Chapter XVIII: Part 18

Six corporals under Captain Robinson, R.E., with Lieutenant Pipon, were attached, under orders from Lord Aberdeen, to the commission of which Lieutenant-Colonel Estcourt was the chief, for tracing the boundary line between the British dominions in North America and the United States, as settled by the Ashburton treaty. Dressed in plain clothes, they embarked at Liverpool on the 19th April, and arriving at Halifax on the 2nd May, proceeded by Boston and New York to the Kennebec road and entered the woods late in the month. In May, 1844, the party was increased to twenty men by the arrival of fourteen non-commissioned officers and privates from the English survey companies. The co-operation of this party was urged as of paramount importance. It enabled the work, so says the official communication, to be carried on over a large portion of country at once with energy and rapidity, and in such a manner as to insure a more vigorous and correct execution of it than if the Commissioners were left to depend on the assistance to be met with on the spot; and which, although greatly inferior in quality, would have entailed more expense on the public than the employment of the military surveyors. Each sapper was selected as being competent to work by himself, and to survey and run lines of levels, besides keeping in constant employment a staff of labourers.

Sergeant-major James Forbes retired from the corps on the 11th of April on a pension of 2_s._ 2_d._ a-day. He was succeeded by colour-sergeant George Allan,[429] an excellent drill non-commissioned officer, who was appointed to the staff at Chatham, vicê sergeant-major Jenkin Jones, removed to the staff at Woolwich.

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Footnote 429:

Became in time the quartermaster of the royal engineer
establishment at Chatham, and when the siege of Sebastopol was at
its highest, was removed from the corps by promotion into the
Turkish contingent engineers with the rank of Captain.

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The merits of sergeant-major Forbes have been frequently alluded to in these pages, but there still remain some other points in his history to be noticed. To the royal military college at Sandhurst, he presented several models made by himself on military subjects. About two years before his retirement he invented the equilateral pontoon, a vessel of a very ingenious character. Its sides consist of “portions of cylinders, supposed to be applied to three sides of an equilateral triangular prism, each side of the triangle being two feet eight inches long; so that the cylindrical portions meet in three edges parallel to the axis of the pontoon. The sagitta, or versed sine of the curvature being about one-fifth of the side of the triangle, it follows that each side of the pontoon forms, in a transverse section, an arc of nearly 90°. Each end of the pontoon consists of three curved surfaces, corresponding to the sides of the vessel, and meeting in a point, as if formed on the sides of a triangular pyramid.”[430] “The form,” says Sir Howard Douglas, “appears to be well adapted for the purposes of a good pontoon; as whichever side is uppermost it presents a boatlike section to the water, and a broad deck for the superstructure. It possesses, also, the advantage of a horizontal section gradually enlarging to the highest point of displacement, by which means stability and steadiness in the water are obtained in a high degree. The area of a transverse section of this pontoon is greater than that of the present cylindrical pontoon; and the greater capacity produces more than a compensation, in buoyancy, to the small excess of weight above that of a cylindrical pontoon.”[431] A raft of this form of pontoon was prepared under the eye of the sergeant-major and sent to Chatham for trial, but although it gained much favour for its decided excellences, it was finally set aside on account of “some inconvenience in the management causing a preference to be given to those of a simple cylindrical form”[432]—the construction, in fact, established for the service. He was however awarded by the Board of Ordnance, in consideration of his trouble and as a tribute to his skill, the sum of one hundred guineas.

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Footnote 430:

Sir Howard Douglas, ‘On Military Bridges,’ 3rd edit., p. 32.

Footnote 431:

Ibid., 33.

Footnote 432:

Ibid., 33.

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On leaving the royal sappers and miners, he was appointed surveyor to a district of the Trent and Mersey canal, at a salary of 215_l._ a year, with a fine residence and five acres of land attached. He was also allowed forage for two horses, and all his taxes and travelling expenses were paid. Some two years afterwards his salary was increased to 280_l._ a year, and in 1846, so highly appreciated were his services, that the Directors of the company proposed him to fill the office of engineer to the canal. His integrity however was such, that he would not be tempted by the great increase of salary the promotion promised, and declined it, from a modest feeling that he might not be able to do justice to so important and onerous a charge. Quickly upon this, he received the thanks of the Directors, accompanied by a special donation of 100_l._ Determining upon other arrangements for the execution of their works, the company disbanded its establishment of workmen and superintendents, retaining only the engineer and Mr. Forbes; and such was his character for alacrity, resolution, and discrimination, that the Directors appointed him to superintend all the works undertaken for the company, both on the canal and the North Staffordshire Railway, which was now incorporated with the Trent and Mersey Canal proprietary. This alteration in the company’s affairs, caused his removal from Middlewich to a commodious residence in Etruria, in Staffordshire, where his energy and influence in the parish soon gained him the post of churchwarden, and the honour of being invited to a public breakfast, at which, while the Bishop of Lichfield held the chair, he had the distinction of filling the vice-chair. Latterly he has appeared before the public as a writer. His pamphlet on the National Defences, proposing a locomotive artillery, addressed to Lord John Russell, was perused by that nobleman and received the attention of Sir John Burgoyne. Frequently he has written in the public journals on pontoons. He has also published a pamphlet on the subject, and another relative to a pontoon-boat, which he has invented.[433] The latter is of great interest and may yet receive the attention its ingenious suggestions deserve. On the 6th of May, 1853, he was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, for which honour he was proposed by the great Robert Stephenson and Mr. S. P. Bidder, the two leading civil engineers of this country. Within the last year, he has been advanced to the post of engineer to the company, and he enjoys the perfect satisfaction and confidence of his employers. His salary and emoluments exceed 400_l._ a year.

