1844.
Remeasurement of La Caille’s arc at the Cape—Reconnoitring excursion of sergeant Hemming—Falkland Islands—Draft to Bermuda—Inspection at Gibraltar by General Sir Robert Wilson—Final operations against the ‘Royal George’—and the ‘Edgar’—Discovery of the amidships—incident connected with it—Combats with crustacea—Success of corporal Jones—Injury to a diver—Private Skelton drowned—Conduct of the detachment employed in the work—Submarine repairs to the ‘Tay’ steamer at Bermuda by corporal Harris—Widening and deepening the ship channel at St. George’s—Intrepidity of corporal Harris—Accidents from mining experiments at Chatham—Notice of corporal John Wood—Inspection at Hong-Kong by Major-General D’Aguilar.
The detachment set apart to measure the base line on Zwartland Plain at the Cape commenced the second season in September, 1841. It opened under a somewhat different arrangement with respect to the issue of provisions. Captain Henderson managed it in 1840, Mr. Maclear in 1841, and sergeant Hemming was appointed to act as his quartermaster-sergeant. Captain Henderson left the work in December and returned to England.
As soon as the base was measured, the triangulation began, and was carried on, with the exception of the winter interval, until January, 1842. Then the work was completed to the north extremity of La Caille’s arc in the vicinity of St. Helena Bay. A few months were now spent in effecting the triangulation to the south as far as Cape Point, and in December, 1842, the work was resumed to the northward.[[453]]
In January, 1843, the triangulation commenced at a headland north of St. Helena Bay, latitude about 32° S., and continued nearly parallel to the coast line, and about thirty miles from it until it reached Kamiesberg a little south of Lat. 30°. Here the arc was expected to terminate. The difficulties encountered this season were of a formidable kind, and the care required in the transport of Bradley’s zenith sector and a large theodolite, occasioned much tedious anxiety for their preservation. The party, too, was formed of different materials; the infantry soldiers had quitted, and the shipwrecked crew of the ‘Abercrombie Robinson’ had been engaged in their stead. Most of these sailors were rough, ill-behaved fellows, and, therefore, the chief responsibility of the preparations and the conveyances devolved upon the sappers. In addition to this, the country passed over north of the Oliphant river was a straggling desert, and the points used were at high altitudes—one of which exceeded 7,000 feet.[[454]]
In its progress northward, the party crossed the Oliphant or Elephant river on the 15th June, 1843, and the day being Sunday, encamped on its north bank to spend the sabbath. Six days after the expedition arrived at the foot of the Kamiesberg, where fell heavy rain for three days and two nights; and when the march was recommenced, the ground was so saturated, that the whole train had to be dug out of the mud repeatedly every day. In three days only eighteen miles were accomplished and that with great exertion. The oxen were now so knocked up that the farmers refused to go any further, and a fresh supply was procured at a missionary establishment twelve miles distant. When nearing that institution, the provisions were very low, and the difficulties of the expedition in this respect were greatly augmented by a heavy fall of snow. For the whole day the party were without food, nor could they make a fire to warm themselves.[[455]] They laboured, however, with excellent spirit, and succeeded that night in bringing three of the waggons to the missionary station; but the other two, sticking fast in the deep ruts, were not brought up till the next day. The men were badly shod, and suffered greatly. About a week after, the instruments were fixed and the observations commenced, which continued until October 1843, when the party returned to Cape Town,[[456]] and afterwards marched up the country to join their company.
The objects used for reflecting or observing were heliostats about 7 inches in diameter, and were chiefly attended to by the sappers, who were sometimes detached on this duty for several months at a time with a couple of natives under them to assist. On account of the heat, the observations were discontinued at 11 A.M., and not renewed until 3 P.M. Notwithstanding this intermission, the signal duties were oppressive. All supplies were got from a distance, which fully occupied the two natives in procuring them. The sappers were also intrusted with large sums of public money to pay all demands as the work progressed. On the Kamiesberg mountain they helped in the observatory in working the great sector to determine the position of some stars. Two stone-cutters of the number were detached from the Kamiesberg to Zwartland and Groenekloof to cut and build a pillar of stone at each end of the line, to mark the termini of the newly-measured base; and all, as the general service of the expedition permitted, erected at every fixed point a strong pile twenty feet high, secured to a base of twenty feet, to indicate the sites of the several trigonometrical stations.
Sergeant Hemming, before the close of the duty, was sent by the colonial astronomer on a reconnoitring excursion to discover a track from the neighbourhood of St. Helena Bay along the mountain range to the eastward, to Cape L’Agulhas on the coast. He was out fourteen days exploring the country, but from its inaccessible nature returned not only disappointed and exhausted, but unsuccessful.[[457]] In March, 1844, his connection with the astronomical department ceased.[[458]]
The detachment at the Falkland Islands continued throughout the year to labour in the establishment of the new settlement at Port William, which was situated on the south side of Jackson’s Harbour, and sloped from the shore to a ridge of rocks about a quarter of a mile inland. Notwithstanding the stormy character of the seasons, the detachment constructed three good jetties, made roads and pathways, and formed several ditches to drain the land and mark the different boundaries. They also erected and finished with interior fitments, the Governor’s house, and besides building a temporary barracks for the party with workshops and other convenient premises attached, small commodious cottages were run up for persons in official employment. Of the services and intelligence of sergeant Hearnden the Governor wrote in terms of unqualified praise. Both as a soldier and private individual, the influence of his example was felt in the colony, and he is stated to have been in an eminent degree faithful and successful in the discharge of his duty. Most of the men were also well spoken of for their excellent behaviour and zeal; and amid the innumerable inconveniences of their situation and services, they maintained their military character and discipline unimpaired. This was the more commendable as the temptation to drunkenness—the prevailing vice in the colony—was, from the absence of the common recreations so usual in England, and the inclemency of the weather, almost irresistible.
On the 16th February, forty-four rank and file embarked for Bermuda under the command of Lieutenant C. R. Binney, R.E., to fill up the vacancies occasioned by the epidemic in the previous year, and landed from the ‘Prince George’ transport on the 8th April. Corporal David Harris, the chief military diver, under Major-General Pasley at Spithead, was in subordinate charge of the party.
Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor of Gibraltar, inspected the companies of the corps at the fortress in common with the other troops under his command, in May and October, and on each occasion made flattering allusion to their conduct and discipline. On the 13th May, after some general remarks of commendation, Sir Robert Wilson adds—“All the corps and battalions merited unqualified approbation, and the Governor bestows it with pride and pleasure. The royal sappers and miners, however, whose laborious daily duties occupy their whole time, except the afternoons of alternate Saturdays, deserve, without any invidious preference, particular commendation for preserving a soldier-like mien, and exercising as if they had been in the habit of daily practice.” And again, on the 13th October, he wrote:—“The practice of the royal artillery yesterday was highly satisfactory and impressive, and the royal sappers and miners, including the detachment which arrived only the night before, presented under arms an appearance and proficiency which corresponded with the character established by the capacity and assiduous labours that have distinguished this corps during its employment on the works of the fortifications since the Governor has had the honour to command.”
Early in May, Major-General Pasley resumed, for the sixth and last time, his operations at Spithead. Lieutenant H. W. Barlow, R.E., was the executive officer under whose charge were placed sergeant George Lindsay and thirteen rank and file of the corps, with an equal number of the East India Company’s sappers, and a strong force of seamen, riggers, &c. The removal of the ‘Royal George,’ notwithstanding that there still remained nineteen guns of that wreck at the bottom, was reported to be perfectly accomplished, and the roadstead quite safe for the anchorage of shipping. The Major-General, therefore, turned his attention to the recovery of the guns of the ‘Edgar’ man-of-war, which was blown up at Spithead in 1711. She had been armed with 70 guns, technically termed demi-cannons, sakers, and falconets. The first were 32 and 12-pounders; and the others respectively 9 and 6-pounders. The great mass of timber, embedded in mud, composing the centre of the hull of the wreck, was discovered by corporal Richard P. Jones on the 23rd May. The sweeps from the boat having been caught by an obstruction below, Jones descended by them till he found himself astride a 32-pounder iron gun, which was peeping through a port-hole on the lower deck. It happened at the time to be unusually clear at the bottom, and to his amazement there stood upright before him the midship portion of the vessel, with an altitude above the general level of the ground, of thirteen feet and a half. From the open ports, in two tiers, yawned the mouths of about twelve pieces of ordnance, grim and deformed with the incrustations of 133 years. This part of the ‘Edgar’ was not much shaken by the explosions, but when the fore and after magazines took fire, the head and stern of the vessel were blown away from the body and scattered to distances exceeding three hundred fathoms. So violent indeed had been one of the explosions, that the best bower anchor was not only broken in fragments, but its flukes and shank were separated from each other, nearly half-a-mile. The midships, sharing but little in the convulsion, went down like a colossal millstone, scarcely heeling on her bottom; and the armament of the decks remained as if ready for battle, without a carriage unjerked from its platform, or a gun from its carriage. All the woodwork, however, was so completely decayed by the ravages of worms, and the insidious action of the sea, that when the guns were slung, they were hauled through the decks, as if no obstruction interposed.[[459]]
Before the close of the season, the whole of this mass was got up, by the continual removal of pieces loosened by frequent small explosions. Almost the whole of the keel was likewise sent up, with innumerable fragments of timber, spars, &c., and many guns, eight of which had been recovered in one week. The first was found by corporal Jones. A great number of sinkers or large stones, by which the wreck buoys were moored, and a number of small anchors were also recovered. In the early part of August the operations were much retarded by some very violent gales, preventing the divers working from time to time; but as soon as the weather moderated, corporal Jones, with his usual zeal, taking down with him a large crate, sent up at one haul, besides a load of staves of casks, &c., ninety-one shot of various sizes. The guns of the ‘Edgar’ were much scattered at the bottom by the explosion of her magazines, and the unexpected distances to which they were thrown, rendered a more extended sphere of action necessary. This was effected by a simple arrangement of ropes as guides, upon which worked a transverse line just over the bed of the roadstead, that caught in its track any object rearing itself above the general level. In this way the entire area of the bottom, supposed to conceal any of the fugitive cannons, was traversed, Jones and Sticklen being the operators; and was attended with so much success, that nearly the whole of the guns and wreck were sent up and deposited in the dockyard before the 31st October, when the season closed. The party rejoined the corps at Woolwich on the 2nd November.[[460]]
In addition to Jones, the divers were John Girvan, Donald McFarlane, Philip Trevail, and William Frame, besides four of the East India Company and five others occasionally.[[461]]
During the season corporal Jones got up nineteen guns, besides an immense pile of other articles in endless variety; and when the rough and generally unfavourable state of the weather which prevailed is taken into account, his activity and industry appear strikingly prominent. “Whatever success,” writes General Pasley, “has attended our operations, is chiefly to be attributed to the exertions of corporal Jones, of whom as a diver I cannot speak too highly.”[[462]]
Corporal Girvan was also very successful as a diver while health permitted, but he was prevented from rendering any particular assistance after the 27th July, from an accident occasioned by the air-pipe of his apparatus blowing off the pump on deck. He was aware that something had gone wrong, and making the signal, was drawn up sensible, but much injured about the throat and head, and blood was flowing copiously from his mouth and ears. The air rushed violently out of his helmet, as if no safety valve had been attached to it. This arose from the valve not having been taken to pieces since the commencement of the season, and, moreover, being clogged with verdigris, could not be properly shut, and hence the air was enabled to escape.[[463]]
Private John Skelton, so frequently praised for his ingenuity as a workman and for his daring as a diver, was during the operations drowned by accident off Southsea Castle.
The conduct and exertions of the whole detachment were flatteringly spoken of by Major-General Pasley, particularly sergeant Lindsay,[[464]] who, next to the officer in command, had the chief superintendence. Corporal John Rae[[465]] and private Alexander Cleghorn were also named for their intelligence and services in the management of the voltaic batteries and firing of the charges, and their duties, next to the divers, were the most important. The divers occasionally went down as many as twenty times in a tide, and the remuneration of each was from 1s. 3d. to 2s. a tide, besides the usual working pay of 1s. a-day. This enabled each first-class diver to realize between 5s. and 6s. a-day, exclusive of his regimental allowances.
The royal mail steamer ‘Tay,’ on her passage to Bermuda, sustained some damage to her bottom by running a-shore on the Cuban coast. On her arrival at Bermuda on the 16th August, corporal Harris was employed to examine her. Supplied with a diving-helmet and suit from the dockyard, he went down and found part of her cutwater and keel and about twelve feet of planking on her starboard side carried away. Forty-one times he dived in repairing the injury, and in three days so effectually finished his work that the vessel was enabled to return safely to England with the mails.
By an order from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, then Lord Stanley, this non-commissioned officer was attached, late in the year, to the department of the Naval Inspector of Works at Bermuda, for the purpose of removing, by submarine mining, coral reefs from the entrances of harbours, so as to make them accessible to ordinary vessels. Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, R.E., the Governor of the Island, carried on a correspondence which extended over a period of eighteen months, to obtain the services of this diver.[[466]] The first work undertaken by him was widening and deepening the ship channel leading into the harbour of St. George. For three or four years he confined his exertions to this point, and so well planned and skilfully executed were his operations that all natural impediments militating against the safety of the channel, were at length completely removed by the explosions of innumerable charges of gunpowder, fired through the agency of voltaic electricity. Under Colonel Barry, the commanding royal engineer who had the superintendence of the service for most of the period, the work was successfully prosecuted. The spaciousness of the channel for the passage of steam-vessels of large tonnage and great draught of water, was practically tested on the 26th February, 1848, by Her Majesty’s steamer ‘Growler,’ of 1,200 tons, Captain Hall. The vessel steamed into the harbour against wind and tide, drawing fifteen and one-third feet of water, and effected the passage with ease and steadiness, having beneath her keel when passing “the bar,” the worst part of the channel, at least five feet of water.[[467]] These signally successful operations saved the Government several thousands of pounds; and in the event of Hamilton losing its commercial importance, the harbour of St. George will, no doubt, be selected as the chief water for the passage of the mails and the trade and marine of the Islands.
At Chatham, late in the year, some mining operations were carried on under Colonel Sir Frederick Smith, the director of the royal engineer establishment. The works were pushed under the glacis in front of the left face of the ravelin, and the right face of the Duke of Cumberland’s Bastion. All the corps at the station, with the East India Company’s sappers, were present, working night and day in three reliefs of six hours each, and the numerous explosions that took place, and the attempts made to render abortive the schemes of opposing parties, invested the operations with the character in many essential respects of subterranean warfare. The exciting experiments, however, were not concluded without casualty, for on one occasion from inhaling foul air, a sapper of the East India Company named James Sullivan was killed, and three of the royal sappers were drawn out in a state of dangerous insensibility. These were privates John Murphy, John A. Harris, and Edward Bailey. Lieutenant Moggeridge, R.E., who had charge of the party, also fainted, but he was saved from serious injury by colour-sergeant George Shepherd rushing into the gallery and bringing him out. At the time of the accident, the miners were about one hundred and fifty feet from the mouth of the shaft; and several who went in to rescue their comrades suffered more or less from the air. Singular, however, as it may appear, lights were burning near the ground the whole time, and instantly after the last man was carried out of the gallery, it was traversed in its whole length by lance-corporal John Wood,[[468]] who carried a light in his hand and experienced no great difficulty in breathing.[[469]]
The Hong Kong party under Major Aldrich, R.E., was inspected in the autumn by Major-General D’Aguilar, C.B., in command of the troops in China; and his Excellency in his official report “regretted that a detachment of so much importance, and so well constituted, should have been reduced by six deaths and three invalided during the half year, and that the men present should, in their appearance, show the effects of climate.” In December following the detachment was ordered to be increased to a half company, and the reinforcement of fifteen rank and file, sailing from the West India Docks in the ‘William Shand’ freight-ship, in February, 1845, landed at Victoria on the