Chapter XXI: Part 21

The lines covering the fortress were remarkable for the bold expedients adopted by the enemy to shelter the troops required to defend the several works. Rude as they were they were speaking specimens of a nation’s warlike genius. Caves had been hollowed out of the terreplein behind the traverses which ran parallel to the faces of the several formations, and were made bomb-proof by ships’ masts and spars covered by a deep substratum of earth. The descent into them was by narrow flights of stone steps. Lighted by small loop-holed windows, a few inches above the level of the ground, and fitted up with guard-beds, tables, &c., these spacious subterranean chambers gave cover to a large force of defenders who were thus shielded from the chances of hurt even during the raging of a bombardment. As soon as the curiosity with which these structures had been viewed had passed, Captain Schaw of the engineers having under him a number of sappers and miners, set to work to destroy them. Holes were augured into the beams and ribs—hard almost as rock—and when loaded with gunpowder, were blown to pieces. The wood thus broken up was stacked by the line; and in the cold winter, when the means of obtaining fuel was precarious, the supply from the demolished Redan and contiguous ruins was found nearly equal to the demand.

For road-making a large force of sappers was daily detailed. Enormous working parties from the line were also employed. The great trunk communication from Balaklava to Cathcart’s Hill was improved and partly formed from the port to the windmill by the Army Works Corps, and from the Forks on the plateau to the hill by the sappers and line. The stone for it was obtained by mining from two quarries, one on either side of the ravine. To make a solid foundation, the ground for the latter portion was picked up by the line, and when properly formed was covered by Macadamized stone. Its length from the Forks was about two miles, and its width thirty-five feet, including the side channels hollowed out by blasting for carrying off the surface water. It was a thorough serviceable road, and ages will roll over before this instance of British industry will be effaced from those physical characteristics by which the allied occupation of that war-trodden country has been marked. From this great road radiated others, somewhat narrower, from the commissariat stores on the plateau to the several divisions. The ninth company at Kamara with the Highland division repaired the old Baidar road, and made a new piece, nearly half a mile long, running through the Sardinian encampment, which connected the Baidar and Woronzoff roads. Stretches of thoroughfare were also constructed through the cantonment. Each regiment at Kamara furnished working parties for the duties; and all the roads, except that confined to the exertions of the Army Works Corps, were superintended by the sappers as overseers, the engineer officers being the directors.

The sappers injured in forming or mending the roads were privates Alexander Allan and Charles H. Cronk. Both were blown up, receiving severe wounds in the face. Private Samuel Williams at head-quarters had his back broken by a bank of earth falling on him, and died in consequence.

Hutting was another of their employments, and building stables or sheds for horses and mules. The companies with the divisions provided parties for these services. The form of the stabling varied according to circumstances and situation. Some of them—those of the first division for example—were as long as sixty yards by sixteen feet in the clear, with a passage up the centre marked by lines of poles supporting the roof. The sides and ends were made of the staves of barrels, which being bent and open assisted ventilation. Close boarding would have made the places insufferably hot. The roofs were of rough scantling; the planks overlapped and were spiked to rafters. Louvre boards run along the ridge the entire length of each gable. A little more attention and skill were paid to the internal fitments of the officers’ stables; and stalls, troughs and mangers were added.

For several months corporal Stacey superintended the erection of the wharf works at Balaklava, and was removed, when but little was required to be completed, on the 28th February 1856. The wharfage built round the harbour exceeded 500 yards and was appropriated for the use of the several departments, each bearing its own name. There was the “Commissariat wharf,” which had a run of nearly 300 yards; the “Ordnance wharf” had less ambitious dimensions; the “Quarter-Master-General wharf” occupied a length of shore for 150 yards, while the “Engineer wharf” and the “Cattle wharf” were amply provided with spaces. Strong piles from forty to fifty feet in height supported the flooring composed of timbers three inches thick. Vessels to receive their freight came broadside to the wharfs which had been built well into the sea for the purpose. These wooden quays were rapidly and substantially built, everything being put out of hand to serve the wear and tear of years, and was as creditable to the skill of the artificers as if they had been produced in times less trying and exciting. The whole range of wharfs was chiefly built by the 89th and 82nd regiments with casual assistance from other corps and a few sappers. On being relieved from the duty, corporal Stacey was commended for his “excellent conduct and steady perseverance” in constructing the wharf works “in a most satisfactory manner.”

On the 26th the eighth company, under Captain Schaw, with Lieutenant Edwards attached, marched to Cossack Bay, and had traced out a line of entrenchments to be executed for covering the embarkation of the rear of the army in the event of such an operation being needed, when an event transpired which rendered the service unnecessary. The company remained nearly two months at the bay, during which it built a pier on the shore and run a road to it from the camp.

An armistice was concluded in the Crimea on the 29th, which temporarily suspended military operations till the 31st March; but as the plenipotentiaries at Paris had not then made known their agreement to a treaty, the armistice was prolonged indefinitely. The treaty, however, had already been ratified bearing date the 30th March, and on the 2nd April peace was proclaimed in the Crimean camps, ending a stubborn war which had taught Russia a grave lesson of the strength and firmness of the Anglo-French alliance, and proved that her shores and her fortresses—though vaunting an aspect of menacing impregnability, were open to the endurance and valour of the quadruple league.

To break the boundaries which war had narrowed to prison limits and afford opportunities of intercourse between the belligerents was now a measure of first consideration. This was the chivalric wish of Sir William Codrington. To effect it the Tchernaya bridge was renewed. In thirty-two hours a party of sappers, directed by Lieutenant C. G. Gordon of the royal engineers, built a superstructure on the burnt tops of the old piles. The damaged portions, in part, were cut away, and cross beams being spiked to them, each pair of piles was clamped together by their heads. There were six pairs of piles at either side of the bridge, and along the series of clamps was stretched from end to end a stout beam on which rested a number of girders to support the roadway. This roadway was ten feet broad and twenty-six long from bank to bank and raised eighteen inches above the level of the stream. The Tchernaya was not a tidal river, but was swelled at times to an average depth of ten feet by mountain streams and the meltings of snow from the Tchater-Dagh range. The communication between the armies was open on the 6th April.