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Footnote 433:

It is simply a half-cylinder, 20 feet long by 1 foot 9 inches
wide, and 3 feet deep, strengthened internally by hollow tubes,
and deriving its buoyancy from an ingenious distribution of
water-tight compartments, which not only preserve the flotation
but provide seats for the troops. To render the contrivance more
efficient for rafts or bridging purposes, a similar half-cylinder
is attached to its consort by strong hinges and bolts. When shut
its form is cylindrical; when open, two boats in rigid connection,
taking the same swing in the water—the same motion on the wave. In
this Siamese connection it is intended always to be used; and
fitted as it is with all the necessary details, and the means of
applying a rudder or an oar for steerage at any end, it appears to
be adequate for all the uses and contingencies, not only of a
pontoon, but of an ordinary passage-boat. It moreover aspires to
the merciful functions of a lifeboat, being capable, without risk
of capsizing or sinking, of venturing out in heavy seas to save
human life imperilled by squalls or shipwreck.

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The operations against the wreck of the ‘Royal George’ were resumed, for the fifth time, early in May, with a detachment of fifteen royal sappers and miners, eight East India Company’s sappers, and about eighty seamen, riggers, &c., under the direction of Major-General Pasley, with Lieutenant G. R. Hutchinson as the executive officer. At the end of 1842, almost all the floor timbers had been got up and 101 feet of the keel, leaving only about 50 feet more at the bottom; and out of 126 tons of pig-iron ballast, 103 tons had been safely wharfed. There was therefore confident reason to expect the entire removal of the wreck before the close of the season; and such indeed was the success of the enterprise, that Major-General Pasley, on quitting the work in November, declared that the anchorage ground, where the wreck had lain, was as safe and fit for the use of ships as any other part of Spithead. At first four divers went down regularly, and afterwards five or six were at work at every slack tide, generally three times a day.

After a few weeks of unsuccessful effort, the firing of three charges each of 675 lbs. of powder in puncheons, removed a bank of shingle which chiefly interfered with the divers' success. These charges were fixed by corporals Harris and Jones, and private Girvan. In one week afterwards, the divers effected as much as in the five weeks previously, for not only were the keel and bottom planking somewhat bared, but a great deal of the remaining iron ballast was rendered accessible. Six other charges, of 720 lbs. of powder each, and numerous smaller charges, were subsequently fired, with results that gave ample employment for all the divers and the detachment on board.

One or two failures occurred which arose from want of experience in firing conjunct charges at Spithead; but in other respects, the operation, which was exceedingly difficult, was conducted with skill and success, owing to the able arrangements of Lieutenant Hutchinson, assisted by the leading riggers, and by lance-corporal Rae and private Alexander Cleghorn, who had the preparation of the charges and the voltaic batteries. The divers, too, did everything necessary at the bottom, and were well seconded in every department by the sappers and others employed. “In short,” adds the narrative,[434] “this operation, including the separation of the two mooring lighters before the explosion and bringing them together afterwards,” could not, in consequence of the severe weather, have possibly succeeded, “if all the men had not, from long experience, known their respective duties well and entered into them with laudable zeal.”

“On the 9th of July private John Girvan slung the largest and most remarkable piece of the wreck that had been met with this season, consisting of the fore foot and part of the stem, connected by two very large horse-shoe copper clamps bolted together; the boxing by which it had been connected with the fore part of the keel was perfect, from which joint six feet of the gripe had extended horizontally, and terminated in the curve of the stem, which was sheathed with lead.—The length of this fragment was sixteen feet, measured obliquely, and its extreme width five feet.”[435] At another time he recovered an enormous fish-hook, no less than eight feet nine inches in length from the eye to the bow!

By corporal Jones, on the 17th following, was slung a large iron bolt, ten feet long; which, on being brought on deck, was observed by him to exhibit marks of having been in contact with brass. He therefore rightly conjectured there must be a brass gun at the spot, and descending again recovered a brass 24-pounder, nine and a half feet long, of the year 1748.[436]

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Footnote 434:

‘United Service Journal,’ iii., 1843, p. 139.

Footnote 435:

Ibid., p. 139.

Footnote 436:

Ibid., p. 138.

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“On the 31st of July, private Girvan discovered a gun buried under the mud, but it was not till the 3rd of August that he succeeded in slinging it, assisted by corporal Jones, with whom he generally worked in concert this season;”[437] and shortly after, the latter diver recovered the last remnant of the keel, measuring nearly twenty-two feet in length, corporal Harris having previously sent up portions of it in the early part of the summer amounting in length to thirty-six feet,[438] and private Girvan, six feet.

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Footnote 437:

‘United Service Journal,’ iii., 1843, p. 139.

Footnote 438:

Ibid., pp. 137, 140.

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The only money got up this season was a guinea of 1775, found on a plank sent up by Jones.

Increased exertions were now made to recover the guns, which were embedded some depth in the mud, and the divers cleared the way by sending up everything they could meet with, until nothing but insignificant fragments could be found. To assist them, two frigate anchors and the half anchor creepers with some auxiliary instruments, drawn backwards and forwards as well as transversely over the site of the wreck, were made to do effectual work. The East India Company’s sappers had been removed before these labours began;[439] the whole of the subsequent diving, therefore, was exclusively carried on by the royal sappers and miners,[440] and to their vigilance of observation and unceasing zeal, was attributed the recovery of thirteen guns late in the season. Of these, corporal Harris got up three iron and six brass guns, corporal Jones three brass, and private Girvan one iron.

