Caledon, which offered the first serious obstruction to the march. The
troops luckily had passed on foot, but by the time the waggons arrived
the river had risen fifteen feet. Now the current was fierce, surging,
and full of eddies; and the trunks of old trees, which, for years,
perhaps, had floated with the changing tide, up and down the stream,
materially interfered with the operations of the pontoon; but it
nevertheless was made to do its work, and the waggons with the supplies
were rapidly passed to the opposite bank.[114] Captain Tylden and
Lieutenants Stanton and Siborne—the last in charge of the raft—were
thanked for their “aid and exertions” in effecting the passage.
A journey of more than seventy miles brought the expedition to the
Lieuw—a narrow fordable water, with a dashing tide confined within steep
banks. Before however the waggons could cross, both shores had to be cut
away to a convenient level by the whole force of sappers assisted by a
fatigue party. Still, so difficult was the passage, that five hours were
spent in taking over about one-half the train; and then only by the
sturdy exertions of a double team of oxen whipped into extra activity by
rows of persevering men occupying positions in the river up to their
waists in water.[115]
Continuing the march, the Caledon River—which swept round from the level
in which it was first encountered—was a second time approached, but as
the stream was fordable, the operation of crossing was unattended by the
exercise of more than ordinary energy. The troops then moved on to the
Berea mountain and fought a battle with the well-equipped horsemen of
Moshesh, in which the British casualties were severe. Corporal Edward A.
Henderson was the only sapper present in the action, he being at the
time with the rocket section of artillery, attached to Dr. Fasson, the
Ordnance surgeon, in the capacity of medical orderly. The pontoneers
were left in camp at the Caledon with the raft.
Having made the chief aware of the political consequences of his defeat,
and obtained his subscription to a treaty, the victorious troops
retraced their steps to the colony. The Caledon was easily passed, and
after a march of about fifty miles, the Lieuw was gained. Recollecting
the difficulty of the previous operation, Colonel Eyre ordered that some
efforts should be employed to discover a really practicable drift. A few
of the waggons crossed at the old ford, but in the mean time sergeant
Ireland—a man who had received praise for his boat services and
usefulness in the demolition of the wreck of the ‘Royal
George’—discovered a diagonal drift so convenient, as to render the
passage one of maximum facility. The bottom was rocky the whole
distance, with a shallow flow trippling over the stones; while the
general stream escaped through fissures and cavities in the rock, and
merged into the river at the other side of the bar. The trickling,
however, at the drift, caused it to be very slippery, but to make the
footing sure, the defect was remedied by scattering along its surface a
quantity of sand, which brought the new ford into favour, and the old
one was abandoned.
Crossing the Caledon, a second time, without difficulty, the march was
sustained to the Orange River. Its passage, however, was a tedious and
protracted operation. The rains had increased the height of the stream,
and expanded it to 225 yards. The current was resistless and the weather
squally. A heavy flat-bottomed punt and the India-rubber cylinders were
the only means within reach to achieve the movement. Such an
organization, to throw over an army of some strength with guns and
troops of horses, attended by a cumbersome train of waggons of unusual
magnitude for number was ridiculously small. Five sappers with
Lieutenant Siborne manned the raft, and a like number of the troops
oared the punt, each working its course, from bank to bank, on a
separate hawser stretched across the stream. Thirty-five men, armed and
fully accoutred, were taken over at each trip and landed every ten
minutes. Indeed the passage across only occupied a third of the time,
owing to a skilful use of sheaves—instead of thimbles and eyes—running
on the warps, to which short lines were attached issuing from the raft.
The latter again was placed obliquely to the warp, by which one of the
angles or shoulders of the float was pressed forward to the hawser. All
this is probably too technical to be generally understood. The current
just suited the arrangement, and lashing against the cylinders—which
were broadside to it—drove the raft onward at a rapid rate. Not needing
to help in its propulsion, the men, looking to their equilibrium, simply
balanced themselves on the deck. Until sergeant Ireland hit upon this
expedient, the iron thimbles worked but idly on the rough hawsers, and
the raft was necessarily hauled across by the manual dexterity of the
pontoneers. Horses, mules, oxen, howitzers, guns, and all sorts of
military equipment were passed over on the pontoons; whilst the punt,
which could only bear one waggon at a time, and one or two struggling
horses, was in constant requisition to take over the baggage and
material of the army. Fortunately the evenings were moonlight, which
graced the operation with a charm that influenced the ardour and
exertions of the men. Under this sombre aspect, the rush of the stream,
the splash of the wave, the dip of the paddles, and the gliding of the
raft, gave the exploit a feature as romantic as martial. On two or three
occasions the hawsers stretched to their utmost tension, by the
increasing height of the river, snapt at their weakest points. To renew
them was a labour of some eight hours’ toil; and then, such was the
strength of the flow, they could not be safely used. The pontoons too,
being light and inflated, danced like corks on the troubled water, and
were nearly torn at times from under their superstructure. Still, the
men accustomed to such perils were only the more daring and energetic,
and the passage was prosecuted without accident. Under the altered
circumstances of wind and current, the punt would have lain idle for the
want of a tow-line by which to work its way from side to side, but
Lieutenant Siborne, enlarging his sphere of action, had the boat pulled
down on either bank to a good offing and made to do its share of hard
duty. It was however a wearying and exhausting process, for each trip
was not performed under three-quarters of an hour.
The conveyance of the “sick waggon” claimed especial care, but untoward
mishaps made its short career eventful. When about half way across, one
of its sweeps or long oars broke, and the boat with its living freight
was at the mercy of the impetuous torrent. Drifting with the current it
at length plunged among some willow trees below the landing-place, where
a rope, passed from tree to tree, being quickly fastened to the punt, a
party on shore hauled it to an opening in the bank. The hawser, however,
unable to bear the strain, gave way, and the boat whirled off furiously
towards a rapid in the middle of the stream. Recovered again, it was
pulled up to the trees with so much force, that the overhanging branches
became entangled with the waggon and nearly capsized it into the river.
In this dilemma, some four or five sappers, under the direction of
Lieutenant Stanton, nimbly vaulted into the willows, and with axes,
promptly cut down the impeding branches, whilst others of the
pontoneers, “swimming about in the boiling flood,” assisted to clear
them away. All the obstacles being thus removed, the punt was
successfully pulled to the sand-drift, and biding a prudent opportunity,
was safely passed to the other bank.[116]
No less than eight days were consumed in this exciting operation, and
the detachment, which had been left behind its division, to complete
some necessary details, were now in full route for head-quarters. By
forced marches, in forty-eight hours it overtook the column under
Colonel Eyre, which had taken five days to travel the same distance. The
subsequent rivers in the journey, being as shallow as rivulets, were
easily forded, and no necessity occurred for employing the resources
which the sappers had at command. The detachment arrived at King
William’s Town on the 29th January. Four other sappers despatched from
Bloom fontein and attached to the division under Colonel Napier, were
also engaged as pontoneers, and completed the concluding operations for
crossing the column. On arriving at Graham’s Town they joined a
detachment of the corps there.[117] On the following muster parade, a
letter was read, in which his Excellency commended the zeal and activity
of the sappers as displayed in the passage of the Orange river by the
divisions under Colonels Eyre and Napier, and justly attributed the
success of the manœuvre to the able manner in which it had been
conducted by Lieutenant Siborne.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cole, the commanding royal engineer, in his final
report, dated 1st March, 1853, to Brigade-Major Walpole, communicating
the termination of the war, thus wrote of the services and conduct of
the corps:—“I cannot conclude what is probably my last report to you,
without conveying the gratification I have experienced throughout by the
value which has been attached to the services of the non-commissioned
officers and men of the royal sappers and miners, not only in public
dispatches, but from the opinion expressed to me by the late commander
of the forces especially, and the officers under whose command they have
served, and who have in many instances shown their confidence
practically.
“I am enabled to add that from the reports I have received and my own
observation, the non-commissioned officers and men have in all instances
throughout this arduous struggle shown a zeal and determination to
further the service in which they were engaged, and have displayed their
usual gallantry and discipline whenever they have been in the presence
of the enemy.”
-----
Footnote 101:
Was formerly in the sappers, from which he was discharged a corporal
in January, 1838, on a pension of 1_s._ 7_d._ a-day, after a service
of twenty-three years. Most of his military career was spent on the
survey of Ireland, in which he was found a zealous and correct
surveyor. Soon after quitting the corps he emigrated to South
Australia, and was hired by the Commissioners for the colony as a
draughtsman in the land office. He was one of the first race of
surveyors in the settlement, and his duties, carried on through an
unexplored intricate wilderness, were extremely toilsome and trying.
At one time the survey department was thrown into great difficulty by
the resignation of the original survey staff, which was the more
embarrassing as emigrants were pouring into the colony by thousands,
and land was rapidly purchased. In this extremity corporal McLaren, to
meet the great and pressing wants of the colonists, exerted himself
with untiring energy. The Governor, Colonel Gawler, in writing of his
services (‘Times,’ November 7, 1846), said, “Corporal McLaren was a
fine fellow, who would have answered all my purposes if I could have
cut him up into ten or twenty living portions, but who, unhappily for
me, was not thus divisible.” He was afterwards attached to the
department of the surveyor-general, and ultimately, by his commendable
labours, his experience, and valuable co-operation, received the
appointment of deputy surveyor-general, which he now fills. His income
is about 700_l._ a-year. A report by him (‘Times,’ September 20,
1852), on the overland route from Adelaide to Mount Alexander, is a
fair specimen of his literary attainments and business-like habits.
Footnote 102:
‘Naval and Military Gazette,’ 21st August, 1852.
Footnote 103:
Ibid., September 18, 1852.
Footnote 104:
‘Naval and Military Gazette,’ September 18, 1852.
Footnote 105:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 237.
Footnote 106:
After this disaster, arms or ammunition were forbidden to be conveyed
from one post to another, except by the express orders of the
Major-Generals or officers commanding divisions, who were held
responsible that sufficient escorts were provided to defend the
convoys.
Footnote 107:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 237.
Footnote 108:
Said to be young Webb, a driver (in ‘Naval and Military Gazette,’
August 21, 1852); but Captain Moody has recorded, that the service was
performed by private Murphy.
Footnote 109:
The praise due to him was unjustly given both in the colonial and
metropolitan press to sergeant Davis, of the 12th regiment: but it was
claimed for sergeant King, in a very soldier-like manner, by corporal
Wilmore of the party, who was present and wounded in the action.
Without attempting to disparage the conduct of the sergeant of the
12th, the corporal explained that at the period the charges took
place, sergeant Davis was in the rear at the Old Post, with four
volunteer sappers, awaiting orders to proceed to Fort Brown for a
military reinforcement.—‘Graham’s Town Journal,’ October 23, 1852.
Footnote 110:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 237.
Footnote 111:
‘Naval and Military Gazette,’ August 21, 1852.
Footnote 112:
‘Graham’s Town Journal,’ October 22, 1853.
Footnote 113:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 236.
Footnote 114:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 301.
Footnote 115:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 309.
Footnote 116:
King’s ‘Campaigning in Kaffirland,’ 2nd edit., p. 328.
Footnote 117:
Much of the information afforded of the expedition is gleaned from an
official report by Lieutenant Siborne, and the “Order Book” of the
detachment.
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.
Corporal James F. Church and private Edward Swenny, energetic and
intelligent men, were appointed on the 19th February to join the
expedition to Central Africa under Dr. Barth. The former was a
carpenter, and the latter a surveyor and draughtsman acquainted with the
management of philosophical instruments, and had, previously to his
enlistment, travelled in Belgium, France, Algiers, and Milan. From
political considerations they quitted in the character of civilians, but
were armed each with a Colt’s revolver, a rifle, a double-barrel
fowling-piece, a bowie knife, and an axe.