While a probability existed of the pending negociations for peace terminating unfavourably, the War Minister, alive to this eventuality, did not stay his hand in keeping up the organizations of the Crimea to an efficient standard. Unmitigated vigour was displayed everywhere; troops were on the way to Balaklava, and a reinforcement of sappers, 299 strong, which had embarked at Liverpool on the 10th March, landed at Scutari on the 8th April. This force consisted of the 17th and 24th companies, with detachments to complete the old companies which had suffered during the war. Too late to be of service, they had not the good fortune to tread on Crimean soil. Up to this date the strength of the corps despatched to the East, including Lieutenant and Adjutant Saville, who joined from the royal artillery at the siege, reached a total of 1,644 of all ranks.

One of the stipulations of the treaty was the rapid evacuation of Russian territory; and the British troops, with inviolable honour, were not slow in fulfilling this condition. The breaking up of camps and the pulling down of huts and stables followed with rapidity. The sappers and miners performed its share in this extraordinary clearance, and among an endless variety of services, made stalls for the officers’ horses on board ships, and portable deck contrivances for the accommodation of the troops; but its most popular labours, at this time, were devoted to the construction and working of flying bridges for the embarkation of the army. No less than sixty rafts, made of beer barrels and rum casks, with the usual superstructure of baulks and chesses, were prepared for the operation. Each raft had fourteen barrels—seven to a pier; and the sixty rafts were lashed together into eight floats, varying in length according to circumstances, with pier-heads nearest the shore to bear the pressure of heavy baggage. The vessels were anchored with their sterns to the shore, so that each occupied a position between two bridges; and the troops, as they marched down the floats, only halted to run up the ladders, which had been reared for them, to the decks. Every movement of the floats was carried out so adroitly and with so much celerity that one regiment—second battalion of the rifle brigade—was embarked in less than twenty minutes!

Rubble walls were built round several of the British graveyards by some bricklayers and masons of the corps, while many stone-cutters were permitted to erect tombs and monuments to departed worth. Most of the memorials were built and inscribed by the sappers. Lance-corporal Simon Williams was one of the best artificers in this description of service. He erected the monument to the 44th regiment; the modest stone which covers the grave of Sir John Campbell; and the simple cross and reclined slab which mark the spot where repose the remains of Lieutenant-General Sir George Cathcart. The epitaph, which records in simple language the great events of his life, is written in English and Russian.[208] Corporal Keyte built the monument to the corps of sappers, which bore the name of every man who had fallen or died during the war. He also worked several other tombs and grave-stones, among the best of which was the one erected in honour of Major Ranken of the engineers. Private David Thompson, an excellent mason, erected the monuments to the officers of the 23rd, 30th, and 33rd regiments. The masons of the tenth company, under the direction of Lieutenant Brine, executed the obelisks which stand at Balaklava and Inkermann. The one built in front of the Redan—of stones taken from the docks of Sebastopol—was reared chiefly by the companies quartered in the Karabelnaia and finished by the tenth. These three memorials rested on pedestals with copings, mouldings, and simple ornature, and were approached by three or four steps with broad treads. One panel of each displayed a cross, the other three short inscriptions in English and Russian. Private D. Thompson lettered those at Balaklava and Inkermann and assisted to inscribe the Redan monument. Private James Dickson of the third company executed two of its epitaphs and the cross.[209]

Just prior to breaking up the light division, Major-General Lord William Paulett commended the tenth company in his orders of the 7th June—“My thanks,” wrote his Lordship, “are also due to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the tenth company royal sappers and miners, whose assistance has been most valuable to the division and their conduct most exemplary.” Lieutenant Brine commanded the company.

The last services performed by the corps in the Crimea were building two tablets in memory of Lord Raglan in the wall of the room where his lordship died.[210] This was done by private William Church. A monument was also built on Balaklava heights, overlooking the Sanatorium, which could be seen from the sea. It was a plain white marble colossal cross, without inscription, cut by Turkish and Armenian masons at Constantinople, and arrived after all appliances necessary to raise it had been stowed away in the ships about to sail for England. Its erection, nevertheless, proceeded, tackle being lent for the purpose from the ‘Leander,’ and was accomplished by some sappers hurriedly and with difficulty under Mr. Sargent, late of the corps. The cross was risen at the expense of Miss Nightingale, whose many graceful acts of deep sympathy and patient exertion for a suffering army have given her name historic celebrity. A strange influence she possessed which worked out remarkable results. Hundreds of mutilated soldiers, and hundreds more wasted by pestilence and disease, seemed to revive by her presence; and lived to bless her, or died unrepining, cheered through the vale, by the solace of her voice and the charm of her encouragement. How she brought order out of chaos; how she overcame giant obstacles; how she managed interminable offices, nursed the sick and wounded stretched before her in miles of ward and corridor, and in her tender devotion was herself twice thrown down by dangerous fevers, to renew, when only partially recovered, her hard but noble labours, are events which belong to the history of the world as well as the war. England has produced many self-denying and heroic philanthropists whose calm zeal to ameliorate human misery and suffering have won the lasting admiration of nations; but the beautiful honour of being the chief of that excellent band belongs to Florence Nightingale.

The companies of royal sappers and miners embarked at Balaklava in the following order:—

1856. Company. 23rd May 2nd— landed at Gibraltar 4th June, and there took up its station. 27th ” 1st— landed at Malta 7th June, and there remained. 27th ” 9th— landed at Corfu 3rd June, and there remained.

