Mr. Forbes, late sergeant-major of the corps. The Survey sent a number
of artistic specimens of maps, one of which, Lancashire, was fifty feet
in height and twenty-seven feet in width. A plan of the city of Dublin,
on a scale of sixty inches to the mile, was the finest specimen of map
engraving ever produced in the United Kingdom.[90] With this plan was
associated the name of colour-sergeant John West, late of the corps,
whose services have already received honourable mention in these pages.
Among the other maps exhibited, which especially attracted attention,
was one of the borough of Southampton, on a scale of six inches to a
mile. For finished beauty of execution and truthful delineation of the
various features of the ground, it was regarded as unrivalled. This
specimen was executed by Charles Holland, formerly second-corporal in
the corps, and who is still the leading draughtsman at the Ordnance Map
office, Southampton. As already noticed in these pages, he received a
case of instruments from Prince Albert for his talent in drawing a
similar plan of Windsor. Six or seven specimens of electrotype, to
illustrate the different stages of the process of engraving the
copper-plates, were also exhibited. Sergeant Donald Geddes assisted in
mounting the maps, which from the colossal dimensions of one of them,
was found very difficult; and he also arranged the various specimens in
the space assigned to them at the end of the western gallery. “The
Council gold medal was granted to the Ordnance Department who exhibited
the maps, as a just and honourable tribute to the meritorious and
scientific officers of that department who prepared them.”[91] “For the
copper-plate etchings, and for the use of the electrotype process in
reproducing the plates, our eulogium,” say the Jurors, “is justly due to
the establishment at Southampton, where they are executed.”[92] Sergeant
Geddes had from the first the charge of the electrotype branch at
Southampton, under the executive officers of royal engineers, Captain
Yolland, and afterwards Captain W. D. Gosset; and by his skill and
acquaintance with chemical science, attained that perfection in the art
which, but a few years past, it would have been thought chimerical to
expect.
Mr. Forbes exhibited a beautiful model of his spherangular pontoon in
raft, with all its stores complete, and waggon for carriage. He also
contributed the model of an apparatus for the ventilation of mines. Both
objects were inventions of his own, and the former, though not adopted
in the service, gained for him the present of one hundred guineas from
the Board of Ordnance. Mr. Forbes was very late in submitting the
articles, and they have therefore not been included in the official
catalogues.
-----
Footnote 65:
‘Times,’ May 2, 1851.
Footnote 69:
First Report of Royal Commissioners, Exhibition, App. xxv., p. 128.
Footnote 70:
Ibid., App. vi., p. 50.
Footnote 71:
Chiefly from the First Report, Royal Commissioners, Exhibition, 1851,
App. vi., p. 48.
Footnote 72:
The ‘Times,’ July 2, 1851. The reference is too good to be omitted.
“The training—which,” proceeds the ‘Times,’ “under Sir C. Pasley’s
system they undergo, admirably prepares them for this description of
work, and they have brought to it the practical experience acquired
during the Irish, Scotch, and English surveys, which it will be
recollected they were employed upon in compliance with a most valuable
suggestion to that effect made by Colonel Reid. The plan to which we
allude is a highly creditable specimen of the skill which the sappers
have attained in the art of surveying.”
Footnote 73:
October 7, 1851.
Footnote 74:
October 12, 1851.
Footnote 75:
March 1, 1851, p. 130.
Footnote 76:
Apprehensive of accidents, the _public_ registry of the numbers was, a
few days before the closing of the Exhibition, abandoned at the
instigation of the police authorities.
Footnote 77:
Robert Marshall, formerly a private in the corps, was also attached to
the stationery department. From this he was promoted to be collector
from the money-takers. After the Exhibition closed, he received a
gratifying testimonial from Earl Granville, and a gratuity of one
month’s pay from the Royal Commissioners as a recognition of his
services. In consequence of his industry and honesty, he was one of
two or three retained for employment under the Commissioners, from
whom he was transferred to the Department of Practical Art, to assist
in superintending the reception and classified organization of the
Trade Museum of specimens presented to it from all countries. In this
duty his disciplined habits of order and arrangement made his services
of great utility and value. He now holds a lucrative appointment as
superintendent to a boarding establishment in London, under the
Electric Telegraph Company, obtained for him, in consequence of his
creditable conduct at the Exhibition, by Major-General Wylde.
