Chapter XX: Part 20

In the life of some men there happen singular incidents, which
give either a romantic or a strangely-degraded cast to their
career. In this category corporal Macpherson may be fairly
included. He was a very talented and superior artificer, and his
general knowledge and experience made his services conspicuous. At
Hythe he absented himself, and leaving his clothes on the bank of
the canal, a belief prevailed that he was drowned; he, however,
turned up about a year afterwards, and was convicted of the crime
of desertion. But soon gaining favour by his diligence and
talents, he rose rapidly to the rank of sergeant, and was
entrusted with responsible duties at Gibraltar, Hudson’s Bay, and
finally in Nova Scotia. At Halifax he again deserted, with 206_l._
of the public money, but a vigilant piquet being on his trail, he
was apprehended at Annapolis, fortunately for the captain of his
company, with the whole of the treasure in his pocket. Being tried
and convicted he was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation.
A review of his useful services, and the humane intercession of
Colonel Savage, R.E., his commanding officer, obtained for him a
full pardon—only to be followed by the basest ingratitude and
crime. A few months elapsed, and the forgiven felon _a third time_
deserted. On the passage to the States he robbed a gentleman with
whom he got into conversation, but as the theft was discovered
before the debarkation took place, the gentleman repossessed his
money, and a gold watch supposed to be stolen. On landing, the
gentleman took steps for the apprehension of the delinquent, but,
by artful remonstrances, he made the public believe that the
reason of his arrest was not for theft as alleged, but for
desertion from the British service. At once the mob sympathized
with his fate, rescued him from custody, and he is now at large in
the States. The gold watch, brought to Halifax by the gentleman,
proved to be the property of a comrade.

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On the 3rd of August, 1848, the sappers quitted Fort Garry under the command of Captain Blackwood Price, R.A.—Captain Moody having then returned to Canada—and after completing the arduous and fatiguing descent to York Factory, they embarked there on the 24th of August, and landed at Woolwich, 18th of October, 1848. Both Lieutenant-Colonel Crofton, and Major Griffiths, his successor in command, awarded an honourable meed of approbation to the detachment for its exemplary conduct and services; but sergeant Clark was particularly noticed by the former for his attainments and ready zeal. “His exertions,” adds the Colonel, “were never wanting, even in matters not in immediate connexion with the corps, and to him I owe the good arrangements made for the garrison library, in aid of which, his services as librarian were cheerfully given without gratuity.”[488] Sergeant Clark, corporal Macpherson and second-corporal Penton,[489] received promotion for their useful exertions on this expedition.

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Footnote 488:

Sergeant Clark was brought up in the royal military asylum. He was
for some years on the survey of Ireland, and by subsequent
application, became a fair surveyor and draughtsman. He served a
station at Corfu before going to Hudson’s Bay, and subsequently
passed a few years as colour-sergeant of the 20th company, at
Freemantle, Western Australia.

Footnote 489:

An enterprising and superior surveyor. He was importantly employed
in 1843 in the determination of the longitude of Valentia, and is
now a sergeant at Halifax, Nova Scotia, whither he had been sent
to superintend the laying of asphalte.

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1846.

Exploration survey for a railway in North America—Services of the
party employed on it—Personal services of sergeant A.
Calder—Augmentation to the corps—Reinforcement to China—Recall of
a company from Bermuda—Royal presents to the reading-room at
Southampton—Inspection at Gibraltar by Sir Robert Wilson—Third
company placed at the disposal of the Board of Works in
Ireland—Sergeant J. Baston—Services of the company—Distinguished
from the works controlled by the civilians—Gallantry of private G.
Windsor—Coolness of private E. West—Intrepid and useful services
of private William Baker—Survey of Southampton, and its
incomparable map.

Sergeant Alexander Calder and seven rank and file of the survey companies embarked at Liverpool in the ‘Britannia’ steam-ship, and landed at Halifax, 2nd July. Subsequently, the party was increased by the arrival of four rank and file who had been employed on the boundary survey in the state of Maine. This detachment, with two pensioner non-commissioned officers of the corps, served under the direction of Captain Pipon,[490] and afterwards of Lieutenant E. Y. W. Henderson and Major Robinson, R.E., in surveying the country between Quebec and Halifax, to ascertain the best route for a railway to connect the provinces. The party was dressed in plain clothes, and for the service of the woods, fur caps, pea-coats, and over-boots were added.

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Footnote 490:

Accidentally drowned in the Restigouche, 28th October, 1846. His
body was identified by private John Ashplant, and taken charge of
by him and sergeant Calder until its removal from Campbelltown to
Fredericton, where it was interred in the public cemetery.

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Five different routes, the projects of rival interests, were surveyed, and the neighbouring forests and wilds, abounding with wood and water, explored. The forests were in their primeval state—dense and rugged. Pine trees were the chief growth, and the ground, encumbered with sharp-pointed branches thrown down by time or the violence of winds, formed a regular abattis, and with a thick undergrowth of shrubs and bushes rendered the woods almost impervious. Parties exploring, as soon as they left the rivers or beaten tracks, had to cut their way before them. The difficulties of carrying out the service were considerable. The hills being as much covered with the forest as the plains and valleys, views of the surrounding country could not easily be obtained. Generally this object was effected by climbing, in which some of the sappers became very expert, “and, assisted by creepers—a contrivance of iron spikes buckled to the feet—could climb well.”[491] To wander in the least degree from the path cut or marked was dangerous, as the chances of being benighted or lost in the prairie were very great.[492]

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Footnote 491:

‘Professional Papers,’ N. S., ii., p. 36.

Footnote 492:

Ibid., p. 38.

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The detachment was divided into parties of two each as assistant-surveyors, with ten or twelve labourers, under a civil surveyor of the country. “Each party had a particular line to explore. The sappers carried either two or three barometers and detached thermometers with them; also a 5-inch theodolite, a measuring chain, pocket compasses, &c. As the lines were cut out by the axemen and labourers, the sappers measured them, and took the angles for direction, and also for elevation or depression. The barometers were registered at the summits of ridges and bottoms of valleys. Somewhere, at the most convenient spot, in the neighbourhood of the exploring parties, a sapper was stationed with a standard barometer, who did not move from his post until ordered to do so. His duty was to register his barometer and thermometers every hour during the day.”[493]

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Footnote 493:

Ibid., p. 37.

