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[Illustration:
Royal Sappers & Miners Plate XVI.
Uniform 1854. Printed by M & N Hanhart.
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORY
OF THE
ROYAL SAPPERS AND MINERS,
FROM THE FORMATION OF THE CORPS IN MARCH 1772, TO THE DATE
WHEN ITS DESIGNATION WAS CHANGED TO THAT OF
ROYAL ENGINEERS,
IN OCTOBER 1856.
BY
T. W. J. CONNOLLY,
QUARTERMASTER OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS.
“Of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents, by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach.”—_Shakspeare._
“There is a corps which is often about him, unseen and unsuspected,
and which is labouring as hard for him in peace as others do in
war.”—_The Times._
=With Seventeen Coloured Illustrations.=
_SECOND EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS._
IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. II.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS.
1857.
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING
CROSS.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
------------------
1848.
PAGE
Staff appointments—Survey of London—Colour-sergeant
Smith—Sergeant Bay—Trigonometrical operations—Opposition to the
military survey—Observatory above St. Paul’s; the
scaffolding—Privates Pemble and Porteous—Sergeant
Steel—Industry and conduct of the Sappers in the Metropolitan
survey—Preliminary arrangements of the Arctic
expedition—Privates Waddell and Sulter—Corporal
Mackie—Expedition starts; corporal McLaren—Coasting journeys
and services—Overland march—Winter at Fort Confidence—Party
detached to Great Bear Lake—Close of the search for Sir John
Franklin and his crews 1
1848.
Augmentation to corps—A calculating prodigy—Company removed from
Portsmouth to Ireland—Chartist demonstration and services of
the sappers in London—Road-making in Zetland—Company to the
Mauritius—Major Sandham—Sergeant Anderson—Sergeant Ross—Sir
Harry Smith’s frontier tour at the Cape—Passage of the Mooi;
corporal Pringle—Passage of the Konap; sergeant McLeod; also of
the Orange River—Boem Plaatz—Spirited conduct of a party in
removing an ammunition tumbril, which had upset in some burning
grass—Peace—Inspection at Gibraltar by Sir Robert Wilson—Also
at Hong-Kong by Major-General Stavely—Company at Corfu—Return
of party to England from the Falkland Islands—Sergeant Hearnden 16
1849.
Breach in the sea embankment at Foulness—Company to
Portsmouth—Augmentation to corps—Homeward journey of the Arctic
expedition—Private Brodie—Great Slave Lake party—Expedition
arrives in England—South Australia—Sergeant R.
Gardiner—Road-making in Zetland—Survey of Dover—Wreck of the
‘Richard Dart’—Miserable condition of the survivors on Prince
Edward’s Island—Found, and taken to the Cape—Remeasurement of
the base-line on Salisbury Plain—Shoeburyness—Eulogium by the
Marquis of Anglesey—Fatal accident at Sandhurst College 27
1850.
Sir Robert Gardiner’s opinion of the corps—Party to the penal
settlement at Swan River—Detachment to New Zealand—Draft to
Hong-Kong—Mining operations at Seaford Bay—Determinations of
the latitudes of various trigonometrical stations—Sergeant
James Steel—Professor Airy—The leisure of the sergeant—New
method of acquiring a knowledge of chess—Hardships of a party
landed at Rona 42
1851.
Malta—Portsmouth—Swan River—Brown Down batteries—Kaffir
war—Strength of sappers at the Cape—Corporal Castledine—Attack
on Fort Beaufort—Whittlesea, &c.—Skirmish near Grass Kop
Tower—Also in Seyolo’s Country—Patrol—Fight at Fort
Brown—Patrol—Storming Fort Wiltshire—Patrols—Action at
Committy’s Hill—Gallantry of corporal James Wilson at Fort
Cox—Patrols—Increase to the Cape by withdrawal of Company from
the Mauritius—Sir Harry Smith’s opinion of the sappers—Eulogies
concerning them by Lieutenant-Colonel Cole and Captain Stace,
R.E. 56
1851.
GREAT EXHIBITION.
Sappers attached to it—Opening—Distribution of the force
employed—Duties; general superintendence—Clerks and
draughtsmen—Charge of stationery—Robert Marshall—Testing
iron-work of building—Workshops—Marking building—Receiving and
removing goods—Customhouse examination—Fire
arrangements—Ventilation—Classmen—Private R. Dunlop—Clearing
arrangements—Miscellaneous services—Bribery—Working-pay—Close
of the Exhibition—Encomium by Colonel Reid—Also by Prince
Albert and the Royal Commissioners—Honours and rewards—Their
distribution—Statistical particulars—Lance-corporal
Noon—Removing the goods—Return of companies to
Woolwich—Contributors to the Exhibition—The Ordnance survey—And
Mr. Forbes, late sergeant-major 68
1851.
SHETLAND ISLANDS.
Observations—Road from Lerwick to Mossbank—To the western
districts—and southwards—Between Olnafirth and Doura Voe—Voe to
Hillswick; corporal Andrew Ramsay—Island of Yell; sergeant John
F. Read—Intrepid bearing of corporal Ramsay—Conduct and
usefulness of the party employed on the roads 88
1852.