11th June 4th } landed at Portsmouth 9th July; moved to Aldershot 11th ” 7th } the same day, and marched into Chatham 19th 11th ” 8th } July under Major Nicholson, R.E.

11th July 3rd } landed at Portsmouth from the ‘Dragon,’ 5th August,
11th ” 10th } and marched into Chatham the 9th, under the
11th ” 11th } command of Major Robertson, R.E. The accommodation
on board the war steamer was very limited, but
Captain Houston Stewart, R.N., permitted the
quarter-deck to be fitted up for them, which
prevented that inconvenience and sickness to which
a crowded vessel is usually subject. Exemplary
was the behaviour of the men, “and Captain Stewart
expressed to them the great satisfaction their good
conduct and willingness in rendering assistance in
carrying on duties on board had given him.”
12th ” 17th— embarked at Scutari; landed at Malta 22nd July, 1856,
and there remained.
17th ” A troop— embarked at Kulalee, landed at Woolwich 9th August,
and removed next day to Aldershot to be stationed.
22nd ” 24th— embarked at Scutari; landed at Gibraltar 5th August,
and there remained.

The three companies which marched to Aldershot under Major Nicholson were inspected with the division at the camp on the 15th July by Lieutenant-General Knollys. Next day all the troops that had served under fire in the Crimea were inspected by the Queen. The 17th was a day of review, when all the sappers, including the 21st company, had again the honour of appearing before the Queen. The companies manœuvred with the troops as a battalion of infantry, and though they had not been regularly drilled for some years, their steadiness was very remarkable. In line their movements were not inferior to any troops on the field, and Her Majesty did not permit the occasion to pass without expressing her approbation of their appearance. Driving through the camp on the 18th, the Queen pulled up at the quarter occupied by the sappers and directed Major Nicholson to bring before her some of the men who had distinguished themselves during the war. The order, suddenly given, did not admit of making the best selection, and a number were instantly paraded. Major Nicholson explained their services, and “the Queen was graciously pleased to express herself in terms of great admiration of the devotion shown by this branch of the service;” and after speaking a few never-to-be-forgotten words to each man, Her Majesty ordered the Major to send a list of those whom she had seen to Osborne. The non-commissioned officers and privates who were thus honoured and whose names are among the royal documents are the following:—

{ John Coppin.
Colour-sergeants { Joseph Stanton.
{ Kester Knight.

{ William Harvey.
Sergeants { Andrew Greenwood.
{ John Paul.

{ Robert Purdy.
Corporals { William J. Lendrim.
{ William Trimble.

Second-corporal { William Baker.

{ Neil McInnes.
{ William Orr.
{ William Harvey.
Privates { William Bruce.
{ John Perie.
{ Henry Bullen.
{ Frederick Dimmer.

Most of the above had been decorated with medals or orders for bravery and unfailing zeal in the trenches. “Upon the sappers undoubtedly devolved the hardest work of the siege,” and Major Nicholson in his several personal interviews with the Queen was gratified to find that their services were fully appreciated. Desirous of retaining the recollection of their merits, Her Majesty ordered as an additional mark of her royal favour that four of the distinguished men should be photographed by Mr. Cundall of Bond Street. Those selected for this special distinction, and whose likenesses are among Her Majesty’s Crimean portraits, were—

Colour-sergeants |{| Joseph Stanton. |{| Kester Knight. Sergeant | | John Paul. Private | | William Bruce.

Eight sappers embarked in the ‘Clarendon’ on the 9th July at Balaklava. The troops on board were 150 and the horses 111. Lieutenant Graham, R.E., was in command. Buffeted and strained by a heavy gale the transport sprang a leak; but wearing on till the next day at noon—when the water had extinguished the fires—the troops, no longer able to remain with safety, were removed in boats without casualty to the French merchant ship ‘Constance’ off Cadiz. Several horses, however, had been killed during the storm, three of which belonged to officers of engineers. The ‘Clarendon’ after running ashore six miles to the westward of Cadiz was next day got off and towed by two steamers into the harbour with nine feet of water in the hold. In the ‘Constance’ the sappers remained about a week, from which they were transferred to H.M.S. ‘Centaur,’ and sailing for Portsmouth landed on the 12th August, arriving soon after at Chatham.

The last detachment from the East was one of 34 non-commissioned officers and men, which embarked at Scutari in the ‘Resolute’ on the 31st July, under the command of Lieutenant Malcolm of the engineers, and marched into head-quarters on the 17th August.

To complete the detail of Eastern statistics which have already been shown to the 9th September in a previous chapter, the following statement of casualties is added:—

Number.
Died from injuries 1
Died from other causes 18
— 19
Taken prisoner 1
Wounded severely 1
Injured by explosions 2
— 4
Invalided, of whom 6 died 82
——
Total 105
——

The total casualties from the beginning of the war to the date when the last detachment quitted the Bosphorus was 550 out of a strength of 1,644 of all ranks; and if anything is calculated to excite remark and amazement it is the fact that out of so large a force only 252 had died!