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Footnote 439:

Quitted 28th August, 1843.

Footnote 440:

‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1844, p. 143.

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Here it should be explained “how much more successful than his comrades corporal Harris was towards the close of the season, in recovering guns, though the other divers, corporal Jones and privates Girvan and Trevail, had been equally successful in all the previous operations. Corporal Harris fell in with a nest of guns, and it was a rule agreed upon, that each first-class diver should have his own district at the bottom, with which the others were not to interfere.”[441]

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Footnote 441:

Ibid., p. 146.

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Jones, though satisfied with the arrangement as a general rule, was a little disposed to feel aggrieved when, by contrast, the odds were against him. He was curious to know by what means Harris turned up the guns with such teasing rapidity, and going down with the secret intention of making the discovery, tumbled over a gun with its muzzle sticking out of the mud. This piece of ordnance legitimately belonged to Harris, for it was in his beat; but, as Jones enthusiastically expressed it, seeming to invite the favour of instant removal, he could not resist the temptation to have its recovery registered to his credit. He therefore securely slung it, and rubbing his hands with delight at the richness of the trick, gave the signal to haul up. Harris, suspecting that his territory had been invaded, dashed down the ladder and just reached the spot in time to feel the breech of the gun slipping through his fingers. Jones, meanwhile, pushed on deck, and was pleased to see that the plundered relic was a 12-pounder brass gun of the year 1739. Jones a second time applied to the district over which Harris walked with so much success, and filched from the nest a brass 12-pounder gun—the last one recovered this season.

After the removal of the ‘Royal George’ had been effected, but while the search for the guns was going on, Major-General Pasley detached to the wreck of the ‘Edgar,’[442] the ‘Drake’ lighter, with thirteen petty officers and seamen of Her Majesty’s ship ‘Excellent,’ to learn the art of diving. Corporal Jones was attached to the party to instruct them. Violent gales prevailed at this period, “which repeatedly drove the ‘Drake’ from her moorings, not without damage, and at other times caused her to drift in such a manner that guns, discovered by a diver late in a slack, could not be found when the weather permitted his subsequent descent.” Hence only five iron guns of this wreck were got up during the season, with a piece of the keel and a floor timber. These were all recovered by corporal Jones, who had also been engaged one tide in finding an anchor that had been lost.[443] So anxious was he to add to the magnitude of his acquisition, that on one occasion he remained below as long as four hours, but his exertions were unattended with the hoped-for return.

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Footnote 442:

This ill-fated ship, built by Bailey of Bristol in 1668, was
wrecked by an explosion in 1711, and every soul on board
perished.—‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1844, p. 146.

Footnote 443:

‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1844, pp. 145, 146.

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An interesting fact with respect to the power of water to convey sound was ascertained on the 6th October. A small waterproof bursting charge containing 18 lbs. of gunpowder was fired at the bottom. Corporal Jones who happened at the time to be working at the ‘Edgar’—nearly half-a-mile distant—hearing a loud report like the explosion of a cannon, imagined that a large charge had been fired over the ‘Royal George.’ To those on deck immediately over the place, the report was scarcely perceptible.

Private Girvan relieved corporal Jones at the ‘Edgar’ on the 16th October, and got up the breech part of an iron 32-pounder, which had been cut in two a little in front of the trunnions.[444]

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Footnote 444:

Ibid., p. 146.

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The only mishap this summer occurred to private Girvan. Just as he appeared above the water the explosion of a charge took place, from which he sustained a slight shock and a wrench in the back producing a sensation of pain. Though eager to go down again his wish was overruled, and he remained on board for the day. Sergeant Lindsay fired the charge, and the accident was attributed to a nervous slip of his hand when ready to apply the wires to the battery.

On the 4th November the divers descended for the last time, as the water had become so cold that their hands—the only part exposed—were completely benumbed, so that they could no longer work to advantage; and then, the operations ceasing from necessity, the detachment of the corps rejoined their companies at Woolwich.

Major-General Pasley in according his praises to the various individuals and parties employed at Spithead, spoke highly of sergeant George Lindsay in subordinate charge, and the whole detachment; but more particularly of the intelligent and enterprising men to whom the important task of preparing all the charges fired by the voltaic battery was confided. The charges were numerous and of various quantities, amounting in all to 19,193 lbs. of powder, or nearly 214 barrels. The soldiers alluded to were lance-corporal John Rae and private Alexander Cleghorn who were promoted for their services. The still more arduous duty of diving gave the General every satisfaction. Frequently the duty was embarrassing and dangerous, and carried on under circumstances calculated to test most severely their courage and resources; and so indefatigable were their exertions, and so successful their services, that the military divers gained the character of being “second to none in the world.”[445] Most of the party this season attempted to dive, but, from the oppression felt under water by some, only two or three beyond the regular divers could persevere in the duty.

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Footnote 445:

‘United Service Journal,’ iii., 1843, p. 141.

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Upon the report made by Major-General Pasley of the conduct of the detachment engaged in the operations, Sir George Murray, the Master-General, was pleased thus to remark: “It has given me no less pleasure to be made acquainted with the very commendable conduct of the non-commissioned officers and privates of the sappers and miners who have been employed under Major-General Pasley, and have rendered so much useful service in the important undertaking conducted under his management.”