Party attached to the Commissioners for the Great
Exhibition—Mount Alexander—Corporal John McLaren—Spike
Island—Brown Down—Hurst Castle—Holmfirth
Reservoir—Alderney—Cambridge Asylum—Tidal observations, river
Dee—Van Diemen’s Land—Channel Islands—Kaffir war—Passage of the
Kei—Patrols—Party benighted in the bush—Action at the Konap
pass—Patrol—Fort White—Patrols—Expedition against
Moshesh—Orange River—Passage of the Caledon—The Lieuw—Battle of
Berea—Return of the expedition; crossing the drift at the
Lieuw—Repassage of the Caledon—Perils of the “sick-waggon” in
crossing—Thanks of General Cathcart—Conduct of the sappers
during the campaign 93
1853.
Expedition to Central Africa—Private E. Swenny—Journey to
Beni-Olid—Hospitality of the natives at Sokna—Black
Mountains—Privations and exertions—Private John
Maguire—Gatrone—Sufferings of the slaves in their march across
the desert—Evidences of the number that perish—Trials of the
expedition; halts at Kouka—Party with the department of
Practical Art—Sanitary survey of Woolwich—Detachment for survey
of Van Diemen’s Land—Additional commissions to the
corps—Company at Alderney—Corporal James S. Taylor at New
York—Company recalled from the Cape—Company to the
Mauritius—Party to Melbourne—Inconvenience of its
popularity—Epidemic at Bermuda—Detachment for the Mint at
Sydney—Greatcoats 114
1853.
CHOBHAM CAMP.
Nature of the ground—Position of the sappers—Their
strength—Quarters and cantonments—Equipment—Duties and
services—The survey—Marking out the encampment—Forming
tanks—Wells—Lakes—Construction of
stables—Camp-kitchen—Oven—Incidental employments; Royal
pavilion; Queen’s road—Sentry-boxes—Post-office and postal
statistics—Intrenchments—Submarine mining—Passage of Virginia
Water—Her Majesty’s gracious acknowledgments of the conduct of
the sappers in the operation—The second passage of the
lake—Also of the Thames at Runnymead—Field-days—Inspections by
the Queen—Breaking up the camp—Satisfaction of Colonel Vicars
and Lord Seaton 126
1854-1856.
Staff appointments—Party to Melbourne—Mint detachment to
Sydney—Survey of Aldershot heath—Department of Practical
Science and Art—Staff ranks to the survey companies—Dress—Party
detached to Heligoland—Also to Paris for the
Exhibition—Corporal Mack’s services in testing woods—A
foreigner’s surprise at the varied employments of the
sappers—Sergeant Jenkins’ interview with the Emperor—Fire at
the Manutention du Commerce—Radical change in the dress—Arms
and accoutrements—Costume of the quartermasters—Supernumerary
sergeants—Additional staff appointments—Exhibition at the
Mauritius—Arrival of company from Bermuda, and removal to
Aldershot—Chatham becomes the head-quarters—Rejection of the
services of Van Diemen’s Land detachment by the Legislative
Council, which are accepted by the Governor of New South
Wales—Organization and pay of driver troop—Additions to the
corps and various incidental alterations—Detail of
establishment of corps—The band—Its costume—Dress of the
bandmaster—Party recalled from Purfleet—Detachment to Hythe for
rifle practice, &c.; the system pursued there becomes a leading
feature in the instruction at Chatham 147
1854.
BOMARSUND—TURKEY—BULGARIA—WALLACHIA.
War with Russia—Detachment attached to Baltic fleet—Second
company to the Aland Islands—Landing—Brigadier—General
Jones—Preliminary services—Operations—Fort Nottich
attacked—Adventure at Fort Tzee and escape from it—Bomarsund
captured—Destruction of the forts—Conduct of the
company—Sickness; it returns to England—Detachment to
Turkey—Augmentation to the corps—Seventh company withdrawn from
Hurst Castle—Eleventh and seventh companies to
Turkey—Odessa—Services of the first detachment in
Turkey—Corporal Cray—Gallipoli; Boulair; Ibridgi—Commendation
by Sir George Brown—Tenth and eighth companies to
Scutari—Redoubt Kaleh—Works
there—Circassia—Working-pay—Companies attached to divisions of
the army—Buyuk Tchekmedjie—First detachment to Varna—Followed
by the tenth company—Also by the eleventh—Complimentary order
for services of the latter—Contrast between the French and
English sappers—Works at Varna—Also at Devno—Encampments at
Aladyn and Varna—Works at Gallipoli and Boulair—Eighth company
to Varna—Gallantry of corporal Swann and private
Anderson—Sappers join at Varna from the fleet—Coast of
Circassia—Photographers—Detachment to Rustchuk—Trestle bridge
at Slobedzie—Bridge of boats over the Danube—Return to Varna of
a portion of the sappers from Rustchuk—Misconduct of the
detachment; also of the seventh company—Spirited conduct of
corporal Cray—Major Bent and party of sappers to
Bucharest—Private Anderson and the Austrian Dragoons—Fourth
company to Varna—The Somerset Fund—The Central Association 171
1854.
