Captain Webb, R.E., returned to Zetland to lay out and superintend the
construction of the roads surveyed in the two previous years. Up to this
time, there was nothing in the island that could be called a road,
except from Lerwick to Scallaway, a distance of about six miles, which,
though not finished, was passable for riders, &c. Captain Craigie, R.N.,
the commissioner for Zetland, accorded them high credit for their
exertions in directing the work, and controlling the poor employed upon
it; and in a report to the Edinburgh section of the Central Board, he
thus wrote of their usefulness and merits: “I cannot close this report
without bearing my humble testimony to the invaluable services of
Captain Webb, R.E., sergeant Forsyth and the staff of royal sappers and
miners, and recording the gratitude felt towards Government by the whole
community, for their consideration in granting an officer so eminently
fitted to conduct and carry out to completion, works of such public and
permanent utility. But great and most important as these works
unquestionably are, they fall into comparative insignificance as
compared to the social regeneration now in progress, in the industrious
habits of the people, and to which their efforts have mainly
contributed. The patience, forbearance, the tact and temper with which
Captain Webb and his staff have led the people on, step by step, to a
knowledge of their physical powers; their indefatigable industry and
disregard of difficulties of no ordinary kind in such a climate and
country; but above all, their being looked up to as the organ and
representatives of government in this remote region, have invested them
with a moral influence among all classes which can scarcely be
calculated.”
In April eight rank and file from Chatham were employed under the
direction of Lieutenant Stotherd, R.E., in completing the survey and
contouring of Dover.
A detachment of one sergeant, one corporal, and twenty-six privates,
with four women and nine children, embarked at Woolwich on the 3rd
April, 1849, on board the brig ‘Richard Dart,’ for New Zealand, under
the command of Lieutenant Liddell, R.E. The ship sailed from Gravesend
on the 5th April, and made a pleasant voyage until the 15th June, when,
to the southward of the Cape of Good Hope, foggy and rainy weather set
in, which continuing till the 19th, the ship was carried to the north
side of Prince Edward’s Island and struck on the rocks. The waves at the
time ran high, and within a few short minutes, the stern cabin-windows
were stove in, the boats were filled and torn from the quarter, and
while the vessel, beaten by a raging sea fell to pieces, wave after wave
swept the decks and rigging and carried forty-seven of the crew and
passengers into the deep. Of this number twenty-four men belonged to the
detachment of sappers, who, with all their wives and children, and
Lieutenant Liddell, perished.
Eleven souls only out of sixty-three were saved. Among those who escaped
were the captain of the ship—Samuel Potter—and four sappers, named
Thomas Inglis, Owen Devany, James Reid and William Goldsmith. They took
refuge in the mainmast rigging; and the wreck, having been driven
broadside to the shore, the mainmast went by the board, falling
fortunately upon the rock, and the survivors crawled along the shaking
spar to the shore. The rocks being exceedingly steep and difficult of
access, the men had to undergo much labour and fatigue in reaching the
summit of the cliff, occasionally hanging on by fragile sea-weeds and
every now and then throwing themselves into crevices to prevent the
receding surge drawing them into the sea. Most of the party were
barefoot and thinly clad. The night was cold; the snow fell fast and
thick, and beating upon their drenched and shivering frames, their
sufferings may possibly be imagined but never adequately described.
The island was a mass of black rocks, torn by volcanic violence, and
wore an aspect of wild and sterile desolation. Selecting a small green
spot where fresh water was found, they made it a temporary residence,
and built with the wood recovered from the wreck and some sods, a small
hut, which sheltered them in a measure from the bitter wind and frost. A
few sperm candles and some blankets, washed from the wreck, were all
that could be found to reward their anxious exertions. No provisions of
any kind could be picked up; but at length, when forced by hunger, they
killed some young albatrosses and fed sparingly on the raw flesh. The
candles in this extremity became savoury morsels and were devoured with
considerable relish. As they were without fire, or the means of
procuring any to assuage the bitterness of their distress, they
determined, on the seventh day of their deliverance, to explore the
island and see what Providence might turn up to their hopes.