Two months after Kars had fallen, second-corporal Edward Stephens and Thomas McEneney left England on the 28th January for Erzeroum to make special surveys of the city and its environs. At Marseilles they took passage on board the ‘Sima,’ and on arrival at Scutari waited till telegraphic instructions had been received, which directed them to proceed to Trebizond. Embarking on board the Lloyd’s Austrian boat ‘Egitto,’ the vessel pushed into the Black Sea, and three days after, while passing Karasund, struck on a rock and remained fast. Amid the alarm and consternation which followed, the corporals sustained the British character for firmness and courage; and seeing that boats were approaching from the little watering village, quickly got their vast stores and luggage on deck and removed them to the shore. While doing so they had to stand with bared swords at the gangway to prevent the property in their charge being tumbled into the sea; for although there was no danger to be apprehended, the rush to the boats was such as might have been expected had the ship given signs of immediate sinking. At the command of the Pacha of Samsoon, who was on board, a Turkish war steamer on the third day arrived, and pulling the ‘Egitto’ from the rock, she sailed for Trebizond. Landing there, the corporals were provided by the consul with every requisite for their journey. Fifteen horses was the measure of transport allowed for themselves and stores, and off they started for Erzeroum through a country strangely wild and picturesque. Theirs nevertheless was a long and dreary ride over mountains—one having an altitude of 9,000 feet above the sea—with the snow in places rising by drift into piles from two to twenty feet in height. Along precipices where the path was barely two feet broad they rode for an hour at a time, from which an inauspicious slip might have dashed them down the cliffs a thousand feet below. Skeletons of horses were bleaching by hundreds at the base of those terrific heights, which told a melancholy tale of accident and death. After a journey of thirteen days over tracks unimproved for centuries, they arrived at the seat of the pachalic on the 21st March 1856, and reported themselves to Colonel Geils, H.M. commissioner and chief engineer with the army of Anatolia. In a day or two the corporals had full employment. Stephens was sent ten miles away to reconnoitre an advanced position for a Turkish entrenched camp, and McEneney was despatched to Alti for a similar purpose. While these warlike reconnaissances were in execution the news of peace reached Erzeroum on the 11th April, and the surveyors were recalled to carry out services in the city and vicinity. When the last accounts were received in England the corporals were about to be employed, one in laying out a line of road from Erzeroum to Persia, and the other to Trebizond. What specific services they accomplished in connection with this or other objects are unknown at head-quarters. Enough, however, has been communicated to show that they have added, by the efficiency of their labours, to the reputation of the corps. Under date of the 3rd June, Colonel Geils wrote to Lord Panmure concerning them in these terms: “The party of surveyors have been at work from eight to twelve hours a-day since their arrival, with the exception of one Sunday. I have now had an opportunity of testing their abilities, and find them excellent draughtsmen and experienced surveyors. Their rank produces most disagreeable results when brought into contact with Turkish officers. These corporals are superior in military acquirements to most high officers in the Turkish army. Their character has been severely tested and found to be unexceptionable, and I think Her Majesty’s service would profit by their being commissioned officers. I consider the step advisable on the score of merit, even more than expediency.” And as if to fritter away this anomaly to the greatest extent in his power, the colonel promoted them to be lance-sergeants.

Out of the treaty of peace arose the appointment of distinct commissions to carry on special surveys of the territory to be ceded by Russia both as a penalty for her aggressive predilections and to lessen the chances of future pretexts for interfering with neighbouring states. To assist these commissions Lieutenant-Colonel Stanton and two officers of royal engineers with seven sappers—corporal James Fisher being the chief subordinate—were sent to Bessarabia in May to survey the line of the new boundary between Russia and Moldavia; and Major Stokes, R.E., having under his orders five of the corps, including the two lance-sergeants from Erzeroum, was despatched soon after to survey and regulate the Danubian demarcations. These two men joined Major Stokes from Erzeroum early in September. As the surveyors will have to undergo great hardships in carrying on the work, much in water, along muddy shores and through the winter, usually severe in those regions, Lord Panmure has sanctioned the issue to them of rates of survey pay to the extent of four shillings a-day according to the amount of ability and energy each may display.

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

To supply the place of the company removed from the Cape of Good Hope during the war, the twenty-fifth company under Captain Akers embarked for that colony on the 25th July, increasing the sapper force there to two companies.

The singular honour of permitting a non-commissioned officer of sappers to be present at the coronation of the Emperor of Russia is an incident in its history of which the corps may be honestly proud. Corporal James Mack, whose services in connection with the Great Exhibition, the Department of Practical Science and Art, and the Paris Exposition have been so highly appreciated, was selected for this interesting tour. He left for Moscow at the end of July with the Embassy Extraordinary to Russia, and returned to London at the conclusion of the fêtes and reviews in October, bringing with him a collection of photographs of the most striking scenes he had witnessed, and which he had himself photographed for national uses. A greater honour succeeded. A day was fixed for his attendance at Windsor Castle, when in person he was permitted to present to Her Majesty and Prince Albert a set of his photographic views, explaining, as the Queen and His Royal Highness passed from one to the other, the incidents and specialities of each.[211] He has also had the gratification of exhibiting them to H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Panmure, Mr. F. Peel, and Sir Benjamin Hall.

A new station was opened for the corps at Portsmouth on the 5th August, on which date the eighth company, under the command of Major De Vere, was removed from Chatham for the duties of the engineer department. A few days after, a detachment of the company was sent to the Isle of Wight, taking up quarters in Cliff-end Fort.

The strength of the sappers at Aldershot was increased on the 9th by the arrival there of the 4th company under Major Nicholson.

On the 12th August twelve non-commissioned officers and men were sent to Kensington Palace to remove the Museum from Marlborough House to Brompton House at Kensington Gore, and to assist in its re-arrangement. The services of the sappers were so truly useful that an addition of eighteen men was made to the party two months subsequently.

Devonport, another new station for the corps, was occupied by the seventh company, which proceeded thither on the 26th August under Lieutenant Anderson.