CRIMEA.
September—18th October.
Instructional operations—Embarkation for the Crimea—The
landing—The sappers sink wells—Attempt to erect a pier for
landing the horses—Bed of the Bulganak improved with reeds for
the passage of artillery—The Alma—Services of the sappers
during the battle—They repair the Buliack timber bridge—March
to Balaklava; Sir John Burgoyne; services of the third
company—The corps encamps at Balaklava—Then removes to the
heights before Sebastopol; misery for want of tents—Parties
assist to reconnoitre the positions and trace the lines—An
instance given—Two sappers carrying the mail miss their way,
are wounded and benighted—Destruction of Upton’s
aqueduct—Positions on the heights; staff engineers—The attacks;
parks—Sapper brigades—Reliefs—Breaking ground—Duties of the
sappers—Their deficiency of tact in working the skilled
portions of the batteries—Progress of the works; a party
wanders from the trace—Sergeant Morant misses his way, and only
discovers his mistake when encountered by a Russian guard—A
mistrusted guide restores confidence by his conduct—State of
the works on the night before the first bombardment—The
batteries and parallels—Siege operations—Restoration of the
works—Sir John Burgoyne’s remarks on them 196
1854
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
18th October—31st December.
A corporal guides the field officer to the 21-gun battery in open
day—The last shot—Two sappers mend a gap of some magnitude in a
mortar battery—Scarcity of soil and materials for carrying on
the works—Picket-house battery—Mishap to a tracing
party—Platforms—Magazines—A detachment with arabas moves from
the valley during the battle of Balaklava—Private Lancaster the
only sapper engaged in it—Steady conduct of the sappers at the
platforms during Sir De Lacy Evans’s combat—Battle of
Inkermann—A corporal gallantly alters the splay of an embrasure
while the fight rages—Sappers trench the road leading to the
heights from the harbour—Two privates repair an embrasure under
a severe fire—Submarine divers—Progress of the works—Hurricane
of the 14th November; wreck of the ‘Prince’—and the ‘Rip Van
Winkle’—Effects of the storm on shore—Lines of Inkermann—Mode
of proceeding with the construction of the general
works—Strength of corps at the siege and detached—Field
electric telegraph—Sergeant Anderson—Casualties—Sergeant
Drew—Arrival of second company; its colour-sergeant taken for a
Pacha—Incentives to induce the Turks to work—The Navvies—Army
Works Corps—The sappers, though under a seeming cloud, are
upheld by a vigorous vindication in Parliament 214
1855.
1st January-8th April.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Sanitary state of companies—Warm clothing—Collecting detachments
in England to forward to the siege—Services of party with Omar
Pasha’s army—Granted medals by the Sultan—Mishap on the
Tchernaya—Destruction of the village of Inkermann—Exertions of
sappers in the trenches during snow-storms—Anecdote, Corrigan’s
charcoal—Obstructions to the trenches by mud—Arrival of first
company—Hut stables for the cavalry horses—French build No. 9
battery; right attack—Conduct of Corporal Lendrim—Sappers’
share of the work—The parallels—Huts—French sappers entertained
at Southampton—Casualties—Reforming works to counteract
enfilade fire—Nos. 7 and 8 batteries, left attack—Moving guns
to the front—International parallel; zeal of non-commissioned
officers—Destroying a rifle-screen—Completion of the
parallel—Death of captain Craigie—Sir John Burgoyne’s farewell
address—Sorties—Bearing in a wounded Russian—Augmentation to
corps—Driver troop—Efforts to obtain recruits;
militia-men—Sergeant Docherty captured on suspicion of being a
Russian spy—Countermine under cave magazine—Casualties—Zigzag
from right rifle-pit in advance of second parallel; wound
sustained by a singular agent—Death of Lieutenant
Bainbrigge—Third parallel, right attack—Progress of the
works—Faultless energy of sappers in building a two-gun battery
in the third parallel, left attack—Two corporals singularly
escape from a shell which destroyed the magazine they were
erecting—Embrasures of No. 7 battery opened—Preparations for a
bombardment—The weather 233
1855.
9th to 19th April.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Second bombardment—Gallant exertions of individual
sappers—Repairing a magazine—Assistance to a comrade in an
embrasure—Fatal meeting of schoolfellows—Cheerfulness in
suffering—Slippery platforms—Repairing telegraph
wire—Resistance of the magazines—Inkermann lighthouse
battery—Progress of the siege—Mud in the trenches—Battery for
two light field-pieces—Magazine on fire—Burning sand-bag on a
merlon—Fixing mantlets—Unshrinking labours of sappers—Damages
and repairs—Progress of the siege and works—Gallantry of two
sappers—and two linesmen—Noble perseverance in an
embrasure—Exertions at the batteries—Explosion of a
magazine—No. 9 battery, left attack—Gallant extension of left
advance sap, right attack—Firmness of the last leading sapper
in it—Progress of the works—Capture of the rifle-pits—Gallantry
of sergeant McDonald—Casualties—Corporal Coles—Acknowledgment
of services of sappers in the attack 263
1855.