From June to September about eight men under Lieutenant Gosset, R.E., assisted in the undertaking for determining the longitude of Valentia by the transmission of chronometers. Thirty chronometers were conveyed in every transmission; and to privates Robert Penton and John M‘Fadden was entrusted the service of bearing the chronometers, and winding them up at stated times and places. On receiving the chronometers from Liverpool the reciprocations took place repeatedly between Kingston and Valentia Island; one private being responsible for their safe transit a portion of the route, and the other for the remaining distance to and from the station at Feagh Main. Professor Sheepshanks and Lieutenant Gosset carried out the scientific purposes of the service, while the sappers not engaged with the chronometers attended to the duties of the camp and observatory at Feagh Main, under the subordinate superintendence of corporal B. Keen Spencer. The professor instructed this non-commissioned officer in the mode of taking observations with the transit instrument; and further, in testimony of his satisfaction, gave generous gratuities to privates Penton and M‘Fadden. Professor Airy, in speaking of the former, alludes to the perfect reliance he placed on his care, “and in winding the chronometers,” adds, “he has no doubt the service was most correctly performed.”[446] The duty was one in which extreme caution and care were required, to prevent accident or derangement to the instruments.

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Footnote 446:

Airy’s ‘Longitude of Valentia,’ p. xi.

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Agitation for a repeal of the union, headed by O’Connell, was now the great excitement of Ireland, and a rising of the masses to enforce it was daily expected. With the reinforcement of troops sent there to preserve order was the first company of sappers, which was despatched by rapid conveyances, _viâ_ Liverpool to Dublin, where it arrived on the 26th July. The company consisted of ninety men of all ranks, and their duties embraced repairs to the barracks and the planting of stockades in the rear of the castle, to prevent the ingress, in case of revolt, of the rebels.[447] They also prepared several thousands of sand-bags for breastworks. Detachments of one sergeant and twenty rank and file were sent to Limerick and Athlone in November, where they strengthened the barracks and loopholed the outside walls for musketry. The store-rooms of the artillery barracks were also loopholed. Effectually, however, was the anticipated outbreak suppressed, and, under the authority of Sir James Graham, the Home Secretary, the company was recalled to England and arrived at Woolwich on the 22nd August, 1844.

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Footnote 447:

Owing to a rumour that the castle at Dublin could be entered by a
subterranean passage or sewer from the Liffey, colour-sergeant
Lanyon was directed to explore it. He did so, and found that a
strong iron grating existed in the passage, which would
effectually prevent the supposed entrance. In this duty, being
much exposed to the influence of noxious vapours, he soon
afterwards was seized with fever and jaundice, which shortened his
days.

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The yellow fever broke out at Bermuda in August, and continued with unabated virulence and fatality until the middle of September. In that brief period, out of a strength of 165 men, it carried off no less than thirty-three men of the eighth company and four men of the fourth, besides Captain Robert Fenwick, R.E., in command of the latter, and Lieutenant James Jenkin, the Adjutant.[448] The two companies were distributed to St. George’s and Ireland Island; at the former, where the fever chiefly raged, was the eighth company, about ninety strong, and at the latter the fourth. Eighty-eight men had been seized with the malady, of whom twenty-four were admitted with relapses, and four had suffered three seizures, none of whom died. Dr. Hunter, a civil physician, attended the cases in the absence of a military medical officer. With the civil population his practice was remarkably successful; for out of 101 natives who took the fever only one died. He therefore concluded that the artillery, who lost nine men, and the sappers thirty-seven, fell easy victims to the epidemic from their intemperate habits. No comparison, however, was justifiable between coloured people, upon whom the fever had but little effect, and Europeans; but an analysis of the cases, as far as the sappers were concerned, confirmed the doctor’s views to the extent of sixteen men. The remainder, twenty-one, were men of sobriety and general good conduct.

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Footnote 448:

Mr. James Dawson, foreman of masons, formerly colour-sergeant in
the corps, also died during the fever. He was a clever tradesman
and overseer, and while in the sappers did good service at St.
Helena, Corfu, and Bermuda. He was succeeded as foreman by
sergeant John McKean, who was discharged in November, 1843, and
still fills the appointment with ability and faithfulness.

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Lance-corporal Frederick Hibling being the only non-commissioned officer _not_ attacked, performed the whole duties of the eighth company, and for his exertions and exemplary conduct was promoted to the rank of second-corporal. Seven widows and twenty-two orphans were left destitute by this calamity, among whom a subscription (quickly made through the corps, assisted by many officers of royal engineers, nearly amounting to 200_l._) was distributed, in proportion to their necessities—one woman with six children receiving as much as 33_l._ The lowest gift was 14_l._ to a widow without children. A monument of chaste and beautiful design, consisting of a fluted column surmounted by an exploded bomb, resting on a neat and finely proportioned pedestal, was erected in the military burial-ground at St. George’s, in mournful commemoration of the victims. On three panels of the pedestal were inscribed their names, and on the fourth was sculptured the royal arms and supporters. The work was executed by the surviving stonemasons of the company, and the royal arms were cut by private Walter Aitchison.

On the 26th August, in the evening, the ‘Missouri,’ United States' steamer, Captain Newton, took fire in the bay of Gibraltar, and a detachment of the corps at the Rock was sent out by Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor, in charge of two engines under Captain A. Gordon, R.E., to assist in extinguishing the flames; but all their diligence and intrepidity were unavailing, for the vessel was soon afterwards burnt to the water’s edge. During the service the men were in much danger from falling masts and spars, and from the explosion of a powder-magazine on board. The Governor, in orders, thanked Captain Gordon and other officers of royal engineers, and the non-commissioned officers and privates of royal sappers and miners, for the creditable and useful zeal displayed by them on the occasion; and added, “that the marines, military, and boatmen of Gibraltar have the consoling reflection that nothing was left undone to save the vessel, and that the gallant crew was preserved by their united labour and devotedness.” To each sapper employed at the fire was issued a pint of wine by his Excellency’s order.