As the army works corps had been disbanded, and the disasters in the Crimea, arising from an insufficient sapper force leading to sudden and expensive organizations, had shown the necessity of maintaining the corps in tolerable strength as a working body to meet unforeseen pressures in war, its establishment was increased on the 1st October, from twenty-six to thirty-two companies, exclusive of the troop of drivers, each company being constituted as follows:—

Colour
Serg- Serg- Corp- 2nd Pri- General
eant. eants. orals. Corp. Bugl. vates. Total. Total.
28 general service companies, each 1 5 6 6 2 100 120 = 3360
4 survey companies, each 1 7 8 8 2 94 120 = 480
The band 0 1 1 1 0 30 33 = 33
Troop Troop Far- 2nd Shoe- Collar
Serg.- Q.M. Sergts. rier. Corpls. Corpls. ing Mak- Wheel- Trump- Drivers. Total.
Major. Serg. Smiths. ers. ers. eters.
Driver 1 1 4 1 6 6 4 2 2 2 100 129 = 129
troop
Staff— Non-commissioned officers: 4 sergeant-majors; 4 quartermaster-sergeants; 1 bugle-major; 2 } 23
staff-sergeants, and 12 supernumerary-sergeants
Officers— 1 assistant-adjutant-general, 2 adjutants to corps, 1 adjutant of drivers, 4 quartermasters, } 9
and 1 veterinary surgeon
——
Total 4034
——

Three non-commissioned officers with sergeant Winzer in charge, sailed for Ceylon on the 8th October in the ‘Sumatra’ from London. This little party of observers, surveyors and draftsmen, were asked for by Captain W. D. Gosset, the surveyor-general, who having for many years been the executive under the superintendent of the national surveys, knew the varied qualifications of the sappers and the value of military organization in conducting the duty “in a country chiefly wooded and excessively rough in many districts.” While he sought to obtain subordinates with the amplest qualifications for colonial survey duty, Captain Gosset took care to secure, as an equivalent for their employment in a hot climate, an income which has far exceeded any remuneration ever offered to a soldier. According to their merits and exertions he has the power to reward each with a daily pay ranging from 5_s._ to 15_s._, exclusive of imperial pay and other colonial allowances.

Four non-commissioned officers under the command of Lieutenant R. M. Smith embarked at Portsmouth in the ‘Gorgon’ on the 13th October for Greece to be employed, as may be directed by Mr. Newton the vice-consul at Mitylene, in making excavations in the buried city of Teos, now Boudroun, to discover monuments, statues, and other antiqua for the British Museum. The party was selected with reference to the nature of the work to be carried out. One was a draftsman and photographer; the others respectively a carpenter, a stonemason, and a blacksmith, all able and handy men, adapted by strength, experience and intelligence to any service. Two of them had been travellers prior to their enlistment, and understood Greek. To associate these sappers with an interesting mission their names are given below:—

Second-corporal William Jenkins.
Lance-corporal Benjamin L. Spackman.
” Patrick Nelles.
” Francis Nelles.

All but Spackman had been in the Crimea and received medals and clasps. Jenkins, a ponderous man with a shaggy beard, the true type of an Englishman, was well known throughout the army for his services at the siege; and his gallantry on more than one occasion, was acknowledged by the gift of a medal “for distinguished service in the field.”

On the 17th October—the second anniversary of opening the siege—the designation of the Royal Sappers and Miners was altered by Royal authority, probably as a compliment to the corps for its approved services before Sebastopol. The announcement was made in the ‘London Gazette’ as follows:—

“The Queen has been graciously pleased to direct, that the corps of royal sappers and miners shall henceforward be denominated the corps of royal engineers, and form one body with the existing corps of royal engineers.”[212]

Thus is removed that standing misnomer by which the sappers and their officers, virtually one body, were by some incomprehensible caprice in the now obsolete military economy of the ordnance, called by a plurality of titles. Separated by name from their officers, and thrown seemingly into a cold unfriendly shade, the want of a family patronymic—one title of identity in common—was keenly felt by the sappers. Sir Charles Pasley was the first to moot the question. His representations ran through a period of forty years. Many other officers, considering that no sacrifice of exclusiveness should stand in the way of improving the _status_ of the corps, adopted his views; and with the generous assistance of Sir John Burgoyne and the ready acquiescence of Lord Panmure the change was effected—breaking up an anomaly which it is proudly hoped will interlink and cohere both officers and men.

Accompanying this change was the abandonment of the rank of private—an unmeaning name for a well-defined grade, and substituting for it the more expressive and appropriate designation of sapper.

The history of the Royal Sappers and Miners is now closed. Henceforward its services belong to the history of the Royal Engineers.

-----

Footnote 208:

“I think,” wrote Lady Georgina Cathcart, in returning thanks to
the fourth division, at whose expense the memorial was erected,
“the whole design handsome. The manner in which it has been
executed, of solid and durable granite, in the midst of many
difficulties and dangers, as well as privations, reflects great
credit on all those engaged in it, and for which we feel most
grateful.”

Footnote 209:

The Balaklava monument was enclosed within an iron handrail of
twelve bars taken from the bridge on the locks across the docks of
Sebastopol. Its epitaphs run thus:—“In memory of those who fell in
the battle of Balaklava, 25th October, 1854.” This was on one
panel. On another was cut the words—“Erected by the British army,
A. D. 1856.” On the third, occurred both these records in Russian;
and on the fourth was a sunken cross. Corporal Cameron was
overseer of the work.

The Inkermann monument was thus inscribed:—“In memory of the
English, French, and Russians who fell in the battle of Inkermann,
5th November, 1854.” Sergeant McQuillin was the overseer and
corporal Cameron the leading mason.

The Redan one bore this, as its principal epitaph:—“In memory of
those who fell in the trenches and assaults upon the Redan, 1855.”
Corporal John Ross, of the second company, was the foreman.

The two latter monuments announced that they had been “Erected by
the British army, A. D. 1856.” On the third panel the inscriptions
were repeated in Russian, and on the fourth was a cross—in
relievo—bearing the Christian initials of I.H.S. for the Inkermann
monument, and a sunken cross for that at the Redan.

Footnote 210:

One was of marble, not worked in the Crimea, and the other of
freestone. The first bore an epitaph in English; the latter in
Russian. The Russian one was lettered by private D. Thompson. A
large slab, seven feet by three feet three, was also laid to the
memory of his Lordship, under a willow-tree, by a well in the
hollow in front of head-quarters. It was placed there by
Lieutenant Brine, at the request of Lieut.-Colonel the Hon.
Leicester Curzon of the rifle brigade, and bore this simple
epitaph:—“To the memory of Field Marshal Lord Raglan, G.C.B.,
Commander-in-Chief of the British army in the Crimea. Died 28th
June, 1855.” This inscription was cut by Thompson and private
James Dickson.