20th April-15th May.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
First day’s work in the lodgment—Improviséd grenades—Polish
fusilier—Capture of the third rifle-pit—Preliminary incidents
connected with it—Saps issuing from the pits—No. 13 sand-bag
battery—No. 9 battery, left attack—Building a magazine in
day-time—Constancy of sappers in the trenches—But little relief
afforded them—Apparent want of ingenuity in their camp
arrangements—Reason why so few sappers die—Their miserable
condition—Regimen; its effects—Care of the baggage animals—The
means employed to preserve them becomes a vexed
question—Rifle-holes—No. 11 battery, left attack—Generals’ and
engineers’ huts—Diversified engagements of the sappers—Death of
Lieutenant Carter—Progress of the works—Wells—Repairing the
advance saps after a sortie—Expedition to the sea of
Azoff—Storms of rain, and consequent difficulties in carrying
on the works—Sortie—Effects of the rain—Endurance of the men
exposed to it—Casualties 285
1855.
16th May-7th June.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
The batteries—Stoical tranquillity in blasting rock—Round-hill or
fourth parallel—State of the works—Siege materials and
expedients—Corporal William Swann—Expedition to Kertch—Second
international communication—No. 15 battery on the right—Rope
mantlets—Hospital caves—Companies reviewed by General
Jones—French officers’ opinion of the corps—Repairing right
rifle-pit—Arrival of ninth company—Progress of the works—Third
bombardment—Bravery in the embrasures—Corporal Stanton in the
batteries of the second parallel on the right
attack—Casualties—First appearance of ninth company in the
trenches trenches—The sailors—Voluntary resolution of Corporal
Lockwood and his sappers—The engineers—Inobtrusive devotion in
an embrasure—Adam McKechnie—Death of Captain Dawson—Selection
of old sappers for front duty; their sterling exertions—Labours
in the batteries; platforms—Magazine blown up—Russian plan of
extending their trenches—Capture of the quarries and white
works—The lodgment—Death of Lieutenant Lowry; bravery of
corporal Stanton—Casualties—Lord Raglan’s approbation of the
sappers—Infernal machines in the quarries 305
1855.
8th June-18th June.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Repairs to the works—Death of corporal Fraser—Conduct of private
Orr—Improviséd church—Perseverance in the quarries—Segmental
trench in front of them—Successful exertions of the
miners—Yenikale—Cape St. Paul—Detail of sappers furnished for
the trenches—Completion of defences in the lodgment—Casualties
in a party mending a trench bridge—State of the
works—Platforms—What is an embrasure?—Destruction of one—Its
repair—Casualties—A tolerated grumbler—Generous conduct of
corporal Lockwood—Fourth bombardment; preparations for
assault—Vigorous conduct of sergeant Anderson in repairing the
electric wires—And of corporal Borbidge in renewing a platform
for a sea-service mortar—First storming of the Redan—Chivalric
behaviour of private Head—Casualties—Conduct of the sappers in
the assault—Volunteer services of sergeant Drew and corporal
Jenkins—They rescue some of the wounded—So also does private
Ramsay—Brigadier-General Eyre’s column in the cemetery
grounds—Valiant behaviour of corporal Baker—General
casualties—Death of Lord Raglan 327
1855.
18th June-16th July.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Condition of the batteries; their repair—Alarm of a sortie—Noble
intention of four comrades to recover the body of corporal
Baker—Strategic occupation of the rifle redoubt behind the
cemetery—Interchange of civilities between the Russian and
English truces—Capture of a memento—Escape of Lieutenant
Donnelly and lance-corporal Veal—Lodgment in the cemetery—A
sortie frustrated—Destruction of the rifle redoubt—No. 18
battery, right attack—Perils in the saps in advance of the
quarries—Progress of the works—Reoccupation of the cemetery—The
stone double sap; corporal J. T. Collins—The two
Dromios—Industry of the miners—Progress of the works and
repairs—even during a storm—Advance of the chevaux-de-frise up
the Woronzoff ravine—Sappers annoyed by light
balls—Difficulties in executing the works—Demolitions in the
rear parallels—The Picket-house—Approach to the cemetery—Wooden
bridge—General officers’ hut—Abstraction of gabions by the
French—Gallantry in pushing the sap from left advanced
parallel, right attack—Night details—No. 15 battery, left
attack—Obstacles to success in commencing the fifth parallel,
right attack—Trenches in the cemetery—Progress of the
works—Conduct and exertions of the engineers and sappers 357
1855.
