Chapter XX: Part 20

With the allied expedition sent to attack Kinbourn in October there were sixty non-commissioned officers and men of the corps under Major Bent of the engineers. The British contingent was commanded by Brigadier-General the Hon. A. Spencer. On the 15th the disembarkation took place on a tongue of land stretching into the sea; and the troops were halted at a spot, which from its broken features and the presence of small patches of morass in its front, rendered it acceptable for a defensive position. Encamped on salient hillocks, the regiments were concealed from Russian observation by spreading their canvas on the reverse of the declivities. The line, traced by Major Bent and a French engineer, took advantage of the abounding irregularities of the ground, and was closed on the left by a species of hornwork with its two salients rising from the summits of two small mounds, and its flanks resting on the Licame sea. Into this “keep” it was intended, in the event of any mischance, that the troops should retire and hold it by intrepid fighting till the last man had returned to the ships. On the right of the line two small detached works were also traced on commanding heights to flank the front of the position and to be defended by pickets. In the night of the 15th the intrenchments commenced by each regiment throwing up the necessary cover in its immediate front. The “keep” and the outworks were also advanced; and wells, which produced excellent water at a depth of seven feet, were also sunk. Under the superintendence of the royal engineers and the company of sappers, the field defences, adequate for the protection of kneeling musketeers, were finished on the 17th. The excavation was six feet wide and three deep in which a banquette was formed three feet broad. When the land arrangements were perfected, the allied fleet opened a sharp fire on the old masonry fort and its two sand redoubts, mounting respectively 60, 11, and 9 pieces of artillery. A block of buildings in the fortress was speedily in flames, the old ramparts fell down, many guns were destroyed, and the carriages upon which they were mounted were shivered and disabled. To an attack so irresistibly conducted, the garrison about 1,200 strong soon capitulated with the loss of 60 killed and wounded, while the casualties in the Anglo-French fleet were insignificant. On the 20th the troops, none of whom took part in the fight, moved to the village; and on the following day, when the main body of the expedition marched to enforce a reconnaissance of the country, Major Bent, left in charge of the camp, set to work to repair the damaged barracks. At this and kindred services in which the skill of artificers was needed, the sappers laboured in unison with the French, and were warmly complimented for their “intelligence, zeal, and activity,” by the French general in chief. Major Bent and his company embarked on board the ‘Indian’ on the 29th October, anchored at Kazatch 2nd November, and soon after landed to share in the general employments of the camp. Their return to Sebastopol was followed by a communication from Marshal Pélissier, a copy of which is added, acknowledging the co-operation of the English with the French sappers in the restorations at Kinbourn.

Armée d’Orient.

Etat Major Général,
No. 815,
Au sujet de la
brigade du Général Spencer.

“MON CHER GÉNÉRAL,

“_Grand Quartier Général à Sébastopol,
le 7 Novembre, 1855._

“LE Général Bazaine m’a prié de vous exprimer combien il a eu à se
louer de ses relations de service avec le Brigadier-Général Spencer,
et de la conduite des beaux regiments composant la brigade placée sous
ses ordres. Les relations les plus amicales n’ont pas cessées un
instant de régner dans les deux brigades, et les soldats du Génie des
deux armées ont travaillés avec le plus grand ensemble à la
ré-édification de la forteresse de Kinbourn. Je dois vous recommander
particulièrement le Major Bent, du corps Royal des Ingenieurs, qui à
dirigé avec beaucoup d’intelligence le travaux qu’il a eu à faire
exécuter.

“Veuillez agréer, mon cher Général, l’assurance de ma haute
considération, et de mon affectueux dévouement.

“Le Maréchal Commandant-en-Chef,
(Signed) “A. PÉLISSIER.

“_Monsieur le Général-en-Chef
de l’armée Anglais._”

[TRANSLATION.

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

[TRANSLATION.]

“_Head-Quarters, Sebastopol,
November 7th._

“MY DEAR GENERAL,

“GENERAL BAZAINE has begged me to express to you how much he has
to congratulate himself on his military services with
Brigadier-General Spencer, and with the conduct of the splendid
regiments placed under his orders.

“The most amicable arrangements have not for an instant ceased to
exist in the two brigades, and the soldiers of engineers of the two
armies have worked together with the greatest cordiality at the
restoration of the fortress of Kinbourn. I must particularly recommend
to you Major Bent, royal engineers, who has directed with great
intelligence the works which he has had to execute.

“Pray receive, my dear General, the assurance of my high consideration
and my affectionate devotion.

“The Marshal Commanding-in-Chief,
(Signed) “A. PÉLISSIER.

“_The General in Command of the
English Army._”

General Sir James Simpson, who had commanded the army since the death of Lord Raglan, resigned his high office on the 11th, and was succeeded by General Sir William Codrington.