Footnote 211:

By command of the Queen, Colonel Phipps presented the sum of five
pounds to corporal Mack, “as a mark of Her Majesty’s approval of
the execution of the photographs.”

Footnote 212:

On that day foot races and games were carried on at Chatham, which
drew thousands of holiday people to the lines to witness them. The
races were so arranged that each of the principal services in
garrison should win a prize. These were the royal sappers and
miners, provisional battalion, royal marines, and medical staff
corps. Each corps in turn ran its own approved racers, and the
best man among them received a reward. The successful competitors
afterwards drew up on the course in aerial costume—the
representatives of their regiments—whose athletic reputation
seemed to depend on their energies and success. With significant
but pardonable conceit and confidence they took their stations,
all certain of winning. They started—their pace was beautiful.
Well together, it was difficult to say who would first reach the
goal, but corporal Pennington of the sappers, rushing ahead with
the swiftness of the wind, flew past the winning post cleverly by
several yards and bore away the “Champion’s belt,” thus
inaugurating by his conquest the altered designation of the royal
sappers and miners.

1856.
Concluding Chapter.

Establishment of the corps—Organization of
companies—Distribution—Establishment at Chatham—The Ordnance
Survey—Its divisional districts—and military
character—Qualifications of the observers—List of the
non-commissioned officers employed as such—Greatest distances
observed by them—Importance of the services of the
non-commissioned officers, as proved by the reduction of the
officers—Situations of trust filled by them—Strength of the
companies—Average distribution in the United Kingdom—Division of
labour—Great triangulation—Private James Weir—Secondary and minor
triangulations—Other general survey duties—Perambulation of
boundaries—Sergeant Robert Meade—Pay and allowances—Skilful and
distinguished talents and usefulness of eleven non-commissioned
officers; and of quartermaster William Young—Merits and services
of the survey companies.

The establishment of the corps, excluding the nine staff officers attached to it, counts a total of 4,025 of all ranks. This number is divided into thirty-two companies, twenty-eight of which were raised for general service, and four for the duties of the national surveys. There is also one troop of drivers.

Each general service company is organized, with respect to trades, in numbers equivalent to the assumed wants of the service; and thus constituted, it is in a position, in proportion to its numerical efficiency, to undertake and accomplish any work within the scope of military purpose and requirement. The skill of the workmen and their ability as a body are rendered certain, by the enlistment of none but good or promising artificers, and the extreme care taken to form a company for duty.

Such, however, is not the rule in completing a survey company, for men of superior intelligence and acquirements only are drafted to them, irrespective of any classified organization of their establishment with respect to trades.

The distribution of the corps is as follows:—

Companies.
Chatham 6
Woolwich 1
Aldershot 2
Portsmouth 1
Devonport 1
Gibraltar 2
Malta 2
Corfu 1
Halifax, N. S. 1
Mauritius 1
Cape of Good Hope 2
Western Australia 1
New Zealand 1

Detachments from the above are at the following places:—

London—Department of Practical Science and Art.
Shoeburyness.
Alderney.
Isle of Wight.
Greece—Boudroun.
Danube.
Bessarabia—Bolgrad.
Turkey—Scutari—(one corporal only closing up, under Major
E.C.A. Gordon, the transfer of the buildings in charge of
the expedition).
Ceylon.
Bermuda.
South Australia—Port Adelaide.
Victoria—Melbourne.
Sydney, New South Wales.
Companies
Service companies 22
Companies not formed 6
Survey companies 4
——
32
Aldershot—Driver troop 1
——
Total 33
——

For Sandhurst a detachment is furnished for two periods in each year for the practical instruction of the cadets in field engineering, pontooning, and bridgemaking. A similar party is also provided for the instruction of the gentlemen cadets at Woolwich; but its services are simply confined to the construction of a few field-works, and the making of fascines and gabions.

It will be unnecessary to allude to the present employment of the sappers further than to notice, that at all engineering stations at which they are quartered, they are appointed to share in the execution of ordnance works.

At Chatham the sappers receive instruction in the field services of the royal engineer department. The course followed is very complete, omitting no detail with which a sapper should be acquainted, and embraces the teaching of a system of pontooning with every variety of means and appliance, also bridgemaking, photography, telegraphy, and the recently-introduced system of rifle science and judging distances. Now that permanent teachers are appointed to the establishment to afford tuition in the elementary principles of fortification, and in plan-drawing and surveying, there is every reason for anticipating that the corps will much improve in the theoretical as well as practical knowledge of its peculiar duties, and be better fitted—when thrown by accident away from their officers into circumstances of difficulty and danger—to apply the resources of their acquirements and experience to master the one and conquer the other.

The four survey companies are engaged in completing the secondary and minor triangulation of Great Britain; the detail survey and contouring of Scotland and the four northern counties of England, and the revision and contouring of the northern counties of Ireland. Occasionally they carry on special surveys for the Government; execute similar work for sanitary purposes for local boards of health, and make surveys of particular towns, parishes, and manorial estates—for municipal service or proprietary record and reference—at the expense of local corporations or of private noblemen and gentlemen. Small parties have at times been employed in making tidal observations for investigating the theory of the tides and for other scientific uses, and also in gleaning much subsidiary information, to be embodied in the Ordnance Memoir of the Survey, should it at a future day be published. In Ireland, the companies did excellent service in collecting various statistical details, and gathering minerals, fossils, and objects of natural history, to assist in developing the investigations of those interesting subjects. In conducting the survey of Great Britain, however, that branch of the duty has been abandoned.