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The result of the surveys and investigations was an able report from Major Robinson, describing a range of country through which a railway could beneficially pass, extending in length to 635 miles, from Halifax to Quebec. The proposed route was determined with reference to the resources of the tract to be traversed, its accessibility, and facility of adaptation to the purpose, as well as its military and general advantages.

After completing the plans and sections of the lines explored, the party, in September, 1848, returned to England and rejoined the survey department.

The personal services of sergeant Calder on this duty are sufficiently interesting to receive notice in this place; and, with some little difference in points of duty and incident, may be taken as an average type of the individual adventures of the rest of the party. From Halifax to Folly Village, he surveyed a line of seventy-five miles with the barometer, and from thence, for twenty-five miles, measured the roads from the high-water mark of the Bay of Fundy, by taking the heights with the theodolite, using the angle of elevation and depression, and checking the same simultaneously, by barometrical observation. He afterwards traversed a varied country for about sixty miles to Amherst, from whence he carried on the survey, barometrically, to Mirimichi. The completion of another rough road of ten miles now took him fully into the wilderness, where he continued his work till the winter set in. During his labours in the woods he ran short of provisions. He was then in charge of twelve men, carrying with them 3 lbs. of pork, 1 lb. of oatmeal, and a small bag of ginger. Upon this scanty fare the party subsisted for three days; and, harassed as they were by hard travelling through a mountainous country, entangled with a tissue of bush and branches covered with deep snow, their fatigues and privations were considerably increased. Heavy loads also they carried, and so closely were the trees packed together, in the exuberant vegetation of the forest, that the adventurers not only had to tear themselves through the thicket, but were continually impeded by logs of fallen trees and tufts of stubborn underwood. On the evening of the third day the hunger of the men began to show its effects in emaciation and despondency. At this moment sergeant Calder found it necessary to relieve the party of the stores and abandon them in the woods. The theodolite and barometers he attached in a safe position to a tree. He then directed the men to use their utmost exertions in tracking a spot where provisions could be found. Scrambling down the banks of a large river they hurried onwards some six miles, when a newly-blazed tree was discovered, indicating the proximity of a lumbering camp. The blazed marks were followed further on for about five miles, and then, to the unbounded joy of the party, a light seen through the chinks of a log-hut on the opposite shore drew the men in the dark on a fallen tree across the stream to the desired camp, where their wants were appeased and their exhausted strength restored. Sergeant Calder acted with coolness and kindness throughout, and maintained the strictest discipline and order. He afterwards recovered the instruments and stores left in the woods, which his men, from weakness and want, had been unable to carry.

In the second season the sergeant returned to the Cobiquid Mountains, the scene of his former exertions. This range was the vertebræ of the country, and the hinging point of an important tract in the route of the proposed railway. Some doubts were entertained as to the practicability of accurately ascertaining the gradients of this dangerous and unknown district, and had they not been determined, the scheme must have proved abortive; but sergeant Calder undertook the service, and accomplished it by means of rods and the spirit-level, to the entire satisfaction of his officers, verifying at the same time the correctness of his former investigations in connexion with the survey of the hills. After this, travelling 200 miles to Cape Canso, he surveyed a branch line along a rugged coast and through an intricate wilderness, to within a few miles of Pictou. In conducting this work one of his labourers was seized with fever. Calder took especial care of the man’s comforts, which, however, from the necessity of crossing rivers and lakes of great breadth on catamarans, or rafts of logs, were unavoidably much restricted. As he proceeded, the trials of the sergeant and his men multiplied, both from the fatigue of travelling and the want of provisions. Wild berries were eaten to supply the cravings of hunger; but to assuage the more fastidious necessities of the sick man, the berries were taken by him with a little sugar. What was most distressing at this time was the absence of all shelter from the inclement weather, and both hale and sick were therefore forced to stretch their limbs under the snow-laden boughs of some dwarf trees, exposed to the keenness of the night frost. At last the party arrived at a district known as the “Garden of Paradise”—a rugged and inhospitable region, where the men were benevolently entertained by some wild Highland settlers. Soon afterwards the sergeant journeyed to Halifax, where he completed the plans and sections of his surveys, and returned to England after a service with the exploration expedition of two years and three months.[494]

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Footnote 494:

This non-commissioned officer acquired, in his early service, a
sound knowledge of surveying in all its branches. For more than
eighteen years he had charge of large parties of surveyors and
draughtsmen, and his systematic habits and intelligence rendered
his assistance of great advantage. Well adapted for carrying out
any arrangement connected with the survey, and for conducting the
beneficial employment of large parties over extensive districts,
he was, in 1846, selected for the exploration duty above referred
to; and his report on a portion of the line, which embraced the
intricate parts of the Cobiquid Mountains, was considered of
sufficient interest to receive a place in the ‘Parliamentary Blue
Book,’ on the subject of that railway. In April, 1853, he was
pensioned at 1_s._ 11_d._ a-day, and, on quitting the corps, bent
his course westward and settled in Canada.

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A large increase to the army and artillery led to a proportionate increase to the royal sappers and miners. This was suggested by Sir John Burgoyne, the inspector-general of fortifications, to maintain a sufficient disposable force for employment in any military services rendered necessary by the exigencies of the times. Eight companies were ordered to be added to the corps, but their formation was spread over three or four years. The first addition gave, on the 1st April, 1846, 1 sergeant, 1 corporal, 1 second-corporal, and 8 privates to each of the 10 service companies; and a company numbered the 12th, of 100 non-commissioned officers and men, was formed at the same time. The corps was thus raised in establishment from 1,290 to 1,500, and on the 1st September it was further increased to 1,600, by the formation of the 15th company. The Corfu company remained at its original establishment of 62 sergeants and rank and file.

On the 22nd July, eighteen rank and file embarked for China, and landed at Hong Kong on the 26th December. This was the third reinforcement to that command. When relieved in November, 1852, the party had dwindled away to 8 men: 7 had died, 2 deserted, and 1 was invalided. The total deaths in the three parties, whose united strength was 67, amounted to 27 men.

The abandonment of the execution of some extensive works in Bermuda permitted the recall to England of the eighth company, which arrived at Woolwich on the 5th August, 1846. The strength of the company on landing at Bermuda was seventy-nine of all ranks. Of this number eight were invalided, thirty-eight had died, one was drowned, one killed, and one transported for desertion. Only thirty-one men, therefore, regained our shores.