One sergeant and thirty-three rank and file under Lieutenant T. B. Collinson, R.E., sailed for China in the ‘Mount Stuart Elphinstone,’ and landed at Hong Kong the 7th October. A party of variable strength had been stationed there, employed superintending the Chinese artificers in carrying on the public works until July, 1854, when the sappers were recalled to England. Some of their first services embraced the construction of roads and sewers, the erection of barracks for the troops and quarters for the officers, with various military conveniences, such as stores, guard-houses, &c. A residence was also built for the General in command, and a sea-wall of granite to the cantonment on the north shore of the island. They also directed the Chinese in cutting away a mountain to a plateau, of about eight acres, for a parade-ground, much of which was granite; and the several explosions rendered necessary to dislodge the mass were fired solely by sergeant Joseph Blaik. A company of Madras sappers also assisted in the superintendence of the coolies, who sometimes exceeded a thousand in number. The working pay of the royal sappers and miners was 1_s._ 6_d._ a-day each until the removal of the East India Company’s establishment, when the allowance was reduced to the ordinary payment of 1_s._ each. Before the party was quartered in barracks it was housed for a time in a bamboo hut and afterwards in a bungalow. The smiths and plumbers were invariably employed at their trades, as the Chinese were very incompetent in these branches of handicraft.[449]

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Footnote 449:

In May, 1851, when the tour of service of the detachment had
expired, only six men were at the station to be relieved. The
remainder comprised one discharged in China, who soon afterwards
died, twelve invalided to England, and fifteen deaths.

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On the 9th October his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Michael of Russia inspected the troops at Woolwich, on the common. The royal sappers and miners at the station were also drawn up with them, and marched past. Next day the Grand Duke, accompanied by Lord Bloomfield, visited the sappers' barracks, walked through the rooms, examined the carbine of the corps, and then looked over, with every mark of attention, the small museum of the non-commissioned officers attached to the library. On leaving, he expressed his gratification at what he saw, and of the efforts made by the soldiers to improve themselves.

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Royal Sappers & Miners. Plate XV.
UNIFORM 1843. Printed by M & N Hanhart.

]

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

The percussion carbine and sword-bayonet, were generally adopted in the corps this year, superseding the flint-lock musket and bayonet.[450] The length of the musket with bayonet fixed was six feet two inches, but the carbine with sword was constructed an inch shorter. The carbine itself was nine inches and a-half shorter than the musket, but to make up for this reduction, and to enable a soldier to take his place in a charge, the sword-bayonet measured ten inches longer than the rapier-bayonet.[451]

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Footnote 450:

Arms of the percussion principle had been on trial in the corps
since July, 1840.

Footnote 451:

These figures would seem to make the carbine and sword 1½ inches
longer than the old musket, but the loss of the supposed
additional length was occasioned by the greater depth of the
socket required to give strength and stability to the weapon. The
comparative weight of the two arms gave a reduction in favour of
the carbine of 2 lbs. 3½ ozs.

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The shoulder-belt for the bayonet for all ranks was at this time abolished, and a waist-belt two inches broad, with cap-bag and sliding frog, substituted. This new accoutrement is the same as the present one; and the breast-plate then, as now, bore the royal arms without supporters, within a union wreath, based by the word “_Ubique_,” and surmounted by a crown. The sword-bayonet was this year worn vertically for the first time, instead of obliquely as formerly.

The pouch-belt was not altered, but the pouch, the same as at present worn, reduced in dimensions, was made to contain thirty instead of sixty rounds of ball ammunition. The brush and pricker were now abolished.

The sergeants' swords were also withdrawn, and their arms and appointments made to correspond with the rank and file, the only difference being the addition of ornaments on the pouch-belt, which, with the waist-plate, were washed with gilt. The ornaments comprised a grenade bearing on the swell of the bomb the royal arms and supporters; detached from this, underneath, was a scroll inscribed “_Royal Sappers and Miners_,” to which a ring was affixed sustaining a chain united to a whistle, resembling an old round watch tower; the whistle itself forming the battlemented crown, inscribed with the motto “_Ubique_.”[452] These ornaments, the suggestion of Major—now Colonel—Sandham, are still worn by the sergeants.

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Footnote 452:

The idea for this ornament was taken from the martial custom among
the Romans of presenting a mural coronet of gold or silver to the
undaunted soldier who should first scale the walls of a city and
enter the place. Bailey in his Dictionary of 1727 says, “It was
given to the meanest soldier as well as the greatest commander.”
As the assault of fortresses in sieges is the chief business of
the sappers, the round tower with its mural crown on the
sergeant’s appointments, is an appropriate symbol for the corps.

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The buglers' short sword with three guards was replaced this year by one after the pattern of the Ceylon rifles' band. The hilt formed an ornamental Maltese cross with fleury terminations, and on the flat between the horizontal limbs, above the blade, was an exploded grenade. The blade was straight, two feet ten inches long, and the mounting on the scabbard was chased and embellished. The weapon is still worn by the buglers, and is altogether neat, pretty, and convenient.—See Plate XVII., 1854.

1844.