Footnote 78:
‘Illustrated London News,’ March 1, 1851.
Footnote 79:
The ‘Times,’ February 19, 1851.
Footnote 80:
‘Illustrated London News,’ February 22, 1851.
Footnote 81:
The ‘Times,’ February 26, 1851.
Footnote 82:
First Report, App. xxvi., p. 130.
Footnote 83:
First Report, App. x., p. 67.
Footnote 84:
One man, private Alexander Dunlop, in the machinery department, was
the operator of an interesting experiment with an article of
manufacture in which both England and France were concerned. The
incident was related by Mr. Overend, at a public dinner, given at the
Cutlers’-hall, Sheffield, to the Great Exhibition Local Commissioners
for that town. Among the jurors there was a French Gentleman, who very
properly showed great zeal in protecting the interests of his
countrymen. He admitted that Sheffield had made the best files, but he
maintained that there was a house in France that could make them
incontestibly superior. He challenged Sheffield to the trial, and
selecting the house with which he would make the test, it happened to
be that of the Mayor of Sheffield, Mr. Turton, who accepted it. From
France files were brought over for the purpose, and a French engineer
was despatched across the Channel to use them. Messrs. Turton did not
send to Sheffield to have files made specially for the occasion, but
merely went to a London customer, whom they supplied with files, and
took a few, indiscriminately, from his stock. Private Dunlop was
chosen to use the English file against the French engineer and the
French files made for the occasion. Two pieces of steel being selected
upon which to try the files, they were fixed in two vices. The
Frenchman was stripped to his work, with sleeves turned up, and all
encumbrances likely to affect his strength and freedom of action, were
removed. Dunlop was very differently garbed; his coat was buttoned up
to the throat, and he was, in all respects, going, as it were, to
parade. Both now, by a signal, began to work simultaneously, but
Dunlop, a very powerful blacksmith, had filed the steel down to the
vice before the French engineer had got one-third through. When the
files were examined, that of Messrs. Turton was found to be as good as
ever, while the French one was nearly worn out. The French juror then
said no doubt he was beaten in that trial; but Messrs. Turton’s file
must have been made to cut steel only, whereas the French file was
better adapted for iron. A new trial then took place upon the iron,
and the result was still more in favour of the English file.
Footnote 85:
‘Fraser’s Magazine.’
Footnote 86:
This gave offence to one London periodical—the ‘Builder’ (April 5,
1851, p. 212). Its antagonism, however, is consistent, for it has
always advocated that the services of the sappers should be confined
purely to military duties, and that the national surveys, &c., should
be wholly controlled and regulated by civil energy and operation.
Still, with all its opposition, it spoke of the sappers at the
Exhibition, in a qualified sense, as intelligent and efficient.
Footnote 87:
‘First Report,’ p. xxxvii.
Footnote 88:
‘First Report,’ App., vi., p. 49.
Footnote 89:
‘First Report,’ p. xxi. It may be worth remarking, that Mr. Cobden,
the persevering enemy of naval and military establishments, was so
satisfied with the conduct and services of the corps, that he was
heard to say, he would never in his advocacy for military
retrenchment, seek to reduce the numbers of the sappers.
Footnote 90:
‘Hampshire Advocate,’ May 10, 1851.
Footnote 91:
‘Juries Reports,’ Exhibition, 1851, p. 222.
Footnote 92:
Ibid.
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.
For nearly four years one sergeant and five men of the corps had been
employed in Zetland constructing some trunk lines of roads, with the
view of relieving the wants of the poor of the islands, who, from the
failure of their fisheries and other dreadful visitations, were
threatened with starvation. Captain T. Webb, R.E., directed the
operations of the party for three years, but throughout the fourth year,
sergeant Robert Forsyth was alone responsible for its discipline and
conduct. With respect, however, to the execution of the works he
received instructions from Captain Craigie, R.N.
