, and down its precipitous slopes Coles and others scrambled, only to mock the thirst they craved to satiate, for the inlet was salt water! However, after travelling for about another mile, fortune favoured them with a pool of brackish water, from which they drank freely.[304]

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Footnote 304:

Ibid., 1841, i. p 67-71.

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Whilst the party rested by the pool, Captain Grey, accompanied by Coles, explored the ravine, and then returning, led the party into the country by a fertile valley surrounded by rocky hills. Not long after, the thirst and fatigue so dreaded before, recurred in an aggravated form, and some were almost completely worn out by it. To march through the night without fresh water was next to impossible; and as a last effort to obtain relief, the Captain pushed on for the coast, directing that when he fired, Mr. Lushington with the party should follow.[305]

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Footnote 305:

‘Grey’s Travels,’ 1841, i. p. 71-73.

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The arranged signals being given and answered, the party moved on. Corporal Coles was in the van, and forcing his way over broken rocks and down steep cliffs, he was the first to reach the Captain. At this spot he followed the example of his chief, and, plunging into the sea, refreshed his strength and appeased his thirst. Mr. Lushington and the sufferers now arrived, and, leaving them to try the effect of bathing, the Captain and his corporal moved along the coast to find the ‘Lynher,’ and send a boat to the party. About two miles they had journeyed when their progress was arrested by an arm of the sea, about 500 yards across. Coles kept firing his gun in hopes it might be heard on board. From hill to hill and cliff to cliff, its report re-echoed, but no answering sound came back. The Captain now resolved to swim the arm; and as Coles was unskilful in the water, he was directed to wait until the others came up and remain with them until the Captain returned. The latter then plunged into the sea, and left Coles alone in that solitary spot with wild and rugged cliffs overhanging the shore, and the haunts of savages in his vicinity.[306]

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Footnote 306:

Ibid., i. p. 73-76.

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After dark the flashes of the guns had been seen by the schooner, and a boat was instantly despatched for the party. Coles was the first found; but fearing, if he then availed himself of the protection of the boat, he would lose the clue by which to trace the Captain, he directed the mate to pass on for the others. They were soon picked up, and returning for Coles, he was found at his post—one of danger and honour—and taken into the boat with his companions. The other shore was soon reached and the Captain found.[307]

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Footnote 307:

Ibid., i. p. 79.

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“Have you a little water?” he asked, as he entered the boat. “Plenty, sir!” answered Coles, handing him a little, which the Captain greedily swallowed. That choice drop of water was all that was in the boat when Coles was picked up, and although he suffered severely from thirst, he would not taste it as long as he retained any hope that his chief might be found and be in want of it.[308]

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Footnote 308:

‘Grey’s Travels,’ 1841, i. p. 78.

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For several days the sappers and others of the expedition were employed in searching for water, taking short exploratory trips, and in removing the live stock and stores from the ‘Lynher’ to the location fixed upon by Captain Grey. To facilitate the service, a rude pathway was formed by firing the bush, and removing, with much toil, the rocks and vegetation. So rough was the track that a wheelbarrow could not be used upon it, and every burden was, therefore, necessarily carried on the men’s shoulders. By the 16th December, the country had been taken possession of, and the encampment completed.[309]

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Footnote 309:

Ibid., i. p. 82-91.

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On the following evening, Captain Grey with corporal Coles and private Mustard, started from the camp to penetrate some distance into the interior. Confident in the steadiness and courage of his men he felt no anxiety. Each carried ten days' provisions, a day’s water, and his arms and ammunition. Thus laden, in a tropical climate, their progress was slow and laborious. Their route lay through a region of romantic beauty. Now they were urging their course through deep ravines alive with the gush of water and the foaming of cascades; now threading their tiresome way through the devious forest with its prickly grasses and entangled bush. Again they were climbing crumbling ranges, scrambling down precipices, tearing themselves through mangroves and densely-matted vegetation, traversing some wild broken land, or worming themselves among lofty and isolated columns of sandstone mantled with fragrant creepers, which, like the remains of ruined temples of classic ages, afforded indubitable evidence of the ravages of time upon rock and range. Wherever they journeyed, they found the same chaos—beautiful in its wildness and eccentricity—rich in its luxuriance and picturesqueness.[310]

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Footnote 310:

Ibid., i. p. 93-107.

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Nearly six days were spent in this march, and the trials endured were only a prelude to what were to follow. Rice and tea in small quantities formed the staple of their diet. An occasional slice from a pheasant’s breast, or a bite from the remains of a crane left by the rats, gave relish to their repast. The Captain was the game purveyor to the party and Mustard its Soyer. On the first night they slept in a bark hut of their own making at the foot of a towering precipice; the second was passed under some overhanging rocks. On the other three nights they bivouacked on the slopes of the glens under the lightning’s vivid flash, exposed to the rains of violent thunderstorms. Early in the journey Mustard became ill, but he was soon sufficiently recovered to sustain the toils and privations of discovery and the discomfort of unsheltered sleep. Dripping wet, tired, weary and hungry, these brave men carried out the purposes of their mission, and, with unwavering faithfulness and zeal, penetrated wherever their chief desired. “Three of us,” writes the Captain, “slept in the open air without any covering or warm clothes for five successive nights, during three of which we had constant showers of heavy rain, and yet did not in any way suffer from this exposure.”[311]

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Footnote 311:

‘Grey’s Travels,’ 1841, i. p. 248.