The survey department comprises nine divisions, the headquarters of which are at Newcastle-on-Tyne, Darlington, Carlisle, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Kelso, Ayr, Dumfries, and the Harris isles, a group in the Hebrides. Southampton is the chief station. Special divisions also include detachments employed in the triangulation, perambulation of boundaries, in the duty of levelling and contouring, and hill-sketching, while a strong force is employed in Ireland, with its principal offices at Dublin, Belfast, and Enniskillen. No idea, however, can be formed from this detail of the actual distribution of the survey companies, for the men are dispersed, singly or in small numbers, throughout the United Kingdom. The duty of levelling alone at one time engaged no less than thirty-six detached parties.

The survey is organized and conducted on military principles, “and though the assistance of civilians is largely made available, it is simply to serve as the muscles for the military skeleton. No branch of the duty,” except the engraving, “is performed exclusively by civilians.” The officers of royal engineers have the chief direction. “Their number, however, is by no means constant, but is regulated by the extent of ground under survey, and by the degree of proficiency of the non-commissioned officers.”[213]

Until 1843 one or more officers always remained with each great instrument, “but now the non-commissioned officers are so well instructed, that they can observe as correctly as their superiors, and the constant presence of an officer is no longer necessary.”[214]

The non-commissioned officers who have, as observers, had charge of the different great instruments are as follows:—

_Ordnance 3-feet Theodolite by Ramsden._

Sergeant James Donelan from December, 1841, to April, 1842, and
again from January, 1843, to September, 1849. He also held the
charge for some months in 1849 and 1850 of the Royal Society’s
instrument, which he set up at near stations to his own.

Corporal William Jenkins, from September, 1849, to October, 1852,
when it was returned into store at Southampton.

_Royal Society’s 3-feet Theodolite by Ramsden._

Corporal James Mulligan, January to March, 1843, when he quitted for
the boundary survey of America.

Second-corporal Thomas Cosgrove, November, 1843, from Lieutenant
Luyken, R.E.

Second-corporal James Stewart, August, 1844.

Corporal James Steel, June, 1845.

Corporal Robert Forsyth, August, 1845.

Corporal John Winzer, January, 1846.

Sergeant James Donelan, March, 1849.

Corporal Walter Grose, November, 1850.

Colour-sergeant James Donelan and corporal Walter Grose, August to
December, 1852, at Goat Fell, relieving each other constantly.

Corporal Walter Grose, December, 1852, to March, 1855, when the use
of the theodolite was discontinued.

This is the instrument that was used by General Roy, and subsequently by Captain Kater, in making the trigonometrical observations for determining the difference of longitude between the observatories at Greenwich and Paris.

The greatest distance ever observed by sergeant Donelan was to an object 106 miles from his station. His next two greatest were to points between 104 and 105 miles off. Corporal Jenkins even gained upon his instructor, and observed distances of 106 and 107½ miles. Corporals Forsyth and Stewart were more successful still. One distance obtained was 106 miles, another 108 exactly, and both observed an object upwards of 111 miles away. This achievement records a measurement which exceeds in distance any observation heretofore made on the Ordnance Survey.

_The 2-feet Theodolite_ was used by—

Corporal Andrew Bay, from March, 1843, to May, 1847.

Sergeant James Beaton, from May, 1850, to March, 1855.

Mr. late sergeant James Donelan, from April to September, 1855.

Sergeant James Finch, March, 1856, and still retains it.

_The 18-inch Theodolite_ has been employed by—

Corporal James Steel, from August, 1841. Corporal James Beaton had
charge of it for about three months when corporal Steel was at
Southampton, in the summer of 1844.

Corporal John Winzer, June, 1845.

Sergeant James Steel, February, 1848, for the London survey.

Corporal William Jenkins and second-corporal John Wotherspoon
assisted sergeant Steel in the London triangulation.

Second-corporal John Wotherspoon, November, 1848.

Mr. James Donelan, January, 1853, to May, 1855.

Private William McConomy, June, 1856, and still retains it.

At one period there were forty-five officers on the survey; at another nine only; now there are nineteen including the superintendent. Although the number of officers is very small, considering the extent of the total force employed, yet, by a simple arrangement, the numerous detachments are effectually commanded by the officers. The strength of the different parties is not proportioned to the ranks of the officers, but to the exigencies of the service on which they are employed.[215]

Except at Southampton and Dublin nearly all the offices of importance and trust on the survey are filled by sappers, “no civilian,” except in a few instances, “being responsible for more than his individual labour.” Each section in the field, however small, “is under the charge of either a non-commissioned officer or private, who is responsible that the work is carried on according to orders, and that every precaution to prevent negligence or deception is taken. In the office likewise, a non-commissioned officer superintends each department of the work and reports either directly, or through a senior non-commissioned officer, to the officer of engineers in charge. Every division having commonly several small detachments in the field, the payment of each detachment is necessarily made through the non-commissioned officer in charge of it.”[216]

The actual strength of the corps on the survey on the 14th June, 1849, taken from a return presented to the Committee of the House of Commons on Army and Ordnance Expenditure,[217] is subjoined:—

ENGLAND. Sergeants. Bugl. Rank and File. Head-quarter office-general work and computing 0 2 38 Principal triangulation 2 0 28 Inserting improvements, &c., in the 1-inch map. 0 0 1 Secondary and minor triangulation 0 0 1 Levelling and contouring 1 0 9 Six-inch survey and plan drawing of Yorkshire and 8 1 110 Lancashire Survey of London for sanitary purposes 5 0 20 Survey of Devonport for military purposes 1 0 11 ——— ——— ——— Total 17 3 218 _Head-quarter Stations._—Southampton, Wakefield, York, and Doncaster.

SCOTLAND.

Secondary and minor triangulation 0 0 6
Six-inch survey and plan drawing of Kirkcudbright, }
Dumfries-shire, and the Isle of Lewis } 3 0 63
——— ——— ———
Total 3 0 69
_Head-quarter Stations._—Dumfries, Stornoway.