Two of the men, from being frostbitten and cut in the feet, were unable
to walk. The remaining nine, therefore, started, leaving a stock of raw
meat with the two sick sappers, who laid themselves down on the cold
ground only to feel the increase of pangs which the presence even of a
spark of fire would have helped to soften. Without a cheering ray to
palliate their wretchedness, with the nipping frost gnawing their
reeking wounds, they gave themselves up to the destiny which seemed to
await them. Hourly the toils and miseries of the adventurers increased.
After travelling all day, sometimes over high hills covered with sharp
vitrified cinders, sometimes on marshy ground up to their hips in bog,
they stopped for the night by the side of a frowning rock. The rain
poured in torrents; shelter could not be found; no expedient for
kindling a flame succeeded; and in this deplorable condition they sat
down on the charred ground, huddled together to preserve some little
warmth among them, exposed throughout the night to the drenching storm,
covered only by their blankets.
Next morning, resuming their travels, they gained a beach where four
sea-elephants were lying basking in the sun, for the day opened with a
cheering summer’s warmth. Two of the monsters they killed, but made no
use of them. Here the travellers waited for a few days to recruit their
strength. The place was called “Double Beach,” but no fissure or cavity
could be found to hide them from the winds and rains; and so night after
night, rolling themselves up in their blankets, they slept in the open
air. After a few days, private Reid, with some others, returned to the
first location to visit the invalids. Private Goldsmith—a mere lad, slim
and weakly by nature—was much worse; his frame was frightfully
emaciated, his agony intense, and his toes were sloughing with gangrene;
but private Devany—constitutionally stout and strong—was improving
though unable to walk. Three days they remained with their sick comrades
to encourage and cheer them with a narrative of their proceedings and a
recital of their hopes; and on the 1st July they again repaired to
Double Beach, leaving with the sick men the raw flesh of six birds,
equal to a week’s provisions. Devany was most assiduous in his
attentions to the dying man, and to save his poor mouth from the
exertion of mastication, tore up the uncooked flesh into small pieces,
and fed him. But the time came when he was no longer able to receive the
morsels—the last struggle was upon him—and he closed his eyes for ever.
A snow-storm now set in, which lasted all night and throughout the day
of the 2nd. Raw flesh was their only repast, and of this, from the want
of powder and gun, they could not obtain a sufficiency to sustain their
strength. Weak and attenuated, and completely benumbed by exposure to
frost and snow, but little could be done in the way of exploration.
Nevertheless they lagged on in their desperate mission, like men
contending against some crushing adversity, determined to win. Crusoes
they could not hope to be in such a clime and such a barren sea-holm;
but whatever was practicable to their ingenuity and strength, they
adapted to their use to support life till deliverance gave them succour.
The night of the 2nd July was still more severe in its effects upon the
spirits and constitutions of the party, and the rain poured on them
incessantly. Miserable nights were these to spend their vigils. Up,
however, they rose with the returning dawn—stiff and aching in every
limb; then wringing the wet from their stanched blankets, and feasting
upon the raw breast of an albatross, journeyed on to seek a retreat from
the recurring storms. On the 3rd, private Inglis discovered a cave close
to the shore, whither the party joyfully repaired; and as the day was
fine, they dried their dripping clothes and blankets. Meanwhile,
watching from their lairs upon the passing birds, they brought down
eighteen from the wing to replenish their impoverished game store.
Stones they threw as if fired from rifles and used sticks with an
address not inferior to Kaffirs. Necessity indeed was indulgent to give
certainty to the primitive means they employed to secure their prey.
Next day, from the return of a severe frost, all power of feeling and
motion left their feet and fingers, and confined them to the dreary cave
for a full week.
Until the 26th July, the cave afforded them a partial retreat from the
severe inclemencies of the weather. On that day, private Inglis, the
most successful of the adventurers, discovered a small hut about three
miles away, in which a number of men’s names were carved. Under the last
name was cut the words, “On a journey round the island, 27th May, 1849.”
This unlooked for intimation gave rise to strange emotions and
speculations, and the last cloud of despair vanished before the sudden
hope which sprung up in his breast. How intensely did he gaze upon the
portentous words! and how often did he read them to assure himself that
the passage was not the insane impression of a diseased mind! Satisfied
that the inscription was not a mental caprice, he started off to
announce to his fellow-sufferers the purport of his discovery. All
received the intelligence with wondering doubt. “Where! where!” burst
from every lip, and hastening forward, they followed Inglis to the hut.