A reading-room was established for the corps at Southampton in the summer, which obtained much attention from distinguished visitors. The Marquis of Anglesey—then Master-General—presented an engraving of himself to the room, and the Queen also patronized it by presenting an engraving of his Royal Highness, Prince Albert.[495] In placing the gift in the room, Colonel Colby thus recorded the fact in a general order to the companies under his command;—“The valuable services of this distinguished corps, having been brought under Her Most Gracious Majesty’s notice by the ordnance surveys of Great Britain and Ireland, the demarcation of the boundary line between the British dominions and those of the United States in America, and more especially by the survey of the royal domains at Windsor and the duchy of Lancaster, Her Majesty has condescended to mark her gracious approval of these services, by ordering the presentation of a portrait of the Prince Albert to be placed in the reading-room.”

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Footnote 495:

A companion plate to Chalon’s portrait of Her Majesty.

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Twice this year the second and eleventh companies were inspected by General Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor of Gibraltar—on the 16th May and 17th October. On both occasions they presented a very creditable appearance under arms. “The progress of the new work,” observes his Excellency, “attests their skill and indefatigable diligence, and their merits become the reputation of the service to which they belong.”

The third company of three sergeants and forty-five rank and file, under Captain Wynne, R.E., received orders at ten o’clock at night on the 21st September, and in seven hours after was on route _viâ_ Liverpool for Dublin, where it arrived on the 24th. Placed at the disposal of the Irish Board of Works to oversee the poor during the continuance of the famine, which, from the failure of the potato crop was now the scourge of Ireland, the company was instantly removed in small parties to Limerick, Castlebar, Roscommon, Newcastle, Boyle, and Castlerea, retaining at Dublin as storekeeper and accountant for the Board sergeant John Baston.[496] From these several stations the men were again dispersed over districts of wild country, where the poor, clamorous for subsistence and life, were in a state of revolt. Numbers of these turbulent but starving people were employed on the construction of public roads, &c.; and the sappers, appointed their overseers, not only laid out their work, but instructed them in its performance. To this general duty several of them united the office of steward and inspecting check clerk; and besides controlling the check clerks, superintended and examined the measurements of tasks, and had a general supervision of all arrangements in the field. More than six months they continued on this duty, and returned to Woolwich on the 8th April, 1847, with a high character.

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Footnote 496:

Had charge of the implement store, at 48, City-quay, which
embraced the receipts and issues of thousands of wheelbarrows and
hand-carts, and a great assortment of road and draining tools.
These sergeant Baston was often employed to purchase, and to
obtain them he perambulated both town and country. The duties
entrusted to him were performed with promptitude, accuracy,
and fidelity. Mr. M‘Mahon, the civil engineer, found him
an exceedingly useful and zealous assistant. He is now
colour-sergeant in the corps; is a well-read and talented man, and
his qualifications as an artificer and overseer have rendered him
capable of much higher employment. He joined the corps a lad, from
the royal military asylum, and his acquirements and usefulness
have entirely arisen from his own application. Besides his home
services, he has passed with credit about seventeen years at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Corfu.

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The works superintended by them were always distinguished from other works by the superior order and discipline which they enforced, not unfrequently in circumstances of great personal danger, and during a winter of unusual severity. In detecting frauds and correcting abuses they were found particularly valuable; and their uniform zeal, ability and good conduct, met with the perfect satisfaction of the Board of Works and the Lords of the Treasury. Even Daniel O’Connell spoke favourably of their employment.[497] The working pay of the men while under the relief board ranged between 1_s._ and 2_s._ 6_d._ a-day.

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Footnote 497:

The ‘Times,’ November 4, 1846.

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While on this novel service, private George Windsor, from the upright way in which he performed his duty, made himself obnoxious to the peasantry in the lawless district of Croom; and but for the gallantry with which he defended himself, would probably have lost his life. On the 26th December this private was employed in the barony of Cashma on the Pullough line of road, and on passing down the line in advance of the check clerk and a number of labourers, &c., was met by two persons dressed in women’s clothes, with veils hanging from their bonnets covering their faces. One was armed with a gun, the other with a pistol. Presenting their pieces, they ordered him to kneel, but this the private refused, and though he was unarmed, the ruffians at once closed upon him. At this moment Windsor seized the person armed with the pistol, (dexterously thrusting his finger between the trigger and the guard,) and getting hold of his throat with the other hand, they fell together, fortunately in such a way that the desperado with the gun could not, without injuring his accomplice, shoot the sapper. He, therefore, beat Windsor with the butt-end of his piece. Several minutes the struggle was maintained strangely enough in the presence of a large number of stewards and labourers; and had he met with the slightest assistance from any of them, would have captured both the offenders; but incredulous as it may appear, it must be added to the disgrace of Irishmen that, just as he had overpowered the ruffian with the pistol, a man named Joseph Lindsay[498]—brother to the check clerk—came forward, and dislodging Windsor’s grasp, aided the parties to decamp! For his spirited and manly conduct in the attack, private Windsor was promoted to be second-corporal.

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Footnote 498:

Afterwards tried and convicted for the offence at the Limerick
Spring Assizes, 1847.—‘Saunders’s News-Letter,’ March 9, 1847.

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Private Edward West received three threatening notices through the post-office warning him not to appear at work again on pain of death, adding that, if he did, he should “drop into a bit of a hole already dug for his carcase.” Unmoved by these missives, the private was always the first on the line; and when the labourers were collected, he told them he had received the notices, and then burning them in their presence, observed in a loud voice, “that would be the way his intended murderers would be served at another time.” Once he was attacked by a party from behind a hedge with stones. Struck on the head, he was stunned for a few moments, and nearly fell. On recovering, he boldly dashed over the hedge to meet his assailants, but the cowards made a precipitate retreat. Thirty men suspected of being concerned in the assault were at once dismissed from employment.