17th July-25th August.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
Trials in carrying on the works—Fifth parallel, right
attack—Detachments and statistics—Spirited conduct of corporal
Ross—Neglect of non-commissioned officers—Trench dress of the
line—Shifts of the miners to form the parallels and
approaches—Siege minutiæ—Trenches flooded—A sergeant, in the
absence of an engineer officer, in charge of the
lines—Casualties—Sortie by the Russians—Sergeant Docherty
examines the chevaux-de-frise—Overseers of the miners—The
carpenters—Renewal of the chevaux-de-frise demolished in the
sortie—Casualties during a moonlight night—Exertions of
sergeant Jarvis and party; the sailors—Strange sensation
produced by the blow of a shell splinter—Resources for
field-work purposes—Progress of the trenches and
batteries—Removal of the right attack sappers to the camp of
the left attack—They thus escape a subsequent catastrophe—Fifth
bombardment—Cost of a whiff of tobacco—Activity of the sappers
in the batteries and works—Anecdote of a new-comer visiting the
works—No. 17 battery, left attack—Corporal Jenkins, the master
carpenter of the left attack—The white-banded cap—Fifth
parallel, right attack—Breaking ground from it for the last
approach to the Redan—Workmanlike industry and vigour of
corporal Ross in the sap—Corporal William Baker, 7th
company—Progress in the advanced trenches; sergeant Hale of the
guards; corporal Stanton—Prolongation of fifth parallel, right
attack—Effects of wounds. 380
1855.
26th August-5th September.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
State of the works—Russian floating-bridge across the
harbour—Gallantry of corporal McMurphy and his sappers—The
sailors—Advance from fifth parallel on salient of Redan—and on
its extreme left flank—Defection of the workmen in the latter
sap and firmness of the two sappers in charge—Valour of
sergeant Castledine and private McKellar—Intrepid continuance
of the right sap—The double sap, left attack—Fifth parallel of
the same attack; corporal Paul its overseer—Experienced hands
selected for the front; charge of the non-commissioned
officers—Casualties—Fresh details—Trench from fifth parallel to
cemetery—Unsuccessful attempt to open a screen in advance of
white rifle-pit—Notice of corporal Phillips—A sapper guides his
party along the open or part of fifth parallel in preference to
taking a longer route though a covered one—Perseverance of
sappers in the front saps—Sixth bombardment—The works and
repairs proceed steadily—Results of the cannonading—Fatal
meeting of friends—Siege career of sergeant Wilson 405
1855.
6th September-9th September.
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
State of the batteries—The foremost saps—Repairs to embrasures
while opposed by blinding dust driven through the trenches by a
fierce wind—Distribution in the trenches—No. 22 battery—Final
attack of the Redan and the Malakoff—Names of the sapper
storming party—Their brave and steady demeanour and
exertions—Escapes of corporal Baker—Valour of private
Bowman—Casualties—Continuation of the foremost saps—Daring
adventure of corporal Ross—His report leads to the bloodless
occupation of the Redan—Conduct of the corps in the
siege—Captain Ewart—Reflections 423
1855.
SEBASTOPOL.
9th September, 1855-28th January, 1856.
Statistics—Andrew Anderson—Misconduct of the
sappers—Non-commissioned officers and men who received honours,
appointments, or commissions for their gallantry or useful
services—Sergeant Samuel Cole—Field electric telegraph—Private
Fox taken prisoner—Exploring the batteries for machines and
electric wires—Commence batteries near Fort Paul—Sappers
removed to the Karabelnaia—Reinforcements from Gibraltar and
England—Driver troop to Scutari—Sapper quarters in the
docks—Huts—Companies attached to divisions of the
army—Expedition to Kinbourn—Marshal Pelissier’s acknowledgment
of services of the sappers attached to it—Sir William
Codrington assumes the command of the army—Explosion of the
great French magazine—Exertions of tenth company in arresting
the fire—Gallantry in preserving the Inkermann magazine
mill—And removing live shells from the vicinity of the
flames—Construction of a magazine for small-arm
ammunition—Stone bridge over the middle ravine—Barrel causeway
across its swampy bottom—Another reinforcement from England 439
1855-56.
13th September-1st March.
DEMOLITIONS AT SEBASTOPOL.
Testing the authenticity of some Russian plans concerning the
docks—Force employed in the demolitions—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 despatch 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 462
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 ratification 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 476
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 494
APPENDIX 529
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. II.
XVI. Uniform 1854 }
XVII. Working-dress 1854 } _To face Title._
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[Illustration:
Royal Sappers & Miners Plate XVII.
Working Dress 1854. Printed by M & N Hanhart.
]
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HISTORY
OF THE
ROYAL SAPPERS AND MINERS.
---------------------
1848.
Staff appointments—Survey of London—Colour-sergeant Smith—Sergeant
Bay—Trigonometrical operations—Opposition to the military
survey—Observatory above St. Paul’s; the scaffolding—Privates Pemble
and Porteous—Sergeant Steel—Industry and conduct of the Sappers in the
Metropolitan survey—Preliminary arrangements of the Arctic
expedition—Privates Waddell and Sulter—Corporal Mackie—Expedition
starts; corporal McLaren—Coasting journeys and services—Overland
march—Winter at Fort Confidence—Party detached to Great Bear
Lake—Close of the search for Sir John Franklin and his crews.