There indeed was the “handwriting on the wall;” and seeing in that
ominous sentence, the legacy of their lives bequeathed to them by
Providence, each voice was swelled in thankful ascriptions to that
gracious Power, which, hitherto, had so marvellously preserved them.
It was now resolved that the captain, one seaman, and privates Reid and
Inglis, should take a circuit of the sea-girt isle, until they regained
the cave, to see whether any one was near to help them. Having started,
they reached the hut early in the morning; but as, at the time, it was
blowing a heavy gale and snowing hard, they waited a day or two for the
weather to moderate. During this interval they consulted together as to
their future movements; and private Reid having volunteered to remain
alone at the hut, the others commenced, on the 30th July, to make the
special tour. Next day two of the party returned to the hut, so that on
the 31st July the adventurers were thus dispersed—three on the search,
three at the hut, two at the cave, and one of the two sailors in charge
of the two sappers at the sick dêpot. The explorers made a long march
the first day, examining every nook and every cliff for fresh evidences
of habitation. The rain pelted on them; the snow sat in flakes on their
gaunt frames; and wearied and foot-sore they dropped at night on the
spot where the last speck of twilight left them in darkness. Next
morning they were early afoot, and onward they travelled in pursuit of
what, so far, seemed an ignis fatuus. Resolved to win their spurs, they
would not suffer despondency or gloom to cheat them of their
expectations; and another morning had scarcely opened upon them when the
reward of their endurance and exertion was within their grasp. It was on
the 1st August, when, after rambling about the island for no less than
six weeks, shaken and enfeebled by hunger, pain, toil, and frost, they
fell in with a party of twelve seafaring men in the service of Mr. Geary
of Cape Town. The meeting was one in which mutual amazement and
happiness were keenly felt; and for the following thirty-two days, no
vessel having touched at the island, the Cape seamen generously shared
with the adventurers their scanty stock of farina. Poor Goldsmith was
still alive. The strangers carried him more than thirty miles to the
cave on the south beach of the island in which they resided. One by one
his toes dropped from his feet, and he perished on the 24th August. With
every feeling of affection and sorrow for his unhappy fate, his comrades
interred his remains on the spot where he ceased the mortal struggle.
The schooner ‘Courier,’ of Cape Town, at length brought up at the island
with a supply of provisions; and the survivors of the wreck, after
seventy-two days’ sojourn in that bleak and desolate region, having
embarked on board of her, landed at Table Bay on the 10th November,
where they were gratefully welcomed and entertained by a party of the
corps.[44]
A party of sixteen non-commissioned officers and men, afterwards
increased to nineteen of all ranks, under sergeant James Steel, was
detached on the 1st May with sufficient camp-houses, equipage, and
stores, to carry out the remeasurement of the base line on Salisbury
Plain, by means of the compensation bars invented by General Colby.[45]
No man or officer on the survey had ever seen the apparatus in position
before; and sergeant Steel, therefore, has the credit of acquiring a
full knowledge of the adaptation and uses of the various instruments
belonging to the apparatus, unassisted by the teaching of any
practician. This he achieved by more than three months’ unwearied study
of some manuscript records on the subject, and by closely observing the
results of a series of experiments which he conducted.
During the first fortnight, the line, six miles and three-quarters in
length as the crow flies, was three times measured with the chain,
marked off, cleared of wood, furze, and other obstacles, and again
roughly surveyed. The little wooden encampment of the detachment was by
this time in excellent order; and, after three days’ tedious work in
testing the apparatus by comparison with the standard bar, the first
compensation bar in the remeasurement was laid at Beacon-hill. Owing to
the steepness of the ground, and other causes, progress over the hill
was both slow and wearisome; but having once mastered the descent, the
operation throughout its length presented less difficulties than were at
first encountered. From time to time the sergeant communicated to the
ordnance map office at Southampton the obstacles, both physical and
instrumental, he met with in his progress, and the contrivances he
resorted to, to overcome them. The journal so sent was full of practical
instruction, of a kind to be easily acquired on future reference, and
was replete with interesting information.