Six other men were promoted for their coolness, as well as tact and fidelity, in carrying on their appointed services. Of these private William Baker was perhaps the most conspicuous. A brief detail of his services will show the nature of his duties and the difficulties he had to contend with. Detached to Shonkeragh, eight Irish miles from Roscommon, he was placed over a number of labourers who were in the last stage of insubordination. At first they took their own time of going to work and quitting it, although the regulations required them to be present from 7 A.M. till 5 P.M. To train them to punctuality was not an easy matter, but by checking them and carrying out a firm discipline he soon gained his point. That there should be no excuse for absence, he employed a strong boy to blow a tin horn on the top of the highest hill, central among the cabins of the workmen, to call them to work, and at its sound the rapid gathering of the poor at the rendezvous, on all occasions, showed their willingness to be guided by any useful reform.

This command over a half-civilized class of men made his services very desirable in irregular districts; and among several places where he was beneficially employed was Drumshanaugh—a desolate spot where a knot of Molly Maguires held sway, and obtained payment without work, by intimidating the civil overseers, who feared the consequences of not yielding to their exactions. The farmers' sons and others who had plenty of cattle were receiving 4_d._ a day more than the people who really did work, and 300_l._ in this way were paid for bad labour not worth 50_l._ With these labourers he had a trying duty to perform; but, amid threats and insubordination, he calmly effected his purpose, and suppressed both the spirit of turbulence and the practice of fraud.

The labourers received from 4_d._ to 8_d._ and 9_d._ a day, and the rough wall builders 1_s._ 6_d._, in strict proportion to the work executed. When task-work was introduced, it was difficult to remove the prejudices which set in against the change, and quicken into zeal the indolence which followed. To carry out the instructions of the Board of Works, private Baker selected some of the mildest men of his party to work at easy tasks, by which they earned 11_d._ a day—3_d._ more than formerly. At the end of the week the overseer made a point of this, and paying his choice men first, made suitable remarks as they received their money. Next came the day-men, who being checked for wet days and lost time, only averaged about 3_s._ 2_d._ a week. The disparity of the payments had a wonderful effect, and ever afterwards the system of task labour was eagerly preferred by the peasantry.

Deception, however, soon crept into the tasks, which it required some tact and alertness to detect. In excavations, the labourers frequently came in contact with stone, and for such quantities as they dug out and heaped up, they were paid by the cubic yard; but often these heaps were merely superficial. In every such case private Baker had the mass pulled down and solidly repiled. Acts of repetition were followed by the dismissal of the delinquents, despite the danger it involved. When this cheat failed they resorted to another, by rolling large stones into the heaps from adjacent places; but as these always bore unmistakeable evidence of exposure to rain and wear, the private never omitted to reject them from the pile.

On several occasions when threatening notices of death were posted up prohibiting the civil overseers and check-clerks from returning to a particular line, a car was despatched, even at midnight, to bring private Baker to the excited district. Next morning, appearing at his dangerous post, unarmed, he would pacify or humour the desperados into order and tranquillity.

When a pay-clerk was discharged, the regular payments were for a time interrupted, and the labourers would clamour for a settlement. In Baker’s district there were four lines, three of which were superintended by civilians: the labourers on them were about 700. These threatened daily to go in a body to Boyle, and, should they fail to get their pay, to take the lives of the engineer and his clerks, and burn down the town. Baker represented the state of affairs to the authorities; and on his own recommendation obtained permission from Boyle to give checks for meal upon a tradesman in Carrick-on-Shannon. By this means he fed the people, and kept their irritation in successful check. These periods of disorder occurred two or three times, till pay-clerks were appointed to succeed those who were discharged or had resigned. The pay-clerks seldom paid without the protection of a sapper, who frequently, in instances of dispute, took the bag with its responsibilities and perils, and served out the wages himself. So well did private Baker manage the matter at a wild place in Cashel, that the labourers stood round like soldiers to receive their earnings; and to prevent litigation or seizure, the money was handed to the recipients through an aperture in the pay-hut.[499]

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Footnote 499:

Baker became a second-corporal, and fell heroically at the first
storming of the Redan, 18th June, 1855.

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Frauds were very common; and when detected, the offenders were dismissed. Several civil overseers were, however, afraid to place themselves in opposition to the populace; and a sapper working on one line has in such instances been sent to another to perform the duty. This, of course, produced much ill-feeling against the sappers; but beyond a few threats and an occasional attack, the sappers passed from the country without material hurt.

The survey of Southampton was completed late this year for the Southampton Improvement Board. A detachment of the corps, directed by Captain Yolland, R.E., under the local superintendence of sergeant William Campbell, executed the work. The map, on a scale of 60 inches to a mile, occupies thirty-five large sheets, which have been magnificently bound in bureau folio, and placed in the municipal archives of the town. Sergeant Campbell attended at a meeting of the Commissioners on the 31st March, 1847, and presented the map, on the part of the Ordnance to the Corporation. The work is one of extreme beauty. A more artistical display of ornamental surveying does not exist. The stonework of the pavement, the styles of the public buildings, the masonry of the graving-dock, the undulation of the silt on the shores, and small streams of water running into it from the coast, the gardens of private houses, and the trees and shrubberies of the common, are all delineated with a minuteness of detail and beauty of colouring unexampled in any town map in England. Even the map of Windsor, which obtained the approbation of Her Majesty for its accuracy and exquisite finish, is much inferior to the map of Southampton. The draughtsmen were second-corporals Charles Holland[500] and George Vincent, with Patrick Hogan,[500] late royal sappers and miners, and Mr. Maclachlan.[501] The Commissioners of the town gave a unanimous vote of thanks to Captain Yolland, the sappers, and the assistants for the survey and map of the borough, and also expressed “the high sense they entertained of the great ability and unrivalled skill displayed in the execution of the work.” A committee was formed to take steps for rewarding Captain Yolland and sergeant Campbell “with an adequate testimonial of the Commissioners' high approbation of the work;” but the intended honour, on military grounds, was declined.[502]

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Footnote 500:

Each received a case of instruments from Prince Albert for merit
in the execution of a drawing of Windsor.

Footnote 501:

‘Hampshire Telegraph,’ January 30th, 1847; ‘Hampshire Advertiser,’
April 3, 1847.

Footnote 502:

‘Hampshire Advertiser,’ April 3, 1847.

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1847.

Detachments in South Australia—Corporal W. Forrest—Augmentation to
the corps—Destruction of the Bogue and other forts—Services of the
detachment at Canton—First detachment to New Zealand—Survey of
Dover and Winchelsea—Also of Pembroke—Flattering allusion to the
corps—Sir John Richardson’s expedition to the Arctic regions—Cedar
Lake—Private Geddes’s encounter with the bear—Winter quarters at
Cumberland House—Roadmaking in Zetland—Active services at the
Cape—Company to Portsmouth.