On the 20th February they embarked at Southampton, under Dr. Vogel, a
young German astronomer attached to the expedition, and after a short
stay on shore at Malta, proceeded to Tripoli, where they tarried for
some months, devoting their leisure to learning the Arabic dialect, and
familiarizing themselves with the mode of riding on camel-back. Corporal
Church also mastered the use of the sextant, mountain barometer, azimuth
compass, &c., so as to make ready observations with them.
From a dangerous illness private Swenny could not go on with the
expedition, and was sent to England with high testimonials for zeal and
ability from Dr. Vogel and Colonel Herman, the Tripoline consul. The ill
chance which deprived the enterprise of his valuable services was much
regretted by Lord Clarendon, who granted the invalid in addition to his
salary a gratuity of 15_l._ His place was supplied by private John
Maguire, a fine soldier and skilful mechanic, who was selected from
among thirty-six volunteers of the company of the corps at Malta.
The caravan under Dr. Vogel was a large one of thirty-seven camels,
carrying upwards of four tons of baggage and presents for the sultan of
Bornou and other chiefs. The organization of the force, with the packing
and distribution of the baggage, was chiefly confided to corporal
Church, who in consequence of the temporary indisposition of Dr. Vogel
set out in charge of the expedition on the 19th June, in company with
Mr. F. Warrington, a gentleman well known in Tripoli, to Beni-olid,
where he arrived on the 26th. There Dr. Vogel joined on the 2nd July,
and a day or two afterwards the caravan was again in motion.
At Sokna, midway between Tripoli and Moorzuk, a number of the natives
approached them with greeting, and conducted them to an ample residence
already prepared for their accommodation. A supply of provisions,
consisting of melons, green figs, dates, two sheep, two large dishes of
bazeen, and three dishes of some other compound, owning a name more
curious than intelligible, was placed at their disposal. In the evening
a similar presentation was made to them, and the like extravagant proofs
of generosity were continued to the travellers for four days more.
Presents were made in return to compensate for this hospitality; but the
natives would only accept a few specimens of English cutlery in the
shape of knives and razors. On quitting Sokna the governor and the
people accompanied the caravan a short distance on the road, and took
their leave of the adventurers with unequivocal demonstrations of
sympathy and good will.
Next day the expedition entered the pass of Gible Asswaa, or Black
Mountains, a region of dreariness and desolation. In every direction
masses of basalt seemed to have been upheaved by some convulsion of
nature, whilst in some places the rock had all the semblance of iron
suddenly cooled after leaving the furnace. Much of the road was of the
worst character for travelling, for it was not only hard and broken, but
ridged with knife-like edges, which gashed the camels’ feet and lamed
them. This sterile region extended for more than fifty miles without
even a shrub or an insect to invite observation. To add to their trials,
the travellers were four days and a-half without water save that carried
by the camels, which from being constantly acted upon by the sun was
always more than tepid and lost much of its relish. In these mountains
the heat was excessive. When exposed to the full blaze of the sun the
mercury in the thermometer rushed up speedily to 150°; and afterwards,
when corporal Church withdrew the instrument from the sand in which he
had buried it about six inches deep, the indication was 130°. After
passing the Black Mountains, the corporal counted in one day nine
skeletons of camels which had fallen in the waste from exhaustion.
The expedition now traversed a far-spreading plain, and being short of
water, pushed on night and day by long marches for the well called
Omhul-obid, or the Mother of Slaves. Before gaining it, they were
wearied with sixty-six hours’ exertion in the saddle out of eighty, and
the camel which Church had ridden from Tripoli, fell dead at Erfad from
fatigue.
In a few days afterwards—5th August, 1853—the expedition reached
Moorzuk, where private Maguire joined it on the 31st of the same month.