IRELAND.
Plan drawing, printing, workshops 1 1 5
Contouring Donegal 0 0 3
Revising Donegal and Londonderry 3 0 15
——— ——— ———
Total 4 1 23
——— ——— ———
General Total 24 4 310[218]

_Head-quarter Stations._—Dublin and Londonderry.

The survey strength and distribution on the 17th October, 1856, the date of changing the designation of the corps, were as follows:—

ENGLAND.

Quarter- Staff- Rank and
master. sergeants. Sergeants. Bugl. File.
Head-quarter Office, { Drawing, computing, }
tracing,
Southampton. { printing, &c. } 1 2 2 4 32
Ditto. Detached, levelling, 0 0 0 0 4
and contouring
Ditto, secondary and
Ditto. { minor } 0 0 2 0 14
triangulation
{
Carlisle { Detail surveying and 0 0 2 0 22
drawing plans
{ Levelling and 0 0 2 0 13
contouring
Newcastle Detail surveying and 0 0 2 0 27
drawing plans

Darlington Ditto ditto ditto 0 0 2 1 28
── ──── ──── ──── ─────
Total 1 2 12 5 140
── ──── ──── ──── ─────

SCOTLAND.

Quarter- Staff- Rank and
master. sergeants. Sergeants. Bugl. File.
Edinburgh { Levelling and 0 0 2 0 13
contouring
{ Detail surveying 0 0 1 0 33
and drawing plans
Glasgow Ditto ditto ditto 0 0 2 0 28
Dumfries Ditto ditto ditto 0 0 1 0 31
Ayr Ditto ditto ditto 0 0 2 0 36
Kelso Ditto ditto ditto 0 0 1 0 32
Harris Isles Ditto ditto ditto 0 0 0 0 4
——— ——— ——— ——— ———
Total 0 0 9 0 177
——— ——— ——— ——— ———

IRELAND.

Dublin {Drawing, tracing, } 0 0 2 1 20
printing,
{ and contouring }
Enniskillen Revision survey } 0 0 3 0 30
Belfast Ditto and } 0 0 3 0 41
contouring
——— ——— ——— ——— ———
Total 0 0 8 1 91
——— ——— ——— ——— ———
General Total—Great Britain and 1 2 29 6 408
Ireland.
——— ——— ——— ——— ———

There was also a civil force, working with the survey companies, of upwards of 1,700 persons, more than 600 of whom were labourers. The remainder, for the most part, were engravers, surveyors, draughtsmen, computers, and clerks.

For the last thirteen years the strength of the corps on the duty has been disposed of as follows: The totals calculated from the monthly records are the annual averages. Of this force a strong detachment has always been employed in the work of the triangulation, at one time amounting to fifty-four men, who alike visited the mountains of Scotland and England. Such also was the case with the contouring detachment, which in the early part of 1853 and down to October, 1856, numbered about forty men of all ranks. Both parties are included in the averages for England, as their location, from being constantly on the move, has not been determined in the general monthly returns of the corps:—

North America.
——————
England. Scotland. Ireland. Bound. Explor. Paris. Erzeroum Total.
Surv. Surv. & Danube.
1844 199 6 26 20 0 0 0 251
1845 209 14 25 10 0 0 0 258
1846 198 28 23 7 13 0 0 269
1847 206 30 29 0 11 0 0 276
1848 216 43 28 0 10 0 0 297
1849 233 71 28 0 0 0 0 332
1850 202 79 28 0 0 0 0 309
1851 203 61 28 0 0 0 0 292
1852 190 57 26 0 0 0 0 273
1853 169 84 35 0 0 0 0 288
1854 182 89 75 0 0 0 0 346
1855 180 123 85 0 0 3 0 391
1856 173 147 88 0 0 0 2 410

The greatest strength of the sappers employed on the survey duty, was, in October, 1856, 446 of all ranks.

The division of labour is perfect in detail, and as comprehensive as its delicate minutiæ will permit. To each department of duty a proportion of sappers is attached with reference to their acquirements and experience, and the wants of the service. In the principal triangulation recently finished, the sappers always took an important part. Young soldiers newly posted to the companies, who displayed no particular aptitude for finer work, were usually sent upon it. The duty was arduous and severe, and the men invariably slept in tents or portable huts, on mountain slopes at high altitudes. A sketch of a survey hill encampment may be seen in the Aide Memoire, which graphically illustrates the rugged character of the site, and by inference, the difficult and trying nature of the duty.[219]

In the great triangulation, the 3-feet, 2-feet, and 18-inch theodolites are used to make the required observations. At the several stations selected for the work, each instrument is fixed in a “crow’s nest” on some mountain peak or crag, or perched upon the turret or narrow towering steeple of some country church or city cathedral, or stayed by guy-ropes among the battlements of some deserted old castle.[220] For the last thirteen years, non-commissioned officers with strong camp parties under them have fulfilled this duty, and have visited, in every vicissitude of weather, nearly all the leading trigonometrical stations in Great Britain. “It is, perhaps, right,” says Captain Yolland, “to mention, that whereas formerly, it was deemed necessary to employ general officers of the army and scientific individuals to make the required observations with the theodolite to carry forward the principal triangulation, the whole is now done by non-commissioned officers of sappers, the only difference being, that in the one case the general officer worked out his own results, and in the other the non-commissioned officer simply forwards his observations to Southampton for computation. That” continues the captain, “is a very important economical result of employing sappers and miners.”[221] “In justice to the highly meritorious body of non-commissioned officers of the corps of royal sappers and miners,” writes Colonel James, “I should state, that whilst in the early part of the survey the most important and delicate observations were entrusted solely to the commissioned officers, these duties have of late years been performed by the non-commissioned officers with the greatest skill and accuracy.”[222]