The roads constructed under the superintendence of the sappers were,
considering the character of the country, its frequent storms, heavy
rains, and bleak winds, and the utter inexperience of the peasantry in
land labour and the use of implements, very extensive and difficult.
In 1849 there was scarcely a practicable road in Zetland, except a few
isolated portions in bad condition. But on the removal of the party in
January, 1852, more than 100 miles of excellent road, including the
island of Yell, had been made practicable both for pedestrians and wheel
vehicles.
From Lerwick to Mossbank, twenty-five and a half miles of good road were
cut through a mountainous country intersected with large plots of deep
bog. It was fifteen feet wide clear of the water-tables. All through the
line it was properly drained and gravelled to a depth of between
fourteen and eighteen inches. The undulations of the country and the
occurrence of streams called for considerable engineering skill. At
different parts of this road were built two stone bridges, the first of
fifteen feet span and twenty feet high, and the second of ten feet span.
Both were of the best rubble masonry. In different parts of the line
there were twenty-four large culverts built of dry masonry as
substitutes for bridges. A number of cross drains were also laid and
properly paved. About eight miles of the road ran along the side of a
high hill, and here an embankment and wall were raised on the lower
side, and a cutting made on the upper.
The road from Lerwick to the western districts was constructed over the
steep and rugged heights of Wormiedale, for one mile of which a cutting
was made from the upper side, which assisted in forming an embankment of
five feet average on the lower. From thence to the head of Weesdale Voe
the road ran comparatively easy. A large stone causeway, however, had to
be built over the point of a sheet of water which communicated with the
sea. In this causeway were six openings of two and a half feet by four
feet for the free passage of the tide. From the head of Weesdale Voe to
the Scord of Tresta, one mile, a cutting was made on the upper side, and
a retaining wall built on the lower side of the road. To Gruting Voe,
six miles, the road was easily prepared. On this line two bridges were
erected: one at Bixter with piers of rubble masonry and the
superstructure of stout oak, with a span of ten feet; the other at
Tumlin of dry masonry with three openings. At the head of Gruting Voe, a
causeway of stones, six feet high by thirteen feet broad, with seven
openings of two and a half feet wide each, was constructed, crossing a
part of the Voe for 120 yards, and thereby shortening the distance to
Walls by three quarters of a mile.
From Lerwick, southwards, a road of twenty-three miles was formed to
Dunrossness, and portions of the Test road were also improved. Four
stone bridges and a wooden one were constructed on this line over heavy
and sometimes impassable streams.
From the bridge at Fitch, four miles from Lerwick, a road of one and a
half mile long was made, which joined the Scalloway road and the trunk
line together.
From the main line at the Olnafirth branch another road was cut for
three and a quarter miles, connecting Olnafirth and Doura Voe, whence
there is an easy access by boat to Lerwick. One stone bridge of twelve
feet span and nine feet high was erected on this line.