Sergeant-major Jenkin Jones was commissioned to be quartermaster to the
corps on the 11th January, 1848, _vice_ Hilton retired. These pages
amply testify to the merits of Mr. Jones. A more indefatigable
non-commissioned officer never served his country, nor one more worthy
of the honours conferred upon him. Colour-sergeant Michael Bradford, a
good soldier and foreman, succeeded him as sergeant-major at Woolwich.
With a view to establish a system for the sanitary improvement of the
drainage of London, a survey of the metropolis, under the auspices of
the Commissioners of Sewers, was commenced in January, 1848, and
continued with a fluctuating detachment—once as many as forty-three
strong, and as few as two men only—until January, 1850. Captain Yolland,
R.E., had the direction of the work, and colour-sergeant Joseph Smith[1]
was first appointed to the executive charge, but he being soon
afterwards discharged, it then fell upon sergeant Andrew Bay,[2]
sergeant Doherty, and others. With this survey was connected the
determination of the relative levels of all parts of London.
The great triangulation was the first point attended to. “That wonderful
specimen of skill, the scaffolding on and around the cross of St.
Paul’s, put up in the spring, was the main station for observations. The
summits of Primrose and other hills, the towers,” steeples, “and roofs
of churches, the parapets or terraces of public buildings or houses,”
were made “available as the sites for signal-staffs, visible from each
other and from St. Paul’s.”[3] By these observations, “the relative
angular positions” of the several points were obtained, from which, as
the bases of the work, a detailed survey was made, embracing not only
the principal streets and squares, but the minutiæ of alleys and single
buildings. Of every street the slope or ascent was ascertained, and also
the exact height of every spot above the assumed datum or base-line.[4]
The benchmarks to show the permanent points of the survey and levels
were cut in stone, or on the most prominent objects, by the sappers,
who, though not brought up to that work, became very expert in the use
of the mallet and chisel. At least twelve parties with twelve-inch
instruments were scattered to the most conspicuous places in the
metropolis and its vicinage, to complete the observations; and sergeant
James Donelan, with the great three-feet instrument, visited some of the
old stations celebrated by the labours of General Roy and other
officers, to check the smaller triangles formed by the operation of the
twelve-inch instruments. Some of those stations were at Hanger’s Hill
near Twyford, Banstead Downs, Severndroog Castle on Shooter’s Hill, &c.
The survey, including the city, extended to a distance of eight miles in
every direction from St. Paul’s.[5]
London was unaccustomed to see soldiers employed in so important a work
as the metropolitan survey, and much excitement was caused by their
unobtrusive and peaceful operations. The jealousy of a class of
surveyors was at once called into angry activity, and under the name of
the “Associated Civil Surveyors,” they formed themselves into a body,
and opposed by meeting, petition, and remonstrance, the continuance of
the sappers on the duty.[6] The Metropolitan Commissioners did the
Association the honour calmly to investigate their grievance; but from
the lucid and truthful statements of Mr. Edwin Chadwick and others, the
continuance of the sappers on the duty was confirmed and justified, not
only on the score of competency, but of policy, from the disciplined
experience of the men, and the perfection of the Ordnance system of
responsibility and resource.[7]
The particular objects which elicited from the public the most attention
were the observatories on the summit of the north-west tower of
Westminster Abbey, and above the cross of St. Paul’s. The latter, from
the dexterity with which the construction of the cradle at that dizzy
height was pursued, supported only by the architectural ornaments of the
structure, excited much curiosity and wonder. The scaffolding was of
rough poles; the stage, ten feet square, formed of planks, which
supported the observatory, rested on the golden gallery on the top of
the great cone. “The four lower posts, twenty-nine feet long, stood upon
short planks bedded on the stone footway; and the top supported the
angles of four horizontal planks, each twenty-three feet long, bolted
together at the angles. From these planks a screen of boards was erected
to prevent materials, &c., from falling. The base of the four upper
posts, fifty-three feet long, rested on the angles of the above planks;
and the scaffold, in addition to these posts, consisted of four sets of
horizontal and four sets of transverse, braces on each of the four
sides, the whole being fastened together with spikes and ropes.
Fifty-six of the uprights were double poles, placed base and point, and
bound together with hoop iron and wedges, and with bolts and hoop iron
at the splices. The height from base to floor was eighty-two feet, and
to the extreme top of the observatory, ninety-two feet.”[8] A railing,
roughly but securely put up, surrounded the “crow’s-nest.” “The ascent
was by the inside of the tower or lantern to the circular openings, then
to the outside of the foot-ladders set at the north-east corner,
parallel to the north-east principal post inside the scaffold. The whole
of the materials were drawn up from the floor by a permanent windlass
erected in the tower, to the golden gallery, and thence passed to the
outside, horizontally, through an aperture thirty-two inches wide, and
finally were drawn up and put into position by purchase erected for the
purpose.”[9] The whole construction weighed about five tons, and though
designed by sergeant James Steel, was erected by sergeant James Beaton,
the most successful builder of these aerial fabrics, assisted by
privates Richard Pemble and John Porteous,[10] and some civil labourers,
under the direction of Captain Yolland.[11] The time occupied in going
up the ladder was about seven minutes, but the descent required only
four or five.[12] On the 2nd November the last piece of the scaffolding
was removed and carted away. In the hazardous and intricate operations
of building and dismantling it, not the slightest accident to human life
or limb—not even the breaking of a single pane of glass—occurred.[13]
The observations were taken by sergeant James Steel with an
eighteen-inch theodolite, both at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s.