Remeasurement of La Caille’s arc at the Cape—Reconnoitring
excursion of sergeant Hemming—Falkland Islands—Draft to
Bermuda—Inspection at Gibraltar by General Sir Robert
Wilson—Final operations against the ‘Royal George’—and the
‘Edgar’—Discovery of the amidships—incident connected with
it—Combats with crustacea—Success of corporal Jones—Injury to a
diver—Private Skelton drowned—Conduct of the detachment employed
in the work—Submarine repairs to the ‘Tay’ steamer at Bermuda by
corporal Harris—Widening and deepening the ship channel at St.
George’s—Intrepidity of corporal Harris—Accidents from mining
experiments at Chatham—Notice of corporal John Wood—Inspection
at Hong-Kong by Major-General D’Aguilar.

The detachment set apart to measure the base line on Zwartland Plain at the Cape commenced the second season in September, 1841. It opened under a somewhat different arrangement with respect to the issue of provisions. Captain Henderson managed it in 1840, Mr. Maclear in 1841, and sergeant Hemming was appointed to act as his quartermaster-sergeant. Captain Henderson left the work in December and returned to England.

As soon as the base was measured, the triangulation began, and was carried on, with the exception of the winter interval, until January, 1842. Then the work was completed to the north extremity of La Caille’s arc in the vicinity of St. Helena Bay. A few months were now spent in effecting the triangulation to the south as far as Cape Point, and in December, 1842, the work was resumed to the northward.[453]

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Footnote 453:

‘Professional Papers,’ N. S., i., p. 32.

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In January, 1843, the triangulation commenced at a headland north of St. Helena Bay, latitude about 32° S., and continued nearly parallel to the coast line, and about thirty miles from it until it reached Kamiesberg a little south of Lat. 30°. Here the arc was expected to terminate. The difficulties encountered this season were of a formidable kind, and the care required in the transport of Bradley’s zenith sector and a large theodolite, occasioned much tedious anxiety for their preservation. The party, too, was formed of different materials; the infantry soldiers had quitted, and the shipwrecked crew of the ‘Abercrombie Robinson’ had been engaged in their stead. Most of these sailors were rough, ill-behaved fellows, and, therefore, the chief responsibility of the preparations and the conveyances devolved upon the sappers. In addition to this, the country passed over north of the Oliphant river was a straggling desert, and the points used were at high altitudes—one of which exceeded 7,000 feet.[454]

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Footnote 454:

‘Professional Papers,’ N. S., i., p. 32.

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In its progress northward, the party crossed the Oliphant or Elephant river on the 15th June, 1843, and the day being Sunday, encamped on its north bank to spend the sabbath. Six days after the expedition arrived at the foot of the Kamiesberg, where fell heavy rain for three days and two nights; and when the march was recommenced, the ground was so saturated, that the whole train had to be dug out of the mud repeatedly every day. In three days only eighteen miles were accomplished and that with great exertion. The oxen were now so knocked up that the farmers refused to go any further, and a fresh supply was procured at a missionary establishment twelve miles distant. When nearing that institution, the provisions were very low, and the difficulties of the expedition in this respect were greatly augmented by a heavy fall of snow. For the whole day the party were without food, nor could they make a fire to warm themselves.[455] They laboured, however, with excellent spirit, and succeeded that night in bringing three of the waggons to the missionary station; but the other two, sticking fast in the deep ruts, were not brought up till the next day. The men were badly shod, and suffered greatly. About a week after, the instruments were fixed and the observations commenced, which continued until October 1843, when the party returned to Cape Town,[456] and afterwards marched up the country to join their company.

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Footnote 455:

About twelve miles from the sea ice was found three-eighths of an
inch thick.

Footnote 456:

‘Professional Papers,’ i., N. S., p. 32.

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The objects used for reflecting or observing were heliostats about 7 inches in diameter, and were chiefly attended to by the sappers, who were sometimes detached on this duty for several months at a time with a couple of natives under them to assist. On account of the heat, the observations were discontinued at 11 A.M., and not renewed until 3 P.M. Notwithstanding this intermission, the signal duties were oppressive. All supplies were got from a distance, which fully occupied the two natives in procuring them. The sappers were also intrusted with large sums of public money to pay all demands as the work progressed. On the Kamiesberg mountain they helped in the observatory in working the great sector to determine the position of some stars. Two stone-cutters of the number were detached from the Kamiesberg to Zwartland and Groenekloof to cut and build a pillar of stone at each end of the line, to mark the termini of the newly-measured base; and all, as the general service of the expedition permitted, erected at every fixed point a strong pile twenty feet high, secured to a base of twenty feet, to indicate the sites of the several trigonometrical stations.

Sergeant Hemming, before the close of the duty, was sent by the colonial astronomer on a reconnoitring excursion to discover a track from the neighbourhood of St. Helena Bay along the mountain range to the eastward, to Cape L’Agulhas on the coast. He was out fourteen days exploring the country, but from its inaccessible nature returned not only disappointed and exhausted, but unsuccessful.[457] In March, 1844, his connection with the astronomical department ceased.[458]

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Footnote 457:

Ibid., p. 33.