From Voe to Hillswick fifteen miles of bridle road were made, and two
substantial stone bridges thrown over deep and rapid burns. The ground
was very difficult, and in many places the red granite was so hard that
blasting the rock was necessarily resorted to. This road passed through
part of the parish of Delting, connecting it with North Mavine by a
narrow isthmus about sixty yards wide from sea to sea. On the south of
this the hills rose to a height of about 700 feet above the level of the
sea, and terminated on the shore in very high precipitous cliffs. To
surmount such a barrier with anything like tolerable gradients, it would
have been necessary to make a detour of at least one mile and
three-quarters over uneven and rough ground. To obviate this, a road was
cut along the base of the bold cliffs of Cliva for 590 yards, which,
considering the description of labour employed, was an undertaking of no
ordinary kind. The method adopted was to blast the face of the cliff, in
which only 250 lbs. of powder were expended, and this removed more than
10,000 tons of rock. With the dislodged fragments a retaining wall was
built, which formed a rampart of thirteen feet broad and twelve feet
average height. Some of the stones used in the wall were two tons
weight.[93] Corporal Andrew Ramsay was intrusted with the execution of
the work, and the fact that 1,700 blasts had been fired by him among a
people unused to these operations, and without a single accident
occurring, affords sufficient proof of his caution, discretion, and
attention.[94]
In the island of Yell a road of twenty miles, nine feet wide, was cut
between the two principal harbours—Cullivoe and Burravoe. The line was
through a rugged country, with peat morasses, rapid streams, and mica
and silicious rocks. In some places deep excavations were made before
gravel could be obtained to form the surface of the road; and from the
swampy nature of the ground much draining was required to render the
foundation solid and the line durable. The danger of sinking in boggy
ground for gravel was often felt. Once in particular when the party had
dug to the depth of fourteen feet in a broken morass, the sergeant
(Read) observed the whole mass of moss in motion. Instantly he ordered
the workmen to leave the pit. Scarcely had they done so when the sides
began to close in, and, as a rush of water at the same time came from
beneath, the bog was quickly dislocated, and toppling over, filled the
pit.[95] Owing to the inequalities of the surface it was difficult to
carry on the line with easy gradients, and from Bastavoe and Mid Yell
Voe, running far inland, its course was therefore circuitous. A bridge
was constructed over the burn of Dalsetter in North Yell, ten feet span
and nine feet high, with piers of strong masonry, while the cross beams,
planking, and handrail were of substantial oak. A similar bridge was
erected over Laxo burn, Mid Yell, and five large culverts, locally
termed sivars, with heavy embankments, between that and Burravoe in
South Yell. To accommodate South Yell, and to remove a serious
obstruction to the conveyance of the mail and the passage of travellers
in the winter season, bridges of ten feet span and seven feet high were
erected over the dangerous streams of Hamnavoe and Arrisdale. In
building that over Arrisdale a middle pier was erected, the span of the
arch being otherwise too great to make it a sound work.[96] Sergeant
John F. Read was intrusted with the construction of this road. His
conduct throughout his service in Shetland was correct and
soldierlike.[97] His report on the character of his operations in Yell,
detailing the difficulties he surmounted and the improvements effected
in the industrial habits of the people, is highly creditable to his
ability.[98]
On one occasion while assisting the making of the Yell road, the conduct
of corporal Ramsay, under peculiar and trying circumstances, elicited
the praise of his officers.[99] An outbreak occurred in his party, and
being unarmed he was placed in a critical position. He was, however,
cool and determined, and resisted in a manly but forbearing manner the
demands of his labourers. By persuasion and command the angry feelings
of the labourers were eventually allayed, and they were induced to
resume with a more contented spirit the employment they so unsparingly
abused.
In accordance with arrangements made by the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, the connection of the party with the Highland
Destitution Board closed early this year, and the men arrived at
Woolwich on the 27th January. In parting with the detachment Captain
Craigie, R.N., spoke highly of its efficient and creditable services and
its excellent conduct. Privates Alexander Smith and David Muir executed
all the masonry work on the roads. Sergeant Forsyth, in his character of
superintendent, evinced considerable ability, zeal, and intelligence in
the discharge of his duties, and was unremitting in his efforts to
render Captain Webb’s absence as little felt as possible.[100]
-----
Footnote 93:
The particulars taken from sergeant Forsyth’s statements in ‘Report of
Committee of Manage. High. Dest., 1852,’ pp. 15-18, 35-37.
Footnote 94:
‘Report of Committee of Manage. High. Dest., 1852,’ p. 41.
Footnote 95:
Ibid., p. 19.
Footnote 96:
Ibid., pp. 18-21.
Footnote 97:
‘Report of Committee of Manage. High. Dest., 1852,’ p. 41.
Footnote 98:
Ibid.
Footnote 99:
Ibid.
Footnote 100:
Ibid.
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.