The detachment in South Australia was in July, 1845, on the representation of his Excellency Lieutenant-Governor Grey, ordered to be reduced, its employment being considered no longer necessary or advantageous to the province. Scarcely had steps been taken to effect its disbandment, when Governor Grey, removed to another settlement, was succeeded by Colonel Robe, who, taking a different view of the services of the party, submitted the desirableness of its immediate completion to the authorized establishment. In this suggestion Earl Grey concurred, regarding it of the greatest importance that the survey department in the province should not be permitted to fall into arrear in its work; and under authority, dated 22nd October, 1846, a party of seven mechanics, who were also surveyors and draughtsmen, sailed for Port Adelaide in February and landed there the 30th June.[503]

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Footnote 503:

One of the party discharged under Governor Grey’s order was
corporal William Forrest. Governor Robe, in a despatch to Earl
Grey, spoke of his entire approbation of the corporal’s
conduct, both as a soldier and surveyor. Captain Frome, the
surveyor-general, attributed the rapid progress of the field
surveys, and the general correctness of the work, to his
steady zeal and talent. At first he superintended four or five
detached survey parties, and laid out and corrected their
work; but when a sufficient quantity of land had been divided
into sections, corporal Forrest was transferred to the
triangulation of the known portions of the colony, and
connected all the detached surveys with the trigonometrical
stations. This service he conducted in a most satisfactory and
creditable manner. Returning to England, he was discharged in
April, 1848, and is now living, in ease and comfort, at
Edinburgh on his pension and his savings.

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The corps was increased by 200 men this year, on account of the formation of a company on the 1st April, and another on the 1st December. These companies were numbered the seventeenth and eighteenth; and the establishment now reached a total of 1,800 officers and soldiers. When the estimates for the year were under consideration in the House of Commons, Colonel Anson, the surveyor-general of the Ordnance, in claiming an increased amount to cover the augmentation, passed a high eulogium on the corps. After speaking in flattering terms of the royal engineers, the Colonel added, “He might say as much for the sappers and miners. This body was composed of most intelligent men, who applied themselves most assiduously to the discharge of their duties, and were equal to any services which they might be called upon to perform.”[504]

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Footnote 504:

Debates in the ‘Times,’ March 6, 1847

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Thirty-five non-commissioned officers and men accompanied the expedition from Hong Kong to Canton, under Captain Durnford and Lieutenant Da Costa, R.E., and were present at the capture of the Bogue and other forts in the Canton river on the 2nd and 3rd April. The forts taken were fourteen in number, and 865 heavy guns were rendered useless by spiking, while a number of barbaric weapons were captured.[505]

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Footnote 505:

About twenty of these curious arms, all of the spear form, but
grotesquely varied, are in the model-room of the royal engineer
establishment at Chatham.

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The sappers were in advance, and opened the gates of the forts for the assaults, and afterwards destroyed the magazines and assisted to spike the guns. Privates James Cummins and James Smith placed the powder-bags on the gates.[506] Corporal Hugh Smith[507] laid the trains to two forts, and was favourably mentioned by Major Aldrich, R.E., to Sir John Davis, the Governor, and Major-General D’Aguilar. Sergeants Joseph Blaik[508] and Benjamin Darley[509] conspicuously distinguished themselves: the former blew in the gate of Zigzag Fort, and the latter blew up the magazine at Napier’s Fort.

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Footnote 506:

Both died in China; the former on the 15th August, and the latter
15th September, 1847.

Footnote 507:

Discharged 8th October, 1850. He was then a sergeant. See _ante_,
Syria, 1841.

Footnote 508:

Died at Hong-Kong, 15th August, 1848.

Footnote 509:

Now colour-sergeant in the corps stationed at New Zealand.

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At Canton the sappers were employed in barricading streets, making scaling-ladders, &c., and pulling down houses, walls, and other obstructions required to be removed. “My own observations,” wrote Colonel Phillpotts, the commanding royal engineer in China, “of the cheerful and ready manner in which they at all times performed their various and arduous duties by day, and often by night, demands my most marked approbation.” The gallant conduct of sergeant Blaik attracted the notice of Major-General D’Aguilar, for which he was promoted to the rank of colour-sergeant. The whole detachment remained at Canton until the 8th April; but on the troops quitting for Hong Kong four of the sappers were left behind, and assisted Lieutenant Da Costa, R.E., in making a survey of the European factories at that commercial emporium, until the 14th May, 1847, when they rejoined the detachment at Victoria.

On the 10th April one sergeant and twelve rank and file embarked at Deptford on board the ‘Ramilies,’ and landed at Auckland, New Zealand, on the 9th August. This was the first party of the corps detached to that remote settlement.

From April to June one sergeant and twelve rank and file from Chatham, under Captain McKerlie, R.E., assisted in the survey and contouring of Dover, within a range of a thousand yards from the fortifications. Early in the previous year five non-commissioned officers and men were employed in a military survey of portions of Winchelsea.

Pembroke was also surveyed by a party of one sergeant and eight men from the survey companies, between April and December, under Captain Chaytor, R.E. This survey included the docks, dockyard, and property in its immediate vicinity, to enable measures to be taken for raising essential defensive works to protect the place. The survey was well executed; and private John Wall,[510] who remained at the duty until March 1848, executed with neatness and accuracy, the required plans.

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Footnote 510:

Discharged October, 1848, and is now employed with advantage as a
draughtsman on the Ordnance Survey.

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About this period the survey operations of the corps, both in the triangulation and the detail duty, were very conspicuous, and drew from the greatest of the daily London journals, in a leader, a high commendation for its services and trials. The language of the article is too forcible and brilliant to justify abridgment, and the complimentary passage is therefore given entire.—“An Englishman has a constitutional repugnance to the intrusion of soldiers into civil duties; he would rather pay them to walk about than to work, and he chooses to make a separate and private hiring of his own police. Ordinarily, soldiers are unwelcome visitors to him, seldom appearing but at the beck of some scared sheriff or meddling mayor, to correct his refractory disposition. But there is a corps which is often about him, unseen and unsuspected, and which is labouring as hard for him in peace as others do in war. If he lives near a cathedral city, he may perhaps have occasionally observed a small wooden cradle perched on the very summit of the spire or tower, and he may have pitied, perhaps, the adventurous mason who had undertaken the job. That cradle contained three sappers and miners, stationed there for five or six weeks to make surveys, and who only quitted their abode for another equally isolated and airy. Within these last five years, a handful of these men, with an engineer officer, have been frozen upon the peak of a Welsh mountain, on an allowance of provisions fit for the sixth month of a siege, and with no more possibility of communicating with the scanty natives of the place, than if they had been shipwrecked on the Sandwich Islands.”[511]

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Footnote 511:

The ‘Times,’ 8th March, 1847.