Footnote 458:

These particulars are chiefly collected from a paper by sergeant
Hemming in the ‘Royal Engineer Professional Papers,’ i., pp.
31-39. This non-commissioned officer was pensioned at 1_s._ 8_d._
a-day, in May, 1845. Of his survey services Colonel Portlock gives
an interesting outline in his prefatory remarks to the sergeant’s
paper. His duties appear to have been confined chiefly to the
mountains of Ireland, where in winter he was exposed to fearful
inclemency and subjected to much hardship. “On one occasion,” says
the Colonel, “I had to place a young gentleman, who had graduated
at Cambridge, under the sergeant for instruction, to whose zeal,
intelligence, and respectability the pupil warmly bore testimony.
Before receiving his discharge, he was appointed clerk and
storekeeper to the road department in Cape Town, and some idea of
the responsibility of his office may be inferred from the fact
that he expended in four years, 1844-48, upwards of 36,000_l._!”

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The detachment at the Falkland Islands continued throughout the year to labour in the establishment of the new settlement at Port William, which was situated on the south side of Jackson’s Harbour, and sloped from the shore to a ridge of rocks about a quarter of a mile inland. Notwithstanding the stormy character of the seasons, the detachment constructed three good jetties, made roads and pathways, and formed several ditches to drain the land and mark the different boundaries. They also erected and finished with interior fitments, the Governor’s house, and besides building a temporary barracks for the party with workshops and other convenient premises attached, small commodious cottages were run up for persons in official employment. Of the services and intelligence of sergeant Hearnden the Governor wrote in terms of unqualified praise. Both as a soldier and private individual, the influence of his example was felt in the colony, and he is stated to have been in an eminent degree faithful and successful in the discharge of his duty. Most of the men were also well spoken of for their excellent behaviour and zeal; and amid the innumerable inconveniences of their situation and services, they maintained their military character and discipline unimpaired. This was the more commendable as the temptation to drunkenness—the prevailing vice in the colony—was, from the absence of the common recreations so usual in England, and the inclemency of the weather, almost irresistible.

On the 16th February, forty-four rank and file embarked for Bermuda under the command of Lieutenant C. R. Binney, R.E., to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the epidemic in the previous year, and landed from the ‘Prince George’ transport on the 8th April. Corporal David Harris, the chief military diver, under Major-General Pasley at Spithead, was in subordinate charge of the party.

Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor of Gibraltar, inspected the companies of the corps at the fortress in common with the other troops under his command, in May and October, and on each occasion made flattering allusion to their conduct and discipline. On the 13th May, after some general remarks of commendation, Sir Robert Wilson adds—“All the corps and battalions merited unqualified approbation, and the Governor bestows it with pride and pleasure. The royal sappers and miners, however, whose laborious daily duties occupy their whole time, except the afternoons of alternate Saturdays, deserve, without any invidious preference, particular commendation for preserving a soldier-like mien, and exercising as if they had been in the habit of daily practice.” And again, on the 13th October, he wrote:—“The practice of the royal artillery yesterday was highly satisfactory and impressive, and the royal sappers and miners, including the detachment which arrived only the night before, presented under arms an appearance and proficiency which corresponded with the character established by the capacity and assiduous labours that have distinguished this corps during its employment on the works of the fortifications since the Governor has had the honour to command.”

Early in May, Major-General Pasley resumed, for the sixth and last time, his operations at Spithead. Lieutenant H. W. Barlow, R.E., was the executive officer under whose charge were placed sergeant George Lindsay and thirteen rank and file of the corps, with an equal number of the East India Company’s sappers, and a strong force of seamen, riggers, &c. The removal of the ‘Royal George,’ notwithstanding that there still remained nineteen guns of that wreck at the bottom, was reported to be perfectly accomplished, and the roadstead quite safe for the anchorage of shipping. The Major-General, therefore, turned his attention to the recovery of the guns of the ‘Edgar’ man-of-war, which was blown up at Spithead in 1711. She had been armed with 70 guns, technically termed demi-cannons, sakers, and falconets. The first were 32 and 12-pounders; and the others respectively 9 and 6-pounders. The great mass of timber, embedded in mud, composing the centre of the hull of the wreck, was discovered by corporal Richard P. Jones on the 23rd May. The sweeps from the boat having been caught by an obstruction below, Jones descended by them till he found himself astride a 32-pounder iron gun, which was peeping through a port-hole on the lower deck. It happened at the time to be unusually clear at the bottom, and to his amazement there stood upright before him the midship portion of the vessel, with an altitude above the general level of the ground, of thirteen feet and a half. From the open ports, in two tiers, yawned the mouths of about twelve pieces of ordnance, grim and deformed with the incrustations of 133 years. This part of the ‘Edgar’ was not much shaken by the explosions, but when the fore and after magazines took fire, the head and stern of the vessel were blown away from the body and scattered to distances exceeding three hundred fathoms. So violent indeed had been one of the explosions, that the best bower anchor was not only broken in fragments, but its flukes and shank were separated from each other, nearly half-a-mile. The midships, sharing but little in the convulsion, went down like a colossal millstone, scarcely heeling on her bottom; and the armament of the decks remained as if ready for battle, without a carriage unjerked from its platform, or a gun from its carriage. All the woodwork, however, was so completely decayed by the ravages of worms, and the insidious action of the sea, that when the guns were slung, they were hauled through the decks, as if no obstruction interposed.[459]

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Footnote 459:

A few minutes elapsed before Jones quitted the hobby-horse he was
exultingly riding. Meanwhile curious to explore the gun, he thrust
his hand up the bore, where a member of the crustacean family,
already in quiet possession of the apartment, and not over-pleased
with the unceremonious intrusion, fiercely disputed the passage.
Jones, unwilling to yield, did his best to capture the exasperated
crab, but its inveterate shears had so nipped and lacerated his
hand, he was forced, at last, to beat a retreat. Ever after, the
cruel wounds inflicted upon him by this peevish red-coat, had the
effect of fixing in Jones’s memory, the date of his discovery of
the ‘Edgar.’