The distribution of the party gave ample employment to every man, and
the division of labour was adapted to the attainments of the men and the
necessities of the duty. Corporal William Jenkins assisted the sergeant
at the bars and microscopes. The latter compared the microscopes with
the standard on Sundays; and frequently, after a severe day’s work, the
same process was necessarily gone through, and other adjustments of the
instruments effected. Corporal Edward Harkin constantly attended to the
aligning instrument, whilst one man assisted him in preparing the
stations, &c.; two privates levelled the triangles for the feet of the
supporting stools for the bars; two attended to the adjustment of the
stools on the triangles, levelled the camels on them, and moved forward
the microscopes, &c.; two carried forward the bars and point-carriers,
and levelled the former and fixed the latter; one registered the bars
and microscopes, and otherwise aided in moving them forward and
adjusting them; one, a carpenter, made the pickets, and repaired the
mallets, tents, &c.; four attended to the shifting and placement of the
tents; one was sentry over the bars at the dinner hour and during the
night, to prevent any disturbance in the apparatus; and two attended to
the domestic and miscellaneous duties of the huts.
The camp occupied three different positions on the line. It was thus
moved twice forward. On each occasion, for a few days, no progress was
made in the remeasurement, and sergeant Steel with two privates, filled
up the interval in comparing the bars and microscopes with the
standards. In the meantime, the remainder of the detachment fitted up
the portable huts in the position selected for them.
Great nicety and precision were required in the placement of the bars;
and so rigidly did the sergeant enforce the strictest exactness in their
alignment and contiguity, that he would not order the “move forward”
until he satisfied himself that the possibility of an error in the
operation was not likely to exceed the 10,000th part of an inch. In this
way the work was continued till the 16th October, 1848, when the 3,484th
bar shot over the old Sarum terminus of the line. This was followed by a
spontaneous cheer, hearty and sustained, from the assembled party who
thus commemorated the successful accomplishment of the operation. By
previous computations from the Lough Foyle base, the perfect accuracy of
the remeasurement was proved; for, not only did the predetermined bar
reach the gun, but the very inch of it entered the muzzle.
To ascertain by the usual computations whether any error by the omission
in the registry of a bar or microscope could be detected, the line was
divided into three parts, and each part was used as a base for a minor
triangulation. Very great care was taken in executing this
triangulation, but it failed to discover any inaccuracy in the
measurement. Sergeant James Donelan and corporal William Jenkins, with
the two 3-feet instruments, carried out this special service.
The results of the two measurements stand on record as under:—
By General Mudge with Ramsden’s steel-chains in 1794 36575·64 feet.
By sergeant Steel, with Colby’s compensation-bars, in 1849 36577·95 ”
Computed from Lough Foyle base 36577·34 ”
The precision of the two operations by such different instruments is
strikingly close and beautiful, and not only illustrates the excellence
of the instruments, but the perfection of the work.
On the completion of the service, corporal Jenkins was intrusted with
one of the great theodolites, and removed with a camp party from the
base detachment to a mountain station. The remainder were soon dispersed
on the general duties of the survey, and sergeant Steel, after again
comparing the bars and microscopes with the standard measures, returned
with the compensation apparatus, &c., to Southampton.[46]
On the 7th June, one sergeant and twenty-five rank and file were removed
from Woolwich to Shoeburyness to erect temporary barracks, &c., for the
royal artillery, and also to lay platforms, build batteries, and to
execute the varied works which a new station might call for, both for
the convenience of the ordnance troops and the interests of the service.
The party was increased to thirty of all ranks in July, but in October
following was reduced to six non-commissioned officers and privates.
Ever since this period, a small detachment has been retained at the
station to carry on the current repairs and improvements, and its
strength has fluctuated from time to time, in accordance with the
prevailing emergencies.
The convicts had been working for a time in repairing the main-sewer in
the royal arsenal at Woolwich, but in consequence of the unhealthiness
of the duty, were withdrawn from it. As the work was one of considerable
importance to the locality in a sanitary point of view, volunteers to
finish the drain were therefore demanded from the royal sappers and
miners. One sergeant and eight privates at once undertook the work,
continuing at it during a portion of the month of August, and its
execution was effected without the slightest injury to any one engaged.