The great French magazine on the brow of the Ravin du Carénage blew up on the 15th November. For miles the ground was convulsed by the explosion as if an earthquake had shaken the land, and in the vicinity of the devastation hill and ravine were covered with the black dust of the gunpowder as if the area were the approach to another Erebus. Shot, carcases, rockets, and shells, with their myriad splinters, fell in a terrible shower breaking up tents, collapsing stables, throwing into ruins store-sheds and hospitals, burning huts and siege materials, and striking down men at a considerable distance from the scene. The number of officers and soldiers killed and wounded were as many as might have occurred in a sharp action. Bugles were sounded to form a general parade, and the troops drawn aside to a neighbouring height looked on in bewildered amazement. The only two of the corps present at the moment of the catastrophe were Lieutenant Brine and sergeant Jarvis, who were inspecting work done at the stables of Captain Travers’ small-arm ammunition brigade. That grave explosion blew down the stables and also those of the Y battery, and let loose some four hundred horses which ran wildly over the hills. As soon as the nature of the disaster had been ascertained, Lieutenant Brine sent his sergeant for the tenth company. It soon arrived with picks, shovels, hooks, &c.; and, wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Lloyd, “rendered valuable service.” The army was then away, and the little band of sappers set to work under the eye of Sir William Codrington to arrest the conflagration. The powder mill at Inkermann was between two fires, and had been greatly injured by the concussion. But little danger was apprehended from the one on the valley side of it, because the ravine intervened; but some burning shells having penetrated a number of old French huts beyond the magazine, the little settlement was soon in flames, and as the wind was blowing in the direction of the mill it was a matter of first moment to stay the spread of the conflagration and render the magazine safe. To these duties the greater portion of the company was detailed. By digging a trench around the burning locality and throwing the excavated earth on the fire it thus became isolated, and the flames were gradually reduced by tearing down the planking and beams and removing them to a distance. Strong parties of the line, sent from the heights, working by reliefs, also assisted to extinguish the burning mass, and succeeded in preventing a repetition of the calamity.

Meanwhile the powder mill, on which all eyes were fixed, was scaled by some gallant fellows risking a jeopardy it was exciting to witness. Lieutenant Brine, who was directed to superintend the arrangements for subduing the fire, and to devise means for succouring the magazine, ordered sergeant Jarvis and corporal Osment to ascend it. Without hesitation they did so, followed by other sappers and Major Grant of the artillery and Lieutenant Hope 7th Fusiliers. Sparks were falling on them like pyrotechnic rain, and shells and rockets were still bursting, throwing their splinters and burning fragments in that perilous direction. With wet blankets handed to them from below they “promptly” covered the roof of the magazine and only gave up the task when the officers were convinced that further exertions were unnecessary. Of the brave and ready conduct of corporal Osment, Major Grant reported most highly to Lieutenant Brine, and he was therefore selected to protect the entrance to the magazine which, facing the flames, was most likely to take fire and yield to unforeseen disaster. At once he covered it with wet blankets suspended from posts, and building against it a wall of sand-bags, further protected it in front by a sand-bag traverse. This done, all alarm was finally allayed by Lieutenant Brine reporting to Sir William Codrington the perfect security of the mill.

When the magazine blew up, some of the company were working at a stone bridge in the ravine about 300 yards distant, and escaped without injury, while several of the line who were assisting, were killed and wounded. The party joined the company as soon as it was perceived to be mustered for duty in front of the huts of the 33rd regiment. Sir William Codrington observing the fire sweeping on to the right of the siege train, asked for volunteers to extinguish it. Several daring fellows answered the call and were soon in the heart of the flames tearing down the burning tents; but as this service did not seem to be of much profit in the presence of more imminent danger, an artillery officer enlisted their exertions to remove many box loads of live shells which, packed in the park of the siege train, were imminently exposed; so much so that while bearing them away, one after another ignited and burst, knocking down men, mules and horses, killing some and wounding others. To some excavated hollows where there had been an encampment, about 150 yards off, the shells were taken and buried. The French and soldiers of all corps assisted in the removal; those of the sappers who most distinguished themselves were sergeant James, corporal Enwright, privates William Church, John Burt, and others.

The explosion led to the construction of a very strong magazine on the plateau in rear of the land transport corps with the light division. It was sunk partly in rock six feet deep, and was 24 feet by 12 feet in the clear. The interior was walled with rubble stone, and splinter proofs ten inches square formed the roof, above which was a covering of earth between five and six feet deep. It was made to contain, if necessary, more than a thousand barrels of small-arm ammunition. Masons and carpenters of the tenth company built it assisted by parties from the 97th regiment, under Lieutenants Brine, R.E., and Hudson, 97th. It was completed on the 14th December, and being a somewhat showy structure of its class, the little details connected with its erection were inscribed on a slab built into the work.

When in command of the light division, Sir William Codrington desirous of adding facilities to the movement of the troops, directed a bridge to be thrown across the middle ravine to connect with the main road. The tenth company, with the assistance of infantry detachments, built it in November under the superintendence of Lieutenant Brine, R.E., who commanded the company. Sergeant Jarvis was his foreman, and corporal Rylatt his principal artificer. The bridge was of stone having one arch of nearly twenty feet span and a roadway of seventeen and a half feet, approached at each end by a long causeway with a gentle descent from the road. The foundations were of ragstone collected in the vicinity, and the piers, of great apparent strength, were formed of white stone from the Redan. The planking was secured to ten baulks, each 24 feet long and 10 inches square, taken from the white barracks in the Karabelnaia. A stout wooden handrail lined both sides of the bridge for convenience and finish. No mortar was used to give solidity to the masonry; and though the rains and melted snows, rushing down the slopes of the ravine, beat with violence against the rubble piers, the bridge stood as firm as a rock, while other temporary structures of the kind were carried away by the flood. On a stone let into one of the piers of this neat specimen of military engineering, was cut this inscription—

Erected
By 10th Company R. S. & M. and Detachments
of the Light Division, under
the superintendence of Lieut. Fred.
Brine, R.E. Commenced and finished
November, 1855.