It may strike the reader as remarkable that for the six summers of
the operations at Spithead the divers were seldom attacked by any
of the finny tribe; nor was it their privilege ever to meet in
their subaqueous labours with any fishes larger than those
ordinarily supplied for traffic in the markets. A lobster, a crab,
or a conger-eel would now and then exhibit a wish to break lances
with the intruders, but beyond these few instances of piscatorial
interference, the under-water men had little reason to complain of
the ungenerous treatment of the inhabitants of the deep.

More than once Jones was threatened or assaulted by crustacea. As
on one occasion he was traversing for guns, a lobster, measuring
not less than sixteen inches in length, approached him with so
quick a motion, it seemed as if a bird were hovering round him.
Thus attracted, he stood still to learn a fact or two in the
history of its habits. The lobster stared inquisitively at Jones,
as if to discover what the strange phenomenon could be. Apparently
dissatisfied with the extent of the information it had acquired,
it darted off like an arrow, using its fanlike tail as a rudder to
shape its course. Its movements were sharp and rapid—its track in
circles, each less than the other, till poising for a while within
a few feet of the diver, it settled warily on the ground to resume
observations. Startled by an action of the phenomenon, the lobster
sailed off again in concentric circles, swishing the fan furiously
to augment its speed; then, reaching the ground it spread out its
feelers and claws and was soon engrossed in a brown study.
Accepting the series of evolutions as a challenge, Jones prepared
for the combat. Gently lifting his pricker, so as not to excite
the instinctive suspicions of the lobster, he suddenly plunged it
forward and pinned his antagonist to the earth. Instantly grasping
it with his powerful hand behind the claws, Jones hurried on deck,
and its body, weighing as much as a young goose, furnished a
luxurious banquet for the captor and his friends.

Another lobster, less inquisitive but more combatative, advanced
upon Jones with true military boldness. Having performed the magic
circles, it was evident that the fish in armour had taken the
measure of its opponent. Pushing out its claws in front like a
couple of blunt spears, the lobster furiously battered against
Jones’s legs, which, being cased in flannel, Mackintosh cloth, and
impenetrable canvas, were proof against scars and punctures. Thick
and fast came the blows, as from a ram or catapult; and it
occurring to Jones that there was a chance of damage to his shins
if the contest were prolonged, he turned upon his intrepid enemy,
and with one kick from his leaden toe, broke up its morion and
cuirass and gained the victory.

At another time, when Jones was busy making fast to a gun, a
conger eel curled up in its muzzle forced out its slimy head to
reconnoitre. Not relishing its savage attitude, Jones considered
it best to make short work of the interview, and striking it on
the cranium, the eel recoiled within its lurking place. A tompion
being handy, Jones took it up and plugged up the bore. The gun in
due time was hauled on deck, and on removing the tompion, the eel
floundered out, and though small for a conger—about four feet
long—it fought desperately, and was with great difficulty captured
and decapitated.

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Before the close of the season, the whole of this mass was got up, by the continual removal of pieces loosened by frequent small explosions. Almost the whole of the keel was likewise sent up, with innumerable fragments of timber, spars, &c., and many guns, eight of which had been recovered in one week. The first was found by corporal Jones. A great number of sinkers or large stones, by which the wreck buoys were moored, and a number of small anchors were also recovered. In the early part of August the operations were much retarded by some very violent gales, preventing the divers working from time to time; but as soon as the weather moderated, corporal Jones, with his usual zeal, taking down with him a large crate, sent up at one haul, besides a load of staves of casks, &c., ninety-one shot of various sizes. The guns of the ‘Edgar’ were much scattered at the bottom by the explosion of her magazines, and the unexpected distances to which they were thrown, rendered a more extended sphere of action necessary. This was effected by a simple arrangement of ropes as guides, upon which worked a transverse line just over the bed of the roadstead, that caught in its track any object rearing itself above the general level. In this way the entire area of the bottom, supposed to conceal any of the fugitive cannons, was traversed, Jones and Sticklen being the operators; and was attended with so much success, that nearly the whole of the guns and wreck were sent up and deposited in the dockyard before the 31st October, when the season closed. The party rejoined the corps at Woolwich on the 2nd November.[460]

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Footnote 460:

The ‘Times,’ August 19, 1844.

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In addition to Jones, the divers were John Girvan, Donald McFarlane, Philip Trevail, and William Frame, besides four of the East India Company and five others occasionally.[461]

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Footnote 461:

These were sergeants Reid and Clarke, and privates Sticklen,
Herbert, McDonald, Vallely, Canard, Robertson, Gillies, Mais, and
Whelan. Clarke sent up two guns, Sticklen six, Herbert five and a
half, and McDonald two. Sticklen, the most successful diver of the
batch, met with an accident. In pulling him up from the bottom, he
was drawn against some hard substance, which broke one of the side
eyes of his helmet. His dress instantly filled, and the water
rushed into his mouth. So quickly however was his removal to the
deck accomplished, that his struggles for relief were short, and
the injury he received was scarcely more than a temporary
inconvenience.

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During the season corporal Jones got up nineteen guns, besides an immense pile of other articles in endless variety; and when the rough and generally unfavourable state of the weather which prevailed is taken into account, his activity and industry appear strikingly prominent. “Whatever success,” writes General Pasley, “has attended our operations, is chiefly to be attributed to the exertions of corporal Jones, of whom as a diver I cannot speak too highly.”[462]

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Footnote 462: