From the Journal of Lieutenant E. Hope Verney, RN, published by
Saunders and Otley.
HM screw steam-frigate _Shannon_, of fifty-one guns, 600 horse-power,
and 2667 tons, at that time the largest frigate afloat, was commissioned
at Portsmouth by Captain William Peel on the 13th of September 1856, and
destined for the China Seas. On her arrival at Hong-Kong, Lord Elgin,
hearing of the outbreak of the mutiny in India, embarked in her with a
body of troops for Calcutta. She arrived on the 6th of August in the
mouth of the Ganges, when Captain Peel offered the services of his crew,
with the ship's guns, to the Governor-General to form a naval brigade.
On the 14th, Captain Peel, with a number of officers and 450 seamen,
embarked in a flat, towed by a river steamer, and proceeded up the
Hooghly, to join the force advancing to the relief of Lucknow. On the
18th, they were followed by another party of five officers and 120 men,
under the command of Lieutenant Vaughan,--the frigate being left with
140 men, under the command of Mr Waters, the master.
The steamers were of light draught, and could proceed but slowly with
the heavily-laden flats in tow against the strong current. The vessels
anchored at night, and proceeded on their voyage during the day, when
the men underwent a course of drilling, to fit them for the service they
had undertaken. At length, towards the end of October, they reached
Allahabad, at the junction of the Jumna and Ganges; and while one
division was left to garrison that place, the remainder proceeded on
towards Cawnpore by land. While at Futtehpore, near the Ganges,
information was received that a party of rebels were in the
neighbourhood; and 100 men of the naval brigade, commanded by Captain
Peel, with Lieutenant Hay, Mr Garvey, Lieutenant Stirling, RM, and Mr
Bone, and 430 men of different regiments, under command of Colonel
Powell, started in pursuit. "After marching about twenty-four miles, at
three p.m. they came in sight of the enemy, found entrenched in a strong
position behind some hillocks of sand; and, driving their skirmishers
out of a field of corn, engaged and defeated them, capturing two guns
and an ammunition waggon. The whole force of the enemy exceeded 4000
men, of whom about 2000 were Sepoys, who fought in uniform. The enemy's
artillery was well served, and did great execution. The gallant Colonel
Powell, pressing on to the attack, had just secured two guns, when he
fell dead with a bullet through his forehead."
Captain Peel then took the command. It was not till half-past four that
the enemy fired their last shot and retreated, leaving 300 killed behind
them, while the British loss was 95 killed and wounded. Of the naval
brigade, Lieutenant Hay, RN, was wounded in the hand, and Lieutenant
Stirling, RM, severely in the leg.
On the 12th of November, the naval brigade arrived before Lucknow. On
the 14th, an attack was made on the city, when the Martiniere College
and another large building were captured. While the brigade's guns were
in action, one of them exploding, killed Francis Cassidey, captain of
the maintop and severely wounded several other men.
Again, on the 16th, the naval brigade guns were engaged in the attack on
Secundra Bagh, when Lieutenant Salmon, RN, was severely wounded, and
Martin Abbot Daniel, midshipman, was killed by a round shot in the head.
In writing to his father, Captain Peel says: "It was in front of the
Shah Najeef, and in command of an eight-inch howitzer, that your noble
son was killed. The enemy's fire was very heavy, and I had just asked
your son if his gun was ready; he replied, `All ready, sir'; when I
said, `Fire the howitzer'; and he was answering, `Ay, ay,' when a round
shot in less than a moment deprived him of life. We buried him where he
fell, our chaplain reading the service; and, in laying him in his
resting-place, we felt, captain, officers, and men, that we had lost one
the best and noblest of the `Shannons.'"
Twelve or thirteen of the naval brigade were wounded on this occasion,
and three or four were killed. On the following day, that masterly
movement took place by which the women and children, and sick and
wounded, were safely brought out of Lucknow; and on the 24th, one of
England's noblest heroes--Sir Henry Havelock--died.
On the 28th of November, the brigade marched on Cawnpore, when, meeting
the enemy, a party of thirty-six bluejackets, with two twenty-four
pounders, under Lieutenant Hay, with Mr Garvey, mate, and Mr H.A.
Lascelles, did good service. Mr Lascelles, naval cadet, aide-de-camp
to Captain Peel, greatly distinguished himself, seizing a rifle from a
wounded man of the 88th, and charging with that regiment. About this
time the brigade was joined by Captain Oliver Jones, RN, on half-pay, as
a volunteer, who did good service on various occasions.
"Our army on the march is a sight affording much interest and
amusement,--such a menagerie of men and beasts, footmen and cavalry,
soldiers and sailors, camels and elephants, white men and black men,
horses and oxen, marines and artillery, Sikhs and Highlanders.
"When we leave the encampment, all is shrouded in darkness, and everyone
naturally feels a little grumpy; but when the first streaks of dawn
appear, and we have been an hour on the road, the welcome note is heard
in the distance of the bugles sounding the `halt.' With great rapidity
it passes from regiment to regiment, and dies away in the rear. Cavalry
dismount, infantry pile arms in the middle of the road, and for a few
minutes the whole army disperses on each side of it. The favourite
refreshment of officers is bread, cold tongue, and `brandy pawnee,'
which find their way out of innocent-looking holsters. And now we take
off overcoats and monkey-jackets, which were needed when we started in
the cold and damp night; the bluejackets fasten theirs over their
shoulders, and the officers strap theirs to their saddles. The brief
halt is too quickly at an end, and after a ten minutes' rest the advance
again sounds down the line from bugler to bugler. All at once fall in,
arms are unpiled, and, enlivened by our band, we again step out; now
feet begin to ache, and boots to chafe; but the cheery music of the
bands, bugles, or drums and fifes of the regiments marching next to us,
generally the Rifles, infuses energy into the most footsore. We make
three halts in a march of thirteen or fourteen miles, of which the last
is the longest, to allow the quartermaster-general and his staff to ride
on and mark out the camp. As the sun rises, the heat rapidly increases,
and the camels and elephants are seen making short cuts across the
fields, and keeping always clear of the road. When our bands have blown
as much wind as they can spare into their instruments, our men strike up
a song; and old windlass tunes, forecastle ditties, and many a
well-known old ballad resound through the jungles and across the fertile
plains of Bengal, and serve to animate our sailors and astonish the
natives."
On the 2nd of January 1858, the naval brigade were engaged at the battle
of Kallee-Nuddee. A party of seamen, under Lieutenant Vaughan, had been
repairing the bridge across that river, when the Sepoys opened fire on
him from a small gun in the opposite village. He returned it, and,
crossing the bridge with three guns, held in check a body of the enemy's
cavalry visible beyond the village. Brigadier Greathed's division and
other troops were engaged all the time. Lieutenant Vaughan now pointed
and fired one of his guns at a small gun of the enemy, which was
concealed behind the corner of a house. His first shot struck the roof
of the house; his second struck the angle of the wall about half-way
down; and a third dismounted the gun, and destroyed the carriage.
Captain Peel, who was standing by, said, "Thank you, Mr Vaughan;
perhaps you will now be so good as to blow up the tumbril." Lieutenant
Vaughan fired a fourth shot, which passed near it, and a fifth, which
blew it up, and killed several of the enemy. "Thank you," said Captain
Peel, in his blandest and most courteous tones; "I will now go and
report to Sir Colin."
The village was stormed and the enemy driven out by the 53rd Regiment,
when the cavalry pursued and cut up the rebels terribly, capturing all
their guns.
Soon after this, as Captain Peel and Captain Oliver Jones with three men
of the 53rd were passing through the battery, five Sepoys jumped out of
a ditch, and attacked them frantically. All were killed, Captain Jones
shooting the last with his revolver,--one man of the 53rd, however,
being dangerously wounded.
Eighteen or twenty bluejackets were attached to each gun, and with
drag-ropes ran them about with the greatest rapidity. On the march they
were dragged by bullocks; but if a gun stuck, the animals were taken
out, and the wheels and drag-ropes manned by bluejackets; and having an
elephant to push behind with his forehead, they never failed to
extricate a gun from the worst position. This was carrying out to
perfection the principle of a "steady pull and pull together."
On the 3rd of March the brigade were before Lucknow, and engaged in the
taking of the Dilkoosah, when two were mortally wounded.
Captain Oliver Jones was at this time serving as a volunteer with HM
53rd Regiment. He was the second to mount a breach at the capture of
one of the forts, when he received a wound on the knuckles, but cut down
the fellow who gave it him.
The naval brigade guns were now posted to the right of the Dilkoosah,
and near the river Goomtee. Mr Verney had a narrow escape. The enemy
brought two guns down to the corner of the Martiniere, and opened on
them. A shot struck the ground close to where he was standing, and so
completely surrounded him with dust that his comrades supposed he had
been killed, and were surprised to see him standing in the same place
when the dust cleared off.
Lieutenant Vaughan was now made a commander, but resumed his former
duties.
On the 9th of March, the brigade's six eight-inch guns and two
twenty-four pounders went down in front of the Dilkoosah, with four
rocket-hackeries, the whole under command of Captain Vaughan,
accompanied by Lieutenants Young, Salmon, Wratislaw, Mr Daniel, and
Lords Walter Kerr and Arthur Clinton, midshipmen. Captain Peel was also
there, with his two aides-de-camp, Watson and Lascelles. Unhappily,
while looking out for a suitable spot in which to post some guns for
breaching the Martiniere, he was severely wounded in the thigh by a
musket-ball. The brave captain was carried to the Dilkoosah, where the
bullet was extracted by the surgeon of the 93rd Highlanders. The
brigade's guns were most actively engaged in battering the Begum's
palace; and it was here, on the 12th, that Mr Garvey, mate, as he was
riding fast on in front of a row of cohorns to deliver a message, and
not perceiving that the quick-matches were alight, was struck dead by
one of the shells. He was the second officer of the brigade killed, and
a most promising young man.
All the guns of the brigade were on that memorable day very hotly
engaged. Several had been posted behind some earthworks thrown up by
the enemy. As the men could not see over the bank to point their guns,
Captain Oliver Jones placed himself at the top, and, though thus
becoming a clear mark for the enemy, with the greatest coolness directed
their fire.
On the 13th the naval guns were placed in a more advanced battery.
While warmly engaged with the enemy, some sand-bags forming the front of
the battery caught fire. A coloured man of the name of Hall, a
Canadian, under a heavy fire of bullets from loopholes not forty yards
distant, gallantly jumped out and extinguished some, and threw away
others that were burning. In the performance of this service he was
severely wounded. He was a man of athletic frame, and always remarkable
for his steady good conduct. He afterwards received the Victoria Cross.
The next day, after Sir James Outram had, by his admirable manoeuvre,
driven the rebels from their lines, Captain Vaughan being in front, Sir
Colin Campbell met him, and desired him to bring up a gun's crew of
bluejackets to man an abandoned gun, which was to be turned against the
retreating enemy. Lord Walter Kerr was sent back for the gun's crew,
and Captain Vaughan and Mr Verney proceeded to the gun itself, which
was at the gate of an outer court of the Kaiser Bagh. They found that a
body of Sepoys were defending themselves in an adjoining court, and that
it was necessary to blow away the gate of it, that the troops might
storm. It was for this object that Sir Colin ordered the guns to be
turned against them. In the meanwhile, however, they kept a continual
fire on the little band of British, from the walls and over and round
the gate, whenever they approached the gun. Captain Vaughan then fired
a few rounds at the gate, Mr Verney loading and sponging, three of the
_Shannon's_ bandsmen bringing up the powder and shot, and some of the
men of the 38th, under command of Lieutenant Elles, running the gun up
after every round. Near them, all the time, was a house full of loose
gunpowder, while close to it was another in flames. A sentry, however,
was posted to give warning in time, should the flames approach the loose
powder. Captain Vaughan now went back to meet the gun's crew that had
been sent for, and to show them the way, leaving orders with Mr Verney
to keep up the fire. He discovered that the Sepoy charges were so heavy
that the shot went clean through the solid gate every time he fired. By
reducing the charges, the firing at last began to tell; and when the
bluejackets came up, under command of Lieutenant Hay, the gate was blown
open, and the court captured by the company of the 38th.
On the 16th of March, the guns of the naval brigade were advanced to the
Residency, whence they occasionally fired a shot over the town. On the
22nd, the last of the rebels evacuated Lucknow; and, on the 29th, the
brigade handed over to the artillery, to go into park in the small
Imaumbarah, the six eight-inch guns which they had brought from the
_Shannon_. The word "Shannon" was deeply cut into each carriage, and
must last as long as the wood exists. There they will remain, a
memorial of what sailors can do on land. Here the active services of
the gallant naval brigade ceased. Mr Verney had been sent to the
Kaiser Bagh to bring out one of the King of Oude's carriages for the
conveyance of Captain Peel to Cawnpore. He selected the best he could
find, and the ship's carpenter padded it and lined it with blue cotton,
and made a rest for his feet, and painted "HMS Shannon" over the royal
arms of Lucknow. When, however, he saw it, he declined making use of
it, saying that he would prefer travelling in a doolie, like one of his
bluejackets. Alas! the doolie chosen for him had in all probability
carried a smallpox patient, for he was shortly afterwards seized with
that dire disease, under which, already weakened by his severe wound, he
succumbed, and the country lost one of the most gallant captains in the
naval service.
The brigade now once more turned their faces towards Calcutta, and on
the 12th and following days of August rejoined their ship. On the 15th
of September, the _Shannon_ sailed for England.
The officers received their promotion as follows:--Commander Vaughan
received the Order of C.B., an honour never before accorded to any
officer of that rank, and after serving a year he was posted.
Lieutenants Young, Wilson, Hay, Salmon, and Wratislaw were promoted to
the rank of commanders; Dr Flanagan, assistant surgeon, was promoted to
the rank of surgeon; Mr Verney, mate, was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant; Mr Comerford, assistant paymaster, was promoted to the rank
of paymaster; and each of the engineers and warrant-officers received a
step. On passing their examination, all the midshipmen and naval cadets
have been promoted.
The Victoria Cross was presented to Lieutenants Young and Salmon, and to
three bluejackets, "for valour" at the relief of Lucknow. The Indian
medal with the Lucknow clasp was presented to each officer and man who
formed part of the naval brigade. The following officers, who were
present at the relief of Lucknow on the 19th of November, received also
the "Relief of Lucknow" clasp:--Lieutenants Vaughan, Young, Salmon;
Captain Grey, RN; Reverend EL Bowman, Dr Flanagan, Mr Comerford;
Messrs. MA Daniel, REJ Daniel, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Arthur Clinton,
and Mr Church, midshipmen; Messrs. Bone and Henri, engineers; and Mr
Brice, carpenter.
Never was medal more highly prized or clasp more nobly won.
The following letter from Sir Edward Lugard to Captain Vaughan shows the
high estimation in which the _Shannon's_ naval brigade was held by the
military officers high in command:--
"The _Shannon's_ Brigade advanced upon Lucknow with my division, and
acted with it during the entire operations, as you well know. The men
were daily--I may say hourly--under my sight, and I considered their
conduct in every particular an example to the troops. During the whole
period I was associated with the _Shannon's_ Brigade, I never once saw
an irregularity among the men. They were sober, quiet, and respectful;
and often I remarked to my staff the high state of discipline Sir W.
Peel had got them into. From the cessation of active operations until I
was detached to Azimghur, I commanded all the troops in the city; and
all measures for the repression of plundering were carried out through
me, and, of course, every irregularity committed was reported to me.
During that period, not one irregularity was reported to me. Indeed, in
the whole course of my life, I never saw so well-conducted a body of
men... All I have written about the good conduct and discipline of the
_Shannon's_ men would, I am convinced, be confirmed by the unanimous
opinion of the army at Lucknow. Poor Adrian Hope and I often talked
together on the subject; and many a time I expressed to Peel the high
opinion I had of his men, and my admiration of their cheerfulness, and
happy, contented looks, under all circumstances of fatigue and
difficulty.
"Believe me, my dear Vaughan, sincerely yours--
"Edward Lugard.
"Captain Vaughan, C.B."
Another naval brigade was formed from the officers and ship's company of
HMS _Pearl_, which did good service, and won the respect of all
associated with it.