The detachment in London under Captain Owen was throughout the year,
attached to the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851. Four of the
party were generally in the office performing the duty of clerks and
draughtsmen. Among the services executed by them was the organization
and classification, for historic and scientific purposes, of the
voluminous correspondence, documents, and tabulated forms and returns of
the department, previous to their deposit in the royal archives. To this
was added the duty of preparing the various certificates with the
signature of Prince Albert, and forwarding them, with the exhibitors’
and jurors’ medals, and juries’ reports, to the different local and
foreign committees throughout the world. To corporal Gardner was
intrusted the office of stamping the Prince’s signature. Before he
commenced the task he made some experiments to ascertain the best mode
of transferring the royal name from the block to the paper. His object
was to make the impression a perfect resemblance of the original, to
accomplish which the use of common ink was a desideratum. Observation
and ingenuity soon led him to adopt an expedient that proved to be very
successful. About 20,000 of these certificates he prepared, and many of
the transfers were such faithful fac-similes of the original, that the
minutest examination of their details failed to discover the slightest
deviation from the character of the royal autograph. For two or three
months when the men were not employed on more pressing services, they
were advantageously occupied in collecting and arranging specimens
received from the exhibitors, now composing the trade collection at
Kensington palace. They also examined and took charge of the Exhibition
photographs, executed in Paris, 18,000 in number, after their return by
Messrs. De la Rue and Co. who mounted them. In the evening after the
day’s labour had ended, five of the party attended for four months the
Government school of design at Somerset House, and received instruction
in free-hand drawing. The privilege thus conceded was not only
unprecedented but greatly enhanced by an instant departure from the rule
of the institution, which required candidates to avail themselves of its
benefits in their turn. By the end of the year the sappers with Captain
Owen were reduced to four non-commissioned officers.
In January and February two non-commissioned officers with six civilians
as labourers, under Mr. John McLaren,[101] the deputy surveyor-general
of South Australia, were employed in establishing an overland route from
Adelaide to Mount Alexander. They laid out a line of road between these
points through the wilderness, removed all striking obstructions, and
formed at every practicable locality convenient wells of water for the
use of travellers. The object of laying down this line of communication
was principally to assist the transit of the “gold diggers” of the Mount
and the contiguous country into Adelaide.
Twelve rank and file were sent from Woolwich in April to Spike Island,
to superintend the convict mechanical skill and labour placed at the
disposal of the Ordnance, in carrying on the defences of the island and
other posts in Cork harbour. This measure was strongly urged by Colonel
Oldfield, the commanding royal engineer in Ireland, on the score both of
utility and economy; and the services of the party in directing the
convicts in the quarries, the excavations, and at their trades, were
followed by results, indisputably advantageous to the public.
The seventh company, employed first at Portsmouth and then at Gosport,
in conjunction with the second company, in constructing the batteries at
Brown Down, was removed in June from Fort Monckton to Hurst Castle, to
repair its defences and construct new batteries. The men, not quartered
in the castle, were provided with accommodation in a detached shed,
which was converted into a barrack for the purpose.
Early in the year, under orders from the Home Government, four men of
the corps under lance-corporal James S. Taylor, made surveys and plans
of the Holmfirth reservoir and the country in its neighbourhood, to
assist Captain R. C. Moody, R.E., in his inquiries to ascertain the
cause of the bursting of its embankment and the consequent destruction
of life and property. On the completion of the work the men were
commended for the active and able manner in which it had been executed,
and received a liberal allowance for their services.
A new station was opened for the corps this year at Alderney, one of the
Channel Islands, whither the eleventh company, under the command of
Captain W. F. D. Jervois, R.E., repaired from Woolwich, and arrived at
the island on the 30th June. Some four weeks after the men commenced the
construction of the permanent works considered necessary in those
precarious days, to enable the garrison to resist any attempt at
invasion by the enemy. There being but little accommodation in the
island for troops, unused as it had been to have soldiers quartered on
it, the company was necessarily divided into two portions, and domiciled
more than a mile apart, at Longy and Corblets. The “Nunnery” was
constituted an hospital for the sick.