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A party of fifteen men, selected from a number of volunteers by Sir John Richardson, joined the expedition under his orders to the Arctic seas in June. The object of the mission was to search for Sir John Franklin and his crews, by tracing the coast between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers, and the shores also of Victoria and Wollaston lands, lying opposite to Cape Krusenstern. All the men were intelligent artizans, accustomed to boat service and laborious employment. They were, moreover, strongly built, of good physical powers, and, with one exception, bore excellent characters. The defaulter was addicted to drinking, but in other respects he was a good and active workman. Knowing that there would be no means of obtaining intoxicating drinks in Rupert’s Land, Sir John Richardson accepted his services, and he turned out an invaluable man. Seven of the party were carpenters, joiners, and sawyers, one was a miner, one a painter, and six were blacksmiths, armourers, and engineers, who were found useful in repairing the boats, working up iron, constructing the domicile for the winter residence of the expedition, and making the furniture required for its few and simple wants.[512] To suit the hard climate of the Arctic zone, each man was provided with a flannel jacket and trousers, a stout blue Guernsey frock, a waterproof overcoat and cap, and a pair of leggings. They also wore mocassins and leather coats, when the nature of the season and their employment rendered it necessary.[513]

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Footnote 512:

Sir John Richardson’s ‘Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert’s
Land and the Arctic,’ edit. 1851, p. 43.

Footnote 513:

Ibid., p. 44.

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On the 4th June the men were discharged from the corps, and sailed on the 15th from the Thames in the ‘Prince of Wales,’ and the ‘Westminster.’ Delayed much by ice in Hudson’s Straits, they had a long passage, and it was not until about the middle of September that the stores for the journey were wholly landed.[514] As soon as this service was effected, the expedition, with a number of hired men, quitted Norway House in five boats, which, from being “often stranded and broken in the shallow waters, caused frequent detention for repairs.” Overtaken by winter in Cedar Lake, Mr. Bell, who had charge of the expedition until Sir John Richardson arrived, made this a depôt, where he stored the boats and goods in a suitable house constructed by the sappers. Several of the party were left here to take care of the _matériel_, and also the women and children, who were unequal to a long journey over the snow.

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Footnote 514:

Ibid., pp. 46, 47.

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In October the bulk of the expedition started for Cumberland House, and reached it on the eighth day after leaving Cedar Lake. On the first day’s journey private Hugh Geddes and a half-caste Indian were attacked by a bear on Muddy Lake. The latter fired three times at the beast without bringing him down. Neither of them now had any ammunition; but Geddes, who was incapable of much exertion from an axe wound in the foot, anticipating the peril, forgot his pains and felled two young birch trees, one of which he handed to his companion: with these formidable defensors both made a desperate onslaught on the raging bear, but it was not until after much labour and hazard that they succeeded in slaying it. In due time they sleighed his huge carcase to the rendezvous at Cedar Lake.

At Cumberland House one of the divisions passed the winter, and was kept in constant employment by attending to several seasonable occupations, such as cutting firewood, driving sledges with meat or fish, and fulfilling a round of services no less laborious than necessary. They also established a fishery on the Beaver Lake, two days' march north of the depôt.[515]

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Footnote 515:

Sir John Richardson’s ‘Journal of a Boat Voyage through Rupert’s
Land and the Arctic,’ edit. 1851, p. 47.

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From July to December three rank and file were employed under Captain T. Webb, R.E., in surveying and laying out roads in Zetland, in connection with the Central Board for the Relief of Destitution in the Islands of Scotland. This service was ordered by the Home Government, and the party returned to Woolwich when the winter had fairly set in. Second-corporal Harnett was well reported of for his intelligence and capabilities, and the two privates for their industry and exertions.

At the Cape of Good Hope the two companies were distributed to fifteen posts and forts on the frontier. On the 2nd May the sapper force there was increased to 198 of all ranks by the arrival of thirty-five men, under Lieutenant Jesse, R.E. Between the 14th September and 23rd December one sergeant and sixteen rank and file were in the field, under Captain Walpole, R.E. They had with them an assortment of carpenters' and smiths' tools, engineer stores, and a quantity of intrenching tools, besides a large five-oared cutter, and the materials and gear to form a raft of casks. From the 1st to 6th December, eleven of these men were actively employed in transporting men and provisions to a large portion of the division on the left bank of the Kei, under Lieutenant Jervois, R.E., at a time when the rise of the river prevented any intercourse by waggons. During the six days, the party exerted themselves in a most praiseworthy manner, and sergeant Alexander McLeod was particularly active and zealous. Between the 21st November and 1st December, three sappers, with a party of the line, under Lieutenant Stokes, R.E., opened a road for waggons in the Amatola mountains, and constructed a temporary bridge across the Keiskama. Before the execution of this service provisions were conveyed to the camp in the mountains on mules, and hence the transit was slow and uncertain.

On the representation of Colonel Lewis, R.E., a company of full strength was removed from Chatham to Portsmouth, on the 22nd December. Its employment was confined to the erection and repair of such works as could not be undertaken by contract, such as strengthening the fortifications, repairing gates, laying platforms, curbs, &c. It was also considered indispensable to retain a company in that command, to execute, in the event of a war suddenly breaking out, the numerous wants likely to occur in such an emergency.

INDEX TO VOL. I.