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Want of food at length compelled the adventurers to return. Having gained the summit of a range, the rain began to fall in torrents. To escape it they retired to a detached group of rocks. A party of fourteen savages now appeared, brandishing their spears, bounding from rock to rock, and making the wilderness ring with their war cry. This was answered by a party coming over the high rock in rear of the travellers. In this critical situation a hostile attitude was at once taken up. There was a natural opening like an embrasure between the blocks of the rock, through which they could level their pieces, and each gallant fellow took his station, with orders to fire one by one if the command were given. The Captain fired over their heads; but this one report was quite enough, for the savages fled on all sides, and the party thus left to itself, hurried home through a tempest of rain and reached the cantonment before nightfall on the 22nd December.[312]

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Footnote 312:

Ibid., i. p. 93-107.

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1838.

Services of party in New Holland—Start for the interior—Labours of
the expedition; corporal Auger—Captain Grey and corporal Coles
expect an attack—Attitude of private Auger at the camp against the
menace of the natives—Captain Grey and Coles attacked;
their critical situation; the chief wounded; devotion of
Coles—Usefulness of Auger—Renew the march; Auger finds a singular
ford—Discovers a cave with a sculptured face in it—Mustard traces
the spoor of a quadruped still unseen in New Holland—A sleep in
the trees—Trials of the party—Primitive washing—Auger the van of
the adventurers—Humane attention of the Captain to Mustard; reach
Hanover Bay; arrive at the Mauritius—Detachment in Spain—Attack on
Orio—Usurvil; Oyarzun—Miscellaneous employments of the
party—Reinforcement to it; Casa Aquirre—Orio—Secret mission to
Muñagorri—Second visit to the same chief—Notice of corporal John
Down—Bidassoa—Triangulation of north of Scotland—Also of the Frith
of the Clyde—Insurrection in Canada; guard of honour to Lord
Durham—Company inspected by the Governor-General on the
plains of Abraham—Inspection at Niagara by Sir George
Arthur—Services and movements of the company in Canada;
attack at Beauharnois—Submarine demolition of wrecks near
Gravesend—Expedient to prevent accidents by vessels fouling the
diving-bell lighter—Conduct of the sappers in the operations;
exertions of sergeant-major Jones—Fatal accident to a
diver—Intrepidity of sergeants Ross and Young—Blasting the bow of
the brig ‘William,’ by sergeant-major Jones—Withdrawal of the
sappers from the canal at Hythe.

Some weeks of the early year were spent by Captain Grey and his men in a variety of occupations preparatory to a long journey into the interior. Sheds were built for the stores, pack-saddles made by corporal Auger for the Timour horses, and short excursions through wood and wilderness undertaken. Pathways were also constructed for the horses in forest and glen, without which it would have been impracticable to pursue their course. These were formed by burning the bush, and removing, by manual strength and dexterity, huge boulders and fallen trees levelled by age and storm, that everywhere intercepted the track.

On the 3rd February the expedition was in motion. Twenty-six wild ponies were attached to the party. Each man had three or four of these giddy unbroken animals in charge, fastened together by ropes. From the ponies straying in different directions, and getting frequently entangled with rocks and trees, the difficult nature of the service was greatly increased. As beasts of burden they were of little use. In steep ravines or in rugged country, the stores were almost wholly carried by the adventurers; and this, coupled with the task of guiding the untamed horses and the hard travelling in a rocky country abounding with clefts, thick bush, and forest, made the route one of unmitigated toil and fatigue. In these duties corporal Auger particularly distinguished himself; for, “possessing the power of carrying on his back very heavy burdens, he took every occasion of exercising it in such a way as to stimulate the others and very much to accelerate the movements of the expedition.”[313]

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Footnote 313:

‘Grey’s Travels,’ i. p. 121-139.

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With corporal Coles the captain started on the 6th February to explore the country in his front. Coming to a deep ravine with a body of water at its base, he wished to find a passage out of it. Both searched for many hours until after sunset, but without avail. The ravine was bounded by inaccessible cliffs with other ravines branching into it, which “invariably terminated in precipitous cascades.” A great portion of the exploration was spent in wading the flooded valley up to their bellies in water. On their return homewards they came upon a large party of natives, and Coles followed the captain up the northern slope of the ravine ready for an attack; but the savages moved on without molesting the weary travelers.[314]

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Footnote 314:

Ibid., i. p. 136-138.

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Five days afterwards corporal Auger and two men were left at the camp, while the rest of the expedition were detached. About two hundred of the natives assembled across a stream at the foot of a hill near to them. They were armed. At the time of their appearance Auger was quietly seated on the ground cleaning Lieutenant Lushington’s double-barrelled gun, with its springs, screws, and cramps lying around him. Seeing his comrades nervously perturbed, he coolly refixed one of the barrels, and mounting the lock, loaded the gun with some loose powder. Meanwhile the two men turned out with their muskets, and the trio posting themselves on the brow of the hill, motioned the savages away. They answered by a shout, and retired a little; when Auger and the party now took counsel, and agreeing that it would be imprudent with their small number to hold intercourse with so large a force of natives, they resolved not to allow them to approach beyond a point which they considered safe; “and in the event of any armed portion passing the stream towards the tents in defiance of their signals, to fire on them one by one.” These cautious resolves, however, it was unnecessary to enforce, as the savages, after Auger had given them a blank discharge, hurried off in the direction of Captain Grey.[315]

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Footnote 315:

‘Grey’s Travels,’ i. p. 144.

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