This soldier, cool and confident, journeyed from Tripoli with three or
four Arabs who were unable to speak a word of English. He was equally
unable to exchange with them a word of Arabic. Gesture and grimace,
therefore, were the means employed by him to communicate his orders and
to express his feelings of satisfaction or discontent; but
notwithstanding this impediment, he gallantly drove on, and in
thirty-four days accomplished the journey under a fierce sun, without
casualty and with credit.
On the 16th October the adventurers left Moorzuk, and had a toilsome
journey as far as Gatrone, where they arrived on the 24th of the same
month. Seven days Dr. Vogel and his sappers remained at this place to
await the arrival of the rest of the lagging camels and stores. In that
time they were joined by a caravan of merchants with about fourteen
Arabs from Egypt, going to Bornou to purchase slaves.
While at Gatrone a batch of more than 700 slaves, nearly all women and
children, passed through the place. The grown-up men in the drove did
not seem to exceed twenty in number. All were in a miserably withered
state, and many were panting and dying from fatigue and want. Already
they had been driven across a desert between 600 and 700 miles, and had
yet to go to Tripoli, nearly 700 miles more. Every step of the journey
was to be tramped, and most of them had burdens to bear on their heads,
of from fifteen to twenty pounds or more in weight, according to their
strength. The slave-masters were very cruel to the wretched creatures,
for, if they showed signs of lassitude or fell exhausted on the sand,
the whip was applied with unmeasured severity to their naked bodies; and
if the horrid scourging failed to move them on, they were abandoned to
their fate, perhaps three days from the next well, to perish from raging
thirst.
The expedition reached Teghery on the 3rd November, and resting for a
few days, after collecting dates for the use of the camels, moved on the
7th into the Great Desert. In the first three days no less than 250
skeletons of slaves were passed, and fragments of bones were scattered
about in such vast numbers on the route, that one could traverse the
wilderness unguided, without much chance of missing the track. At the
wells of Meshroo, about two days’ journey from Teghery, the ground had
the appearance of an excavated cemetery, or the site of a well-contested
battle; and to be free from these sickening relics of mortality, the
doctor and his sappers pitched their tents for the night at a distance.
The travelling was carried on at the rate of twelve or thirteen hours
a-day, without halting, which was equal to a journey of from twenty-five
to thirty miles. This was reckoned to be very fair work, as camels
usually only go over two miles and a half of ground in an hour. The
average heat of the sun ranged from 125° to 130°, and beamed upon the
wayfarers with so oppressive an intensity that their substance and their
strength were wasted in excessive perspiration. In the evening they
halted, spread canvas, and lay down for the night. The two sappers
posted themselves in turn as sentries over the caravan, to protect it
from injury or surprise. During the night, owing to the state of the
atmosphere falling from its fiery day heat to a temperature sometimes as
low as 45°, the men suffered from a feeling of extreme cold.
In this way the expedition journeyed for sixteen days without seeing a
single native. For ten marches of the period they looked in vain for the
slightest trace of herbage, but at a Waddy called Ekaba, a not very
luxuriant oasis, they found a little coarse grass that afforded an
acceptable change to the camels after feeding for ten days upon dry
dates. On the 27th November the expedition was at Ashanumra, in the
country of the tribes of Tibboo.
In due time the expedition reached Kouka where it remained for a while,
as Dr. Barth had gone on to Timbuctoo. The return of the chief being
uncertain Dr. Vogel explored the country in the vicinity of the lake,
taking with him corporal Maguire. Corporal Church was left to carry on
the meteorological observations. Contrary to expectation, Dr. Barth, who
had been reported dead, returned to Kouka, and soon after, corporal
Church accompanied him home. Whatever services may since have been
conducted by Dr. Vogel—of which no account has been communicated to the
corps, it is proper, nevertheless, to record to the credit of the
corporal the very kind terms in which, under date the 4th December,
1855, the doctor wrote of him to the Consul-General at Tripoli:—