This led the Marquis of Anglesey, then Master-General, on the 5th
September to extol the labours of the party in these words: “I desire to
mark my high approbation and admiration of the gallant conduct of the
corps of royal sappers and miners, in volunteering an unpleasant and
even dangerous service in the cause of humanity. Such self-devotion,
wholly devoid as it is of the stimulus of public honour and of glory,
far exceeds the renown gained in the battle-field. I offer my thanks to
all the individuals concerned.”[47]
On the 6th October an experiment was made at the Royal Military College
at Sandhurst, to blow in the barrier-gate of the bastion-fort, which
cost the lives of the sergeant and one of the privates employed.
Sergeant John Cameron under Major Adams, had the conduct of the
arrangements and the preparation of the fuse. Nine pounds of powder were
placed in a sand-bag having a canvas tube joining into the middle of the
powder. In this canvas tube was fixed a grenade fuse with a piece of
cotton in it, calculated to burn a sufficient time after the cotton
should burst into flame. The bag of powder placed against the barrier,
was covered over with a curved iron shield with a hole in it to permit
the fuse to come through, and then four sand-bags were lodged against
the shield. The arrangements being completed, all the sappers retired
except the sergeant and a private to ignite the fuse. Suddenly the
explosion took place, and at once the sergeant was blown into the wet
ditch, and the private knocked down on the berm. Both were mutilated in
a frightful manner and in a few days expired. The accident is supposed
to have arisen from some defect in the fuse which was made by the
sergeant. Sergeant Cameron was a zealous and talented non-commissioned
officer, had several seasons been employed with great advantage at the
college, and presented the institution with some interesting military
models. His widow was granted a pension of 10_l._ a-year.
-----
Footnote 38:
The ‘Times,’ 12th January, 1849. ‘Corps Papers,’ i., pp. 415, 416.
Footnote 39:
Sir John Richardson, ii., p. 138.
Footnote 40:
Ibid.
Footnote 41:
Sir John Richardson, ii., pp. 138-141.
Footnote 42:
Ibid. ii., p. 144.
Footnote 43:
Sergeant Robert Gardiner, the senior non-commissioned officer of the
party, by great assiduity and application so improved his attainments,
that he was recommended for the appointment of clerk of works in the
royal engineer department. His drawings of the Supreme Court of
Adelaide gained him much credit, and his services were marked by
skill, zeal, and usefulness up to the period of his discharge, in
February, 1854. Military men, particularly in the distant south, have
every means of improving their condition; and if they possess a
commercial bias, may, with tact, accumulate wealth. Gardiner has not
been unmindful of his interests in this respect, and he is in a fair
way of making his fortune. Offered for his good services to the public
the situation of foreman of works to the department at Hobart Town, he
declined it, and he now fills an advantageous appointment in the
survey department of the colony of South Australia.
Footnote 44:
‘Cape Town Mail,’ November 17, 1849.
Footnote 45:
General Mudge measured the line in 1794.
Footnote 46:
While on Salisbury Plain he was visited by Lieutenant-General Sir
Charles Pasley, frequently by Colonel Hall and Captain Yolland, and by
about fifty other officers of the royal engineers; also by Professors
Airy, Sheepshanks, and Cape. The last gentleman was very free in his
inquiries. The mode of aligning the instrument did not, at first,
satisfy him, but eventually the process having been minutely explained
by the sergeant, he went away convinced and gratified. Captain Gosset
was present at the laying of the first bar and Captain Hawkins at the
last.
Footnote 47:
In the reign of Tarquin I., 606 B.C., a force of Roman soldiers,
ordered to construct common sewers, considered the employment an
indignity and destroyed themselves. The self-esteem of the Roman
soldier which led to so fatal a result, had a different effect on the
modern; for the pride of the latter, tempered by a consideration of
duty, urged him into the midst of danger and for the sake of humanity
to seek it. Reflecting too, that the service, though paramount, was
too objectionable for even convicts to perform, the warm eulogy of the
Marquis may not be regarded as undeserved by those on whom it was
conferred.
1850.