Aboukir, 136 Acre, 364 Acting adjutants, 297 Adam, Sub-Lieutenant, 221, 229, 231, 238, 241 Adamson, Sub-Lieutenant, 216, 219 Addiscombe, 301 Addison, sergeant, 267 Adour, bridge of the, 213–215 Africa, 267, 285 Airy, Professor, 391, 425 Alba, 195 Albert, Prince, 445, 446, 470 Alderney, 173 Aldrich, Lieutenant, 364, 365; Major, 442, 480 Allan, quartermaster, 416 ——, Walter, 127 Allen, Francis, quartermaster-sergeant, 290 Alexander, Andrew, private, 195 ——, quartermaster, R.H.A., 106 ——, Emperor of Russia, 221 Alexandria, 136 Algiers, 243 Allowances to officers commanding companies, 43, 66 America, disputed territory in, 347, 357, 378 ——, tracing and surveying boundary line in, 415, 448–454 ——, exploration survey in, for a railway, 465–469 Anderson, Andrew, 361 ——, James, private, 373 Andrews, James, private, 257, 285 Anglesey, Marquis of, 470 Anholt, 181 Aniers, bridge over the Seine at, 238 Anniversary of siege of Gibraltar, 42 Antigua, 82, 255, 270 Antwerp, 218, 221 Arctic expedition, 481–483 _Arethusa_, 284 Argenteuil, bridge over the Seine at, 238 Arms and accoutrements, 198, 244, 310, 428–430 Armstrong, Sub-Lieutenant, 231 Arnold, Lieutenant, 145 Arthur, Major-General, 324 Artificers, formation of corps of, 53–55, 58–64 Artillery, transfers to, 105; mutiny in the, 112, Ascension, island of, 279, 282 Ashplant, John, private, 465 Auger, Richard, 310–321, 328–340 Augmentations, 6, 8, 17, 88, 45, 157, 182, 265, 266, 267, 271, 273, 342, 344, 356, 368, 379, 469, 479 Australia, 310–321, 328–340, 342, 478

Badajoz, 179, 191–193 Bagshot camp, 78 Bailey, bugle-major, 247 ——, Edward, private, 442 Bain, corporal, 117 Baker, William, second-corporal, 473–475 Ballingall, private, 250 Baltimore, 223 Barbadoes, 248, 254, 256, 258, 283, 284, 291 Barbara and St. Felipe, forts of, 177 Barber, John, private, 177 Barlow, Lieutenant, 435 Barnecoat, Edward, private, 393; corporal, 458 Barns, Joseph, sergeant, 458 Barrosa, 181 Barry, Colonel, 441 Bastard, corporal, 451 Baston, sergeant, 471 Bay of Biscay O!, 77 Bayonne, 215 Beal, corporal, 279, 282 Beatty, Captain, 461 Beauharnois, 325 Beer, William, corporal, 111 Bennett, Captain, 157 ——, quartermaster-sergeant, 257 Bennie, William, private, 409 Berbice, 143, 270 Bergenopzoom, 219 Bermuda, 196, 199, 254, 255, 256, 271, 291, 379, 426, 434, 440, 441, 470 Berry, William, private, 267 Berryhead, 105 Bethell, private, 36 Biggs, private, 415 Binney, Lieutenant, 434 Birch, Captain, 152, 180 Black, William, sergeant, 299, 300, 301, 364, 365, 367 Blackadder, corporal, 193 Bladensburg, 223 Blaik, Joseph, sergeant, 399, 428, 480 Blair, corporal, 5 Blanshard, Captain, 215, 223; Major, 266, 289, 303 Blyth, sergeant, 18 ——, Sand, submarine demolitions at, 399 Board of Works, Ireland, 471–476 Bogue forts, 479 Bombarde, 103 Bonavia, Sub-Lieutenant, 155 Bond, William, private, 193 Booth, Sub-Lieutenant, 194, 196 Booth, Ensign, 6 Boothby, Captain, 170 Borland, private, 204 Borthwick, corporal, 182 Boteler, Captain, 207, 267 Boundary survey. See “America” Bourchier, Lieutenant, 399, 456–458 Bows, private, 93 Boyer, fort, 225 Brabant, private, 351 Braid, private, 207 Brand, corporal, 5; sergeant, 20, 34; Lieutenant, 33–36 Brandreth, Lieutenant, 270, 279, 282 Brennan, John, private, 218, 219 Bridges, Lieutenant, 84; Lieutenant-Colonel, 141 ——, sergeant-major, 3, 5 Brighton, 84 Bristo, private, 94, 95 Broughton, Captain, 356, 378, 449 Brown, Captain, 227 ——, Daniel, corporal, 149, 275 ——, George, private, 17, 28 ——, quartermaster-sergeant, 364, 367 ——, John, sergeant, 6 ——, Thomas, sergeant, 254 ——, widow, Sultana of Morocco, 7 Browne, sergeant-major, 111, 132 Browning, private, 393 Brownrigg, Lieutenant, 117, 118 Bruges, 117 Brussels, 230, 234 Bruyeres, Captain, 105 Bryce, Captain, 129, 132, 137; Lieutenant-Colonel, 171 Buchanan, Captain, 173, 189 Buenos Ayres, 153, 162 Bugles adopted, 247 Bull-fight, 415 Bunn, private, 214 Burgess, sergeant, 111 Burgos, 194 Burgoyne, Captain, 162, 166; Lieutenant-Colonel, 194 Burke, Patrick, private, 192, 195 Burmester, Lieutenant, 306 Burrell, William, private, 92 Burridge, private, 385–387 By, Lieutenant-Colonel, 285 Byham, R., secretary to Board of Ordnance, 68