In the same ravine, more towards its head, was constructed, in January, another bridge, unique and picturesque, under the direction of Lieutenant Brine, by the tenth company and parties of the line. Sergeant Jarvis and corporal Luly had the superintendence of the work. The bridge was to open a readier communication between the first and second brigades of the light division, encamped on opposite heights. It was formed of pork barrels two feet eight inches long and two feet at the swell, easily procured, but greatly inferior to porter barrels inasmuch as they were not iron hooped. No excavation was made, but the barrels were laid along the swampy bottom of the ravine, transversely in the centre and vertically at the ends. The upright barrels, formed, so to speak, the buttresses, fifty-four being on the first brigade side and thirty-six on the second. This arrangement appears to require explanation. For the former there were five barrels placed for a base and seven for the latter, overlaid by another row, which, pushing well into the broken slopes of the valley, took eleven barrels for the first and eighteen for the second. This was the nature of the formation at both sides; but, to make the bottoms firmer, a couple of barrels were introduced at each end and the spaces thus enclosed were made solid with earth. The centre division took 168 barrels, which were laid heads to the stream on their swells, end to end, three in a row, with another layer, of equal number, above them. Strips of iron hoop were nailed on the casks through the length of the bridge, and their steadiness was further assisted by filling in the interstices with earth and small stones. The bridge, intended for foot-passengers and equestrians, was 118 feet long and 8 feet wide, with a cross-braced hand-rail rising more than 3 feet above its level supported by six struts sunk into the ground. Heavy stones of large and irregular sizes were built on the edges of the structure, between which 18 inches of metalling was strewn over the bridge, as ballast to sustain it in position. Small roadways, about 10 feet broad, were made to and from this rustic causeway. If baulks could have been promptly procured, the bridge would have been constructed very differently; but the existence of barrels in great numbers offered the best chance of its speedy formation, which was effected in six days. Its strength was proved by passing over it a 9-pounder field-piece, which was borne without the barrels evincing any signs of weakness, and it resisted with unexpected firmness the dashing torrent that in heavy storms poured down the ravine.

A further reinforcement of 150 non-commissioned officers and men, under the command of Captain Lambert with 29 horses, reached the seat of war on the 28th January, 1856, in the ‘Indiana.’ The bulk of the detachment sailed for Balaklava, leaving 23 drivers who joined the field equipment troop at Scutari. Only 15 of the horses landed, 11 having died or been killed on the voyage and 3 left at Gibraltar. The total force of sappers, which up to this date had landed in the East, was 1,344 of all ranks.

-----

Footnote 198:

Distinguished at the battle of Giurgevo for his gallantry. A fine,
handsome soldier, he was admired by both officers and men. When work
had to be done, he would toil like a slave to accomplish it; and when
duty demanded his services he was never absent. His propensity to
drink, however, placed it out of the power of his officers to award
him promotion. At the Cape of Good Hope, he earned a medal for his
services in the Kaffir war of 1846-47, and received another medal and
a second-class prize for his conduct and usefulness at the Great
Exhibition of 1851. He was employed in that duty at the instigation of
Major Bent, who generously became surety for his good behaviour. Well
did he support the Major’s recommendation; but on his removal from
London at the close of the Exhibition, he soon relapsed into his
former habits. His bravery in the battle of Giurgevo is already told;
and the decoration of the order of the Medjidie, placed on his breast
by Omar Pacha—a distinction never before conferred on one of so humble
a rank—failed to inspire him with sufficient pride to curb his
excesses; and there is reason to fear, that his melancholy fate was
brought on by his infatuated indulgence.

Footnote 199:

A few cases occurred in which the rank of sergeant was attained by a
junior non-commissioned officer within eighteen months. Samuel Cole is
an instance. He went to the Crimea a young second corporal, but so
conspicuous was his conduct in the trenches, and so sustained his
usefulness and gallantry, that besides the grant of pecuniary rewards,
a special medal for distinguished service, and the Order of the Legion
of Honour, he was promoted successively to the ranks of corporal and
sergeant. Of him Colonel Gordon wrote on the 6th December, 1855, that
he was one of the “most distinguished in the corps for bravery and had
just received a step of rank”—that of sergeant—“for very distinguished
service in the field.”

Footnote 200:

From a feeling of kindness, as modest as generous in its exercise,
Major Ranken of the engineers, who fell soon after, buried under the
ruins of the White Barracks in the Karabelnaia, presented Cornet
Falkner with a grey pony. In asking his acceptance of it, the Major
thus concluded his note: “I feel a pleasure in offering it to you as I
am enabled thereby to mark my sense of your good services while
attached to the company under my command.”

Footnote 201:

General Order, 24th October, 1855.

Footnote 202:

General Order, 20th November, 1855.

1855-56.
13th September-1st March.
DEMOLITIONS AT SEBASTOPOL.

Testing the authenticity of some Russian plans concerning the
docks—Force employed in the demolition—Situation of the
docks—Their magnitude and strength—The operations—Difficulties
encountered in their execution by storms and frosts—Labours and
hardships of the miners—The explosions—Destruction of the
docks—Accidents; intrepid exertions of corporal Cray—Poisonous gas
in a gallery; prompt efforts to rescue the sufferers—Shelling the
docks while the demolitions were proceeding—Sir William
Codrington’s dispatch reporting the success of the operations—Also
Colonel Lloyd’s report—The White Barracks—Their destruction—Death
of Major Ranken; notice of conduct of second corporal Baker.