When not prevented by haze, the sergeant attended to his duty,
frequently when the breeze shook his small location to a perilous
degree, with a coolness, perseverance, and accuracy that were highly
praiseworthy. Sometimes he and his assistant sapper—private John
Wotherspoon[14]—ascended to the observatory at St. Paul’s as often as
three times a-day, and this carried through a period of four
months—between the 17th June and 16th October—with unflinching
resolution and assiduity, made the sergeant and the sappers objects of
much interest and of curious and anxious inquiry. The observations
taken from this height comprised between 8,000 and 10,000. In many
instances the same subject was gone over as many as six times, none
less than three or four, and the utmost distance obtained was
twenty-six miles.[15] The points thus trigonometrically fixed were
2,140, a vast number being church towers, spires, conspicuous public
buildings, and manufactories.
To carry on the survey during the day in crowded streets, with an
unbroken stream of vehicles in double transit, was an extremely
difficult and irksome operation; but to be free as much as possible from
this interruption, the sappers went to work every morning as soon as day
broke, and pushed the survey while the metropolis was still at rest. The
survey was completed in January, 1850, and the mapping finished at
Southampton. For the merit and talent with which the work was conducted,
the periodical press frequently expressed its admiration; and Sir Henry
de la Beche and Mr. Edwin Chadwick—two of the Commissioners of the
highest authority—praised the survey as being one of extreme
success.[16] At another time the former gentleman observed at a special
court of the Commissioners, that “the Ordnance undertook the work of the
surface. A triangulation of no common order, but such as they might have
expected from that distinguished service, was undertaken and executed;
and upon that triangulation was founded a block plan of extreme
efficiency and completeness; and it was also no common map, for it
always had reference to that great triangulation to which he had already
referred.”[17]
The arctic expedition, which halted in October, 1847, for the winter,
detached in the spring of 1848 a party of sappers to Cedar Lake to
repair the boats, first cutting the wood for the purpose. When this
preliminary service was accomplished, six of the party were selected to
drag three planks each to Cedar Lake. Each man took with him ten days’
provisions; but from the weary labour and fatigue of carrying such heavy
burdens, and the snow-blindness that affected the men, the journey was
not completed under sixteen days. The party consequently suffered great
privation. After the boats were made thoroughly seaworthy, the sappers
brought them and the stores up to Cumberland House on the first opening
of the Saskatchewan.[18]
Privates James Waddell and John Sulter afterwards started from
Cumberland House without a guide, considering the half-disclosed tracts
of a previous party to be sufficient for their purpose. They were going
to Cedar Lake. At Point Partridge, however, the snow having fallen
heavily, the track was missed and they lost their way. For several days
they continued to travel, and were wholly without food for more than
seventy-two hours. Hunger pressed them to resort to expedients to
mitigate their cravings. In this extremity Waddell, who had a spare pair
of mocassins and a morsel of buffalo grease, consigned both to the
canteen. When boiled, the old boots were speedily devoured, and the soup
equally divided among the famished adventurers, formed a novel but
refreshing repast. Onwards the party went, winding through the woods and
trending through the deep snow, when after a journey of about four miles
they gained an Indian encampment, where the natives provided them with
musk-rats to eat, and one of their number guided them to the lake.
It is right also to record another little adventure in which
lance-corporal Robert Mackie was the actor. He strayed in the winter on
Cedar Lake. Overpowered by exertion and weariness he laid down on his
planks and fell asleep. When he awoke two of his toes were frozen.
Nothing dismayed by this untoward affliction, he started off to seek a
retreat from his difficulties. A native sent to search for him, found
the wanderer “contentedly steering for the moon, which being near the
horizon and gleaming red through the forest, was mistaken by him for the
fire of the men’s bivouac. The snow which covered the ground at the time
fortunately enabled the Indian who went in pursuit of him to trace his
steps before he had gone many miles.”[19]
Reinforced by the party from Cedar Lake, the expedition started in May,
1848, from Cumberland House, with boats fully laden, leaving two sappers
behind “who were unequal to the labours of the voyage.” One had received
an injury in the hand by which he lost a joint of one of his fingers,
and the other suffered from scurvy and pains in the bones. Both were
sent to England by the first conveyance after their arrival at York
Factory; and the expedition thus lost the services of second-corporal
James McLaren, a man of enlarged intelligence and experience, and active
zeal.