Cadiz, 129–130, 165, 176, 181, 184, 193, 195 Calder, Sub-Lieutenant, 181, 200, 211, 223, 243 ——, sergeant, 465–469 Calshot castle, 104 Calvi, 93 Cameron, John, private, 107 ——, John, sergeant, 181 ——, John, sergeant, 380 ——, Roderick, private, 373, 377, 393, 396 Campbell, David, private, 243 ——, John, sergeant, 362, 457 ——, Malcolm, private, 392 ——, William, sergeant, 476 Cambo, 206 Camps, 78, 84 Canada, 88, 199, 222, 226, 254, 257, 272, 285–287, 324, 401 Canton, 479, 480 Cape Breton, 167, 174, 177, 185 Cape of Good Hope, 153, 167, 174, 185, 254, 259, 272, 291, 293, 362, 384–388, 431–433, 444, 454–459, 483 Carey, James, corporal, 20 Caribbee islands, 101, 109, 118 Carlin, sergeant, 379, 380 Carlisle, Lord, speech against formation of corps, 62 Carthagena, 195 Castelcicala, Prince di, 68 Castledine, corporal, 455 Catalonia, 200 Cathcart, Lord, 63 Catto, sergeant, 132 Cave at Gibraltar, 51 Ceuta, 177 Ceylon, 141, 185 Chambers, sergeant-major, 20 Chatham, 65, 73, 132, 157, 184, 248, 254, 255, 256, 283, 289, 291, 292, 308, 441 Chatou, 238 Chaytor, Captain, 480 Chelmsford, 121, 149 Chesney, Colonel, 297 Chilcot, Captain, 93 China, 427, 442, 470, 479 Cholera, 292 Christie, Sir Archibald, 283 Clarence, Duke of, 255, 256 Clark, George, private, 107 ——, John, private, 92 ——, Philip, sergeant, 460–464 Clarke, Samuel, private, 204 Cleghorn, Alexander, private, 393, 396, 420, 424, 440 Clinton, Lieutenant-General, 221 Colby, Major, 257; Colonel, 264, 273, 403, 408, 470 Cole, Lieutenant, 221 Coles, John, 310–321, 328–340 Colleton, Sir James, 261, 266, 278 Collinson, Captain, 427 Colquhoun, Colonel, R.A., 306, 322 Colville, Sir Charles, 243 Comfort, private, 122 Commissions from the ranks into the Engineers, 35, 85 Congella, action at, 385 Connolly, James, private, 145 Connor, Owen, private, 204, 206 Contract, works to be executed by, 278 Cook, Joshua, private, 87 ——, Thomas P., sergeant, 359, 361, 457 Coombs, corporal, 239 Copenhagen, 163 Corfu, 222, 249, 254, 255, 259, 265, 291 Cormack, William, private, 204 Corsica, 93 Coruña, 168 Cottey, corporal, 111 Cottingham, sergeant, 355 Councill, corporal, 206, 238 Courtenay, Mr., opposition of, to formation of corps, 63 Cowan, Adam, private, 119; sergeant, 164 Cowes, 96 Craig, John, private, 369, 370 Crawford, William, private, 362 Creighton, corporal, 220 Crockett, private, 410 Crowdy, private, 393, 396 Crozier, Lieutenant, 101, 102 Cuidad Rodrigo, 190 Cummins, James, private, 479

Dacosta, Lieutenant, 479, 480 D’Aguilar, Major-General, 442 Daniel, sergeant, 20 Danish islands, 133, 164, 169, 175 D’Arcy, Captain, 120, 132; Major, 157; Lieutenant-Colonel, 163, 171 Darley, Benjamin, sergeant, 480 Dalhousie, Lord, 275 Darbyshire, sergeant, 291, 293 Dashwood, Lieutenant, 297 Davie, Sub-Lieutenant, 176, 180 Davis, John, sergeant, 203 Dawson, Mr. James, 426 Deane, corporal, 285 Deary, Noah, 295, 387 Debbieg, Colonel, 53, 57 De Butts, Lieutenant, 87 Delabeche, Sir Henry, 445, 446 Delacourt, private, 170 Demerara, 143, 255 Demolitions, submarine, 325, 348–353, 358–362, 372–378, 392–399, 419–424, 435–440, 441 De Salaberry, Lieutenant, 180 Desertion, efforts to prevent, 111 Designation of corps, 3, 189, 197 Detachments for service, 120, 124 Develin, corporal, 194 Dickens, Lieutenant, 50; Colonel, 154 ——, Captain, 206 Disaffection of corps, 81 Discipline of corps, 51, 245, 251 Diving. See “Demolitions” Dodds, private, 204 Donnelly, Henry, corporal, 235 Doran, private, 193 Douglas, Archibald, private, 94 ——, James, private, 117, 175 corporal, 191 Doull, Alexander, Mr., 345, 405 Douro, 201 Dover, 105, 132, 149, 157, 184, 248, 480 ——, Round Down Cliff at, 415 Dowling, William, private, 207 Down, John, corporal, 322 Dowse, Lieutenant, 92, 93 Dress, 47–50, 69–71, 79, 90, 99, 114, 133, 140, 197, 247, 249, 258, 262, 263, 279–281, 287, 292, 305, 371, 459 Drew, Lieutenant, 68 ——, Major, R.A., 68 Drummond, William, private, 86 ——, Captain, 268 Drums abolished, 247 Drunkenness, 96 Dublin, 425, 471 Duncan, Andrew, private, 359; corporal, 408 Dundas’s drill, 84 Dunkirk, siege of, 85 Dunn, James, private, 204 Dunnett, sergeant, 272, 276, 277 Duplat, Captain, 303 Duport, Captain, R.A., 248 Durant, private, 194 Durham, Lord, 324 Durnford, Elias, Colonel, 86, 90, 93 ——, Lieutenant, 91, 92; Colonel, 276, 278 ——, E. W., Colonel, 73 ——, E. W., Lieutenant, 261 ——, Captain, 479 Dyson, corporal, 143

Eastbourne, 149, 174, 185 East India Company, 322, 393, 394, 396, 419, 428, 435–440, 442 Eaves, Sub-Lieutenant, 132, 166 Edgar, wreck of, 422, 435 Edmonds, corporal, 369–371 Edrington, private, 300, 301 Egypt, 132, 135–138, 162 Elba, 94 Ellis, Mr. George, 329 Elphinstone, Captain, 165 Emmett, Captain, 223; Major, 242 Engineer establishment in France and Netherlands, 236, 239 Enlistment into corps, opposition to, 73 Entwistle, sergeant, 379 Epidemics, 109, 146, 199, 255, 279, 426 Equilateral pontoons, 416 Erie, fort, 222 Esla, bridge, 201 Essequibo, 143 Estcourt, Colonel, 415, 449, 453 Establishment for field instruction, Chatham, 188 Euphrates expedition, 297–301 Evans, Thomas, corporal, 204 ——, James, draughtsman, 50 Evatt, Lieutenant, 93, 104; Captain, 154, 157; Colonel, 177 Evelegh, Lieutenant, 4, 6; Captain, 44; Colonel, 99, 132 Evelin, John, corporal, 111 Exmouth, Lord, 19 Exploration survey for a railway in America, 465–469 Eyre, Lieutenant, 217