Meanwhile the mining of the docks proceeded. On the 13th September, one sergeant and nine sappers with some line miners only were employed; but their efforts were mainly directed to prove the authenticity of some Russian plans which had fallen into our hands when the allies first ascended the heights. A few shafts had been excavated in different places behind the revetments when, on the 19th, a subaltern of engineers and forty-two sappers having been detached from the camp, the works spread over a larger area, and were continued till the 24th September, when the service was suspended.

Whether or no these preliminary exertions verified the information which had fallen by the chances of war to the assailants it is needless to inquire, but the resolution had gone forth which doomed the docks to destruction. Accordingly on the 24th October, the sinking of shafts was resumed by forty-eight sappers commanded by a subaltern, who took possession of the large storehouse vacated by the previous detachment. A few companies of the 18th foot were also appointed to assist, a portion of whom from the 2nd of November was domiciled with the sappers. Another reinforcement of forty-eight men of the corps under a subaltern was, about this time, turned into the shafts; and as the demolition progressed, and the line miners began to show expertness in the duty, some of the best of them toiled equally with the sappers in the pits and galleries.

Late in November a demand for more help was met by the addition of sixty sappers to the docks. There were now 156 men of the corps and 150 of the line in the Karabelnaia. A party of linesmen was also sent up daily from the camp, so that the working means at the disposal of the engineers was swelled to a force of about 500 of all ranks. This perhaps was the greatest number employed in the demolitions. Nine hours the men worked daily; but on the 24th November, as important events were evolving which seemed to urge a rapid completion of the service, the whole 24 hours saw reliefs of sturdy men in the mines. Each relief was on duty eight hours. Now it was that serious impediments occurred from the presence of water in the shafts and galleries, but the chief result of these untoward obstacles was the exercise of an energy as extraordinary as continuous. When, however, about the 17th December, the frost set in and the miners suffered severely, night duty, except on pressing occasions, was given up; but to make up for this remission, the sappers and infantry miners toiled in reliefs thirteen hours a-day. In the middle of January, 1856, the 18th foot was relieved by an equal number of the 48th, and the ninth company, brought from Kamara, took the place of the 11th. The second, fourth, and eighth companies of the corps also shared in the operations. Major Nicholson was the superintending engineer.

The docks were situated on the southern extremity of the Karabelnaia creek, and their destruction was a mutual operation between the French and English. For their share the allies took the two outer or northern locks with the three interjacent locks; while that apportioned to the English were the three inner or southern docks. Between these structures was an immense quadrangular fitting-basin rising nearly 30 feet above the level of the Black Sea, supplied with water from the Tchernaya, pouring into the reservoir through aqueducts and tunnels. Thus provided, it fed the five docks; and the outlet for the waste run between the two French docks by a channel with a series of prodigious locks into the sea. Of this basin the French was charged with the destruction of the half contiguous to the northern docks, and the English that adjacent to the southern.

Of the nature of the duty which had devolved on the assailants some idea may be gleaned from a consideration of the dimensions of the docks. Stretching a line longitudinally from end to end the mean distance was 205 feet. The width was 92 feet; the depth 29 feet. The floors measured 190 feet long, compressed at the sides into a width of 40 feet. The revetments at the top were nearly 7 feet. The French docks were each 188 feet long and 92 feet broad. All the works were of the most solid kind. The hills out of which they were hollowed were of clay abounding with rock. They were thus in great part embedded in rock or hewn out of it at every point where the geological strata favoured the adaptation of natural expedients to a great end. Hard limestone was abundantly used in the work; so also was a material of a softer kind in unexposed situations. Granite of different colours in heavy blocks was used in all parts where resistance and impregnability were essential. In their massiveness and durability both docks and basin seemed likely to tire the patience of old Time himself. The steps—of the heaviest masonry—cut around the elliptical hollows, forming them, as it were, into amphitheatres, were “fit for a giant’s staircase.” But what seemed impenetrable to the wear and tear of ages and innocuous to those influences which insidiously eat away vitality from the mightiest fabrics was, in a few short months, torn up by mines and dashed into ruins as prodigious perhaps as those of Nineveh. Curved iron gates, unrivalled for size and strength, and covered with thick iron sheets overlapping each other and rivetted like the plates of a leviathan boiler, closed the entrances to the several docks. They might have served to turn back the sea in some turbulent strait; and when it was required to move a single pair of them as memorials of Russian greatness and our own energy, it took no less than 140 artillerymen under a skilful engineer, Lieutenant-Colonel Bent, to lift them from their position, not in their entirety, but rib by rib and sheet by sheet.[203]

To accomplish the overthrow of such stupendous works shafts and galleries were sunk and driven in various places to different depths and lengths. The shafts behind the revetments were at least 30 feet deep; those running along the floors not less than 12, whilst others sunk in salient spots varied between the extremes. The shafts were more than 70; the mines not less perhaps than 150. Culverts were also employed as galleries where their use promised to be of advantage. All the chambers held specific charges calculated with extreme nicety. In each case the result was a more than tantamount destruction with the least possible show. The English docks being four feet below those of the French were never free of water. There the land-springs, seeking the lowest levels, emptied themselves. To cope with a difficulty of such magnitude it needed more than the resource of the bucket and pulley; and yet these simple means were not less serviceable than more ambitious appliances. Pumps of various kinds were employed, but failing in the deep shafts to raise the water to the summit, their use was confined to the pits of the floors, where they seemed more successful. In the deep shafts the run of the bucket was incessant, for a suspension of labour, however short, was likely to be attended with an influx that would have overmatched any exertion. “The sappers,” observed ‘The Times,’ “experienced great difficulty in firing the mines in consequence of the water running in on them from the clay, but with their usual energy they worked away and formed the mines.”[204]