Very prosperously the expedition now moved on, crossing rivers, lakes,
and streams, pulling the boats over difficult and rugged portages, and
bearing heavy burdens. For three days they were delayed by ice in Beaver
Lake, and then pressing on anew, tracked the course to Methy Lake, where
on the 27th June, Sir John Richardson reached his men. They had encamped
at the landing-place the previous day, and were advanced one stage of
different lengths according to the physical capabilities of the
respective individuals. “On visiting the men, Sir John found two of the
sappers lame from the fatigue of crossing the numerous carrying places
on Churchill River, and unfit for any labour on the long Methy
portage.”[20]
The baggage, which it was indispensable to carry with the expedition,
was equally distributed, which gave to each man a burden of 450lbs.,
exclusive of his clothing and bedding, all of which he shouldered over
the portages in three or more trips according to the measure of his
strength. This was an enormous load, and was borne day after day under
constantly-varying circumstances of trial and fatigue. The boats with
their masts, sails, anchors, &c., were also carried by the whole party
at every portage.[21]
“On the 3rd July the baggage and the boats were brought to the banks of
the Little Lake; and on the 6th, everything having been taken over to
Clear-water River, the expedition descended from the Cockscomb, where
they had been encamped for two days,” and in nine days more completed
the laborious passage of the Methy portage. “The transport of the four
boats was made on the men’s shoulders, and occupied two days and a
half.”[22]
On the 7th two of the boats were broken in crossing the portage of the
woods, but, being repaired with some dexterity by the sappers, they were
ready for proceeding the following morning. Athabasca Lake was entered
on the 11th July, but two of the boats taking a more easterly branch of
the river in the night, delayed the arrival at Fort Chipewyan. In the
misguided craft were the chief artificers of the sappers, and the
accident prevented the boats being completely repaired and furnished
with false keels, to contend with the difficulties inseparable from
adventure. All leaks, however, were stopped, and some damaged planks
replaced, which enabled the party to start again on the 12th July.[23]
Many days were now spent in effecting the clearance of numerous portages
over broken and rocky prominences, and driving on through narrow and
tortuous channels made picturesque by the presence of frosted cascades,
dashing over ledges, or rushing past blocks of trees and drift
timber—the accumulation of ages. A boat was upset in one of the portages
by lowering it down a narrow channel, when several articles of marine
importance were lost or damaged, among which were the indispensable
oars, which, however, were soon replaced by the assiduity of the
sappers. Fort Resolution was gained on the 17th July, from which, by
rapid marches, laboured boat journeys, and toilsome industry, they made,
on the 24th, the first range of the Rocky Mountains. Hurried stages,
through intricate courses and over rocky chasms, with gales blowing and
heavy rains falling, brought them on the 2nd August to Point Encounter,
where they encamped for the night; and on the 3rd they reached the
estuary of the Mackenzie River, where a horde of Esquimaux visited the
boats. The interview on the part of the natives was characterised by a
spirit of intrigue and hostility, but terminated without serious
consequences; and, striking out from the shore, the boats pushed on to
Copland Hutchison Inlet, Cape Bathurst, Point Deas Thomson, and Cape
Young, where the expedition went ashore to repair the boats, which had
been rendered unseaworthy by the ice tearing the planks into leaks. The
damage was repaired by the sappers in the evening.
Near Point Cockburn, on the 22nd August, a storm overtook the party. The
sky was dark and lowering, heavy showers fell, and a waterspout was seen
on shore. Sir John Richardson thus alludes to it. “Ice-floes lying close
off Cape Hope caused us no little trouble, the passages among them being
very intricate, and the perpendicular walls of the masses being too high
to allow of landing or seeing over them. In the afternoon we passed Cape
Bexley, running before a stiff breeze, and at 5 P.M. a storm suddenly
coming on we were compelled to reduce our canvas to the goosewing of the
mainsail, under which we scudded for an hour, and then entering among
large masses of ice, about two miles from Point Cockburn, found shelter
under some pieces that had grounded.” To encamp was impracticable, for
the shore was flat, and they passed a bitter night in the open boats.
“The ice-cold sea-water chilled the men as they waded to and fro;” and,
as the wind was too strong to admit of the employment of any expedient
to shelter or warm them, no protection could be afforded against the
biting bleakness of the storm.[24]
On the 26th August the expedition was at Lambert Island. A frosty night
covered the sea and ponds with young ice, and glued all the floes
immoveably together so that the rise of the tide was no longer of
service. “Assisted by the seamen, the sappers launched the boats and
carried the cargo ashore, devoting the greater part of the day to the
operation of cutting through tongues of ice, dragging the boats over the
floes, moving large stones” that intersected the route, and resorting to
every conceivable expedient to make progress. Two more rugged portages
were also crossed; and in that day of severe toil and unremitted zeal a
journey of five miles only was accomplished. Heavy snow-storms now
succeeded, the cold became intense, and the surface of the pools of
sea-water was converted into a consistency like paste, which demanded
great physical exertion in pushing on the boats. On the 28th, three
hours were spent in moving forward an inconsiderable distance—about one
hundred yards—owing to the benumbing coldness paralysing the physical
energies of the men.[25]