The works pressed on satisfactorily till the 16th December, when there occurred a storm which had been ushered in by two or three days’ heavy rain. As may be expected, the shafts were inundated; those behind the revetments were filled nearly to the surface; some had twenty feet of water in them, while the bottoms of the docks were covered with the tempest rain to the height of two feet and more. Against such obstacles who could bear up? And yet none concerned in the works succumbed. To clear the water from the deep shafts with the means at command was impracticable. It was therefore permitted, in great part, to waste away; while the primitive service of the bucket and pulley aided somewhat to reduce the quantity. On the floors of the docks coffer-dams were constructed to detach the several shafts from the general flow, and pumps were worked by stout hearts to draw off the water; but the pressure for progress did not allow of this tedious process, and luckily the expedient was hit upon of cutting a channel through the revetment wall of the entrance into the feeder of each dock. The French miners made the desired opening, and the docks were almost drained. Still the shafts were full, and it was only by a sustained outlay of unrelaxed effort that the water was sufficiently reduced to enable the sappers to go below and fashion the galleries.

It was a great blow to the works was this storm. Everything was put back by it. Some of the shafts were given up as beyond all power to continue them, and many of the galleries, almost completed, had to be driven anew. Choked up with mud, the difficulties of working them were tenfold more trying than before. To master them the labour was as unsparing as incredible. Even in home works, away from the annoyance of an enemy, to overcome such obstacles would have been regarded as extraordinary. In such circumstances it needed artificial stimulants to maintain the strength and spirit of the men and offer an antidote against ills to which they were constantly exposed. An extra half-gill of rum was therefore issued daily to the sappers and linesmen, under the sanction of the Commander-in-Chief. But it did little to check the sickness which the miseries of the enterprise gave rise to. A nipping frost having succeeded the storm added greatly to their risks. Working in wet shafts in a close atmosphere, with vapour rising in streams from the depths, weakened the men by excessive perspiration. It is also recorded that many of them on reaching the surface from the galleries became frozen. Colds were so frequent and coughs so general that the barrack was like an hospital. Dredging-boots were scarcely any protection to the sappers and line miners, for the water poured in over the thigh tops and kept the limbs in perpetual slop. The few who were covered in miners’ suits were hardly better off than their comrades. To them was assigned the most laborious portions of the work. Driving wet and muddy galleries was a relief compared with the operation of stowing away the powder in the chambers. Inclosed in three or four boxes or casks, the charge—sometimes weighing with its cases as much as 320 lbs.—was pushed on skids to the extremity of the narrow gallery. It required a series of plunges to move the burden to its place and give it a compact standing in a safe corner; and this frequently was done while the miners were up to their waists in water. Soaked to the skin, and coated with clay, it was a wonder that the workmen did not flinch from such hardships and break up under such trials. He indeed was a strong man who had worked his way through the entire demolition without a chest complaint or a pulmonary disease!

The blowing up of the docks was controlled by circumstances. It was hoped to level at a crash the entire works by a simultaneous burst of the whole magazines. The intention, however, was shown to be abortive by the constant intrusion of water into the mines, which necessitated the less striking resort to a piecemeal demolition. The explosions were numerous, but three or four large ones were ventured which amply repaid by their success the risk of the experiments. Several failures took place, as was natural in an undertaking so great, from the unavoidable dampness of the powder and accidents to the agencies of ignition. The quantity of powder used was 49,384 lbs. or more than 22 tons! On the 6th of February the last explosion took place, and the memorable docks of Sebastopol were numbered with the structures of the past.

Who could look over the ruins without melancholy reflections on the insignificant origin of such a catastrophe? At an outlay of treasure that would have made an ordinary kingdom bankrupt those once superb docks were built. It took years to construct them, but a few months were more than enough to blot them out of the roll of Russian wonders! Uprooted from their foundations and tumbled over in the hollows, scarcely any two blocks maintained their former fellowship. Counterforts, copings, quoins, steps, and the general masonry were broken up and hurtled into strange heaps. Mingled with the tumuli were fractured beams and timbers, massive frames, and portions of the ponderous gates. Here and there were torn sheets of iron, splintered pintels, fragments of heavy posts, broken ribs, and bolts like crowbars, with clump heads as large as sledge-hammers. Sticking up in the confusion were the angles of mammoth blocks of granite, some red, some blue, which by their garish aspect in the midst of so much devastation gave a play of vividness to the desolation. All that remained were a few dingy cantles of wall smoked by the explosions tottering upon the corners of some broken steps, waiting for a gust of wind to blow them down. As if to remind one of the incalculable loss to which the aggressive pride of Russia had given rise, there in all their vastness stood the scarps of the hills in which the overthrown docks had been reared. Fissured and caved they resembled frowning cliffs eaten away by a surging sea and the wear of centuries. Blackened craters and chasms intervened among the piles of fallen greatness and helped to augment the sternness and solitude of a demolition which was as complete as engineering skill could make it.

Beyond the ailments induced by wet, cold, and fatigue, the sappers quitted the docks, having suffered but triflingly from accidents. Private William Harvey was injured while at the bottom of a shaft by a man of the 18th regiment falling on him. A private of that regiment fell, on the 10th December, at night, into a pit upwards of thirteen feet deep and three parts full of water. His breast struck against an obstruction, which took away his consciousness. Corporal Cray, whose recklessness of self repeatedly gained him praise, descended the shaft to rescue the miner. The water was thick and discoloured with clay. Unable to feel the man, he was obliged to come up to recover breath. The second descent took him to the end of one gallery without success, and the third gave him the only hope of finding him in the other gallery. The struggles of the linesman had carried him in that direction, and Cray, almost exhausted, bore him to the top of the shaft, but life was extinct. Cray—poor fellow—ready in every danger, and foremost in many, was not, though he had escaped often and strangely, invulnerable against exposure, and the result of his gallant efforts was an attack which, reducing his voice to the feebleness of a whisper, sent him an invalid to England.

A fatal accident occurred to a private of the 48th regiment working at the bottom of a shaft close to the ruins of a culvert which had only a few hours before been blown up. It was near a dock-gate, and the gas from the explosion having penetrated the intervening earth diffused through the gallery, which had been driven in about twenty-eight feet. The 48th man was at its end and private Neville of the sappers at its mouth. Both becoming insensible, “with infinite alacrity and courage,” wrote ‘The Times,’ “non-commissioned officers and soldiers descended the shaft, braving a danger which seemed the greater because its extent and nature were unknown, to succour their comrades, and as they got down they in turn were overpowered by the offensive gas. Major Nicholson and Lieutenant Graham also went down and suffered in consequence.” The former was insensible when, supported by his men, he reached the top of the shaft, and it was some time before he recovered.[205] Besides the 48th man who perished six or eight other miners were seriously affected, particularly private Neville. The sappers who behaved so nobly were second-corporal Alexander Gray, who had charge of the shaft and was the first to descend; lance-corporal Marks, who got out Neville and Gray, and was himself thrown down by the poisoned air; and lance-corporal Normansell, who sent up corporal Marks and recovered the 48th man. Normansell had a rope round him, and feeling the gradual loss of power in his wrists and arms rushed to the end of the gallery, quickly tied the rope round the miner, dragged him to the mouth of the shaft, when, calling for help, both were borne to the surface. The corporal was unconscious, and remained so for some time, but the poor linesman was irretrievably gone.

While the operations were progressing the enemy fired at times with some briskness. Many shells pitched into the docks and exploded, but generally they fell short or wide of the shafts; “and though,” says the official record, “the working party had some extraordinary escapes, only one sapper was wounded, and a private of the 18th regiment lost his arm.” The sapper alluded to was second-corporal William Eastley, who was severely struck on the 19th January, 1856, in the right shoulder by the splinter of a shell. He was, however, returned as only slightly injured. This was the third time that the corporal was wounded during the siege.

Well may the corps refer to the destruction of these docks as a proof of their usefulness and of their capacity to undertake any skilled employments which war might suddenly throw in their way. Among the many operations of difficult and hazardous labour which have been achieved by their intelligence and industry, none, perhaps, will display in the chronicles of military engineering a more creditable page than this—the great concluding event of the struggle with Russia. At every stage of the work their movements were known to those whose commendation it was an honour to merit; and when all was over their conduct and exertions were alluded to in terms of praise in a dispatch of the 2nd February from the Commander-in-Chief to the Minister for War.

“Amid great difficulties of cold and wet,” wrote Sir William Codrington, “a very severe frost at one time and perpetually recurring pressure at another, the work went steadily on; and great praise is due to all those concerned—the engineers and sappers, parties of the royal artillery, the 18th regiment, and latterly the 48th. These parties return to their duties to-morrow after constant and laborious work.[206]

“The casualties have been but six, of which two only have been fatal; and one man of the 48th was lost by foul air in a shaft; after several vain attempts by Major Nicholson, other officers, and men—themselves descending at great risk—the poor fellow’s body was brought up, but life was gone.”

It only remains to close the mention of this signal service by appending the copy of a letter from the commanding royal engineer at Sebastopol, affording some details of the demolition and eulogizing the corps among others for its exertions:—

“_Head-Quarters, Camp, Sebastopol,
February 1._

“SIR,

“After a period of three months’ unceasing labour in the
dock-yard, for the destruction of the docks, in compliance with
Lord Panmure’s orders, it affords me very great satisfaction to
report, for your Excellency’s information, the termination of our
exertions in the demolition of that portion allotted to the
English, which consisted of the three docks on the south side, and
one-half of the east and west sides of the basin.

“The result of our operations has been the perfect destruction of
the whole, the foundations being completely torn up. The length of
time occupied in effecting the above object has, I regret, far
exceeded what had been anticipated, owing to many circumstances
over which no human being could have any control. Your Excellency,
I believe, is aware that on the morning of the 16th December,
1855, after a very heavy and continuous fall of rain, all the
shafts which had been sunk behind the revetment walls of the docks
were found to have 20 feet of water in them, the shafts being 30
feet deep; and the shafts along the bottoms of the docks, which
had been sunk to a depth of 12 feet, were not only quite full of
water, but had two feet six inches of water above the floors of
the docks themselves.

“A very large party was employed day and night endeavouring to
reduce the water, and effected this object but slowly, as the
water continued to find its way in by percolation. At this stage
of the work the wet weather was suddenly succeeded by intense
frost, which for some days rendered our pumps useless, thus
causing a further delay, and obliging us to bale the water out of
the shafts, resuming the pumping as soon as the pumps would work
again, which has been continued to the very last.

“It was the intention to have destroyed one entire dock at a time,
but owing to the influx of water such an arrangement was obliged
to be abandoned, and such charges only as could from time to time
be prepared were fired, the pumping in many cases being kept up
day and night until the last moment. The bottoms and sites were
blown up before the sides were destroyed, which enabled us to be
satisfied that the former were thoroughly demolished.

“I must observe that, as the demolition of the northern portion
was carried out by the French, it is incumbent on me to explain
why their operations were not subjected to as many difficulties as
fell to our lot. Their docks were four feet higher in level than
ours, and in no instance had they, I understand, any water to
contend against, or, at least, so small a quantity as to be
scarcely appreciable. Their charges in the bottoms were not more
than six feet deep, whereas ours averaged ten feet six inches in
depth.

“Though the external effect of some of our explosions may not
appear great, I am happy to say that every portion of the masonry
is either absolutely torn down or left in so dangerous a condition
that it will very much add to the difficulties of rebuilding.

“I was extremely anxious that the facilities afforded by Her
Majesty’s Government for the employment of voltaic batteries on a
large scale, as sent out by the Admiralty under Mr. Deane, should
be fairly tested under the most favourable circumstances. I
applied to Vice-Admiral Sir E. Lyons, who kindly offered the
services of Mr. Deane, submarine engineer, to carry out the
voltaic operations; and this gentleman had every assistance in
skilled labour afforded him from the royal sappers and miners.

“Many failures having taken place in firing the charges of
electricity, owing to different causes, I am inclined to doubt its
advantages as applicable generally to military purposes.

“The pair of dock-gates ordered to be taken down and sent as
trophies to England were removed with considerable difficulty,
being very massive and strongly put together with bolts, nuts,
&c., which had become rusty.

“I cannot say too much in praise of the exertions both of officers
and men, including a party of 350 of the 18th and 48th regiments,
in addition to the royal sappers and miners, amounting to 85,[207]
in the destruction of the docks, though they had to work, for the
greater part of the time, day and night during the severest
weather; and in having brought this service to a successful issue,
after so many drawbacks, which, instead of causing despair and
dispiriting those employed, only stimulated them to renewed
exertions.

“I should be remiss in my duty were I to omit acknowledging the
very valuable assistance I have received throughout from Colonel
Gordon, C.B., the executive officer, Major Nicholson, who was the
resident engineer, and Lieutenants Cumberland, Graham, and C.
Gordon, royal engineers; their unremitting zeal, attention, and
devotion to the work, in accomplishing this troublesome task under
difficulties of no ordinary nature, claim my warmest thanks. I am
also much indebted to Mr. Deane, submarine engineer, whose
valuable services in preparing and firing most of the mines by
voltaic action were kindly placed at my disposal by his Excellency
Vice-Admiral Sir E. Lyons.

“I must not omit to acknowledge the professional aid received from
the chief and assistant engineers of Her Majesty’s ship ‘Royal
Albert,’ (until that ship sailed for Malta,) in the taking to
pieces of the dock-gates. In connexion with this service, the
assistance afforded by a large party of the royal artillery,
placed at my disposal by Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Dacres,
and under the superintendence and direction of Lieutenant-Colonel
Bent, royal engineers, I cannot but greatly appreciate.

“I have, &c.,
(Signed) “E. T. LLOYD,
“Lieut.-Colonel Commanding Royal Engineer.

“_His Excellency,
General Sir W. Codrington, K.C.B.,
Commander of the Forces._”

As the last efforts were being made to overthrow the remnants of the docks, the engineers sent a force of 180 sappers with 100 men of the line under Major Ranken to destroy the White Barracks, built of stone, situated to the west of the Karabelnaia. In their magnitude they were nearly equal to the artillery barracks at Woolwich. The east and west ranges were almost a quarter of a mile in length, while the north and south ranges measured each 582 feet long. The area enclosed within the pile was a rectangle. The two latter ranges had three stories, the west two, the east one. Many other buildings for offices and domestic purposes occupied the interior of the rectangle, starting inwards from the eastern range, leaving a wide street adapted for parades towards the west. The clock tower stood over an arched entrance in the centre of a group of miscellaneous buildings. Heavy vaults were in the principal structures, in which were several sets of apparatus for warming the rooms. In most cases the walls were four feet thick. The west range rested upon two rows of strong pillars, and heavy masonry occurred in situations where taste and artistic development were desirable for strength and display. During the siege some of the walls and roofing had been pierced and torn by shot and shells. Much of the timber had been burnt, and a great quantity abstracted for war emergencies; but injured and dismantled as were some of the buildings enough remained to excite the destructive action of an army bent upon humbling the military greatness in the Crimea of a stiff-necked and aggressive people.

No end of mines were made by the sappers in the piers of the windows, dead walls, vaults and cellars, and in pits underground. Innumerable were the charges varying in each chamber from 15 lbs. to 600 lbs. of gunpowder. The largest charges were placed in the vaults. Always tedious were the processes; the labour in many instances considerable, and the hardships experienced were those which arose out of intense cold, snow-storms, thaws and frost. The first charges were fired on the 30th January, the last on the 1st March, when the six largest vaults each loaded with 600 lbs. of powder were demolished. The great result of the operations was the complete destruction of the barracks. Here and there, however, were broken clumps of wall gravely standing as so many monuments of the general wreck, creaking upon shattered bases, all sufficiently dangerous to render the removal of every stone and plank from the site essential before attempting the re-establishment of such another pile.

The only drawback to this service—and a lamentable one it was—was the death of Major Ranken of the engineers on the 28th February. Sergeant Coppin went forward to ignite some mines which were ready for exploding. Four of them were in the angle of the south building, seven in adjacent windows and one outside. These he commenced to fire, passing on rapidly from one to the other, when to ignite the last he had to jump out of the window. In applying the light a rather large heap of powder in its vicinity caught the flame, which caused the hose prematurely to go off with luckily no other damage than burning his hand. Four of the mines missed. To repair the failure promptly was the major’s determination, and so the charges were relaid in the gable to be fired from one focus, consisting of a three-feet length of fuse attached to the powder-hose. The major took with him second-corporal Baker, a man of tried intrepidity, who assisted in adjusting the fuses and hoses for explosion, and then passed out of the window already much shaken by two explosions, through which the major intended to escape after firing the charges. In front of the opening the corporal stood to attract the attention of the major, so that should any mishap occur he might readily find his way out. The corporal saw the match applied, he saw the danger—the mines suddenly went off! In one fall down came the gable wall and angle of the building with the roof, and before the major could escape he was caught by the breaking mass and mangled under the ruins. Baker run at the instant, struck as he flew in several places, and was miraculously saved. Expecting that the major was following he looked back with a foreboding impulse to see how he fared; but his excitement and sorrow were great, when, seeing nothing behind him but the thick dust settling slowly over the ruins, it became his unhappy duty to bear the harrowing tale of the major’s untimely death to those who were awaiting their return. With melancholy anxiety the sappers and others turned over the mound of rubbish to extricate the officer possibly with life. All night the duty was continued, and his remains were not discovered till eight o’clock the following morning. In this sad way was lost to the corps and the service as good and brave an officer as ever drew sword. His death was the last tragic event of the war!

-----

Footnote 203:

To remove the gates without injury, under fire from the north side
of the harbour, was a tedious service. In each half gate, weighing
about thirty tons, there were no less than 1720 rivets, every head
of which had to be cut off and the pins punched out. Every screw
had also to be removed by the usual means—a difficult process,
arising from the oxidation of the several parts. The sheets were
cut into twelve pieces for easy carriage. The iron girders, twelve
in number, which like ribs sustained the structure, were drawn up
by block and tackle; and then, lowered to rollers, were conveyed
away. The greatest efforts were given in pulling up the
heel-posts, of which there were two; and the strong unyielding
haul of 150 men brought them without flaw from their rocky beds.
One of the girders was broken in rolling it away, but its place
was supplied by one from another gate. This was the only accident
which had occurred during the operation. Sergeant John Docherty
was Colonel Bent’s foreman. An average of five sapper blacksmiths
were daily employed at the work. Mr. Rumble, engineer of the
‘London,’ with two seamen, assisted until their removal to Malta.
Some handy blacksmiths of the artillery also aided, and sergeant
Welton of that regiment was remarkably active with the gear and
tackling.

Footnote 204:

December 7, 1855.

Footnote 205:

The ‘Times,’ February 11, 1856.

Footnote 206:

The sappers continued mining in the docks until the 6th February,
and afterwards at the White Barracks, till they were blown down.

Footnote 207:

This number would have been more correct had it been 185.

1856.
CONCLUDING SERVICES IN THE CRIMEA.

Surveys, &c.—Casemates in the Redan and contiguous
works—Roads—Injuries sustained by men in their execution—Huts and
stables—Wharfs at Balaklava—Company to Cossack Bay—Peace—Bridge
across the Tchernaya—Reinforcements to the East—Barrel-floats for
the embarkation of the army—Graveyards and monuments—Parting Order
by Lord Paulet to tenth company—Final services; Miss
Nightingale—Order of leaving the Crimea and Turkey—Reviews at
Aldershot; inspections by the Queen—Names of the distinguished men
specially paraded before Her Majesty—Wreck of the Clarendon—Last
detachment from the East—Statistics since the fall of
Sebastopol—Surveys near Erzeroum—Parties detached for employment
in the rectification of the Moldavian and Danubian
boundaries—Company added to the Cape of Good Hope command—Corporal
Mack present at the coronation of the Emperor of Russia at
Moscow—A company to Portsmouth—Another to Aldershot—Removal of the
museum from Marlborough House to Kensington Gore—A company moved
to Devonport—Augmentation—A party embarks for Ceylon—Another for
Mitylene—Corporal Pennington wins the “Champion’s Belt” at the
foot races on Chatham Lines—Corps incorporated with the royal
engineers—Grade of private changed to that of sapper—History of
the royal sappers and miners closed.

While the services described in the previous chapters were in progress, others were in hand, which though not so striking, possessed importance either as necessities, precautions or improvements.

A few intelligent men assisted their officers in making observations and surveys of our trenches and the Russian works, and also of the country and coast in the vicinity of the conquered fortress, embracing an area of about twenty square miles.

Other non-commissioned officers and men assisted in taking an inventory of engineer stores which stocked the arsenal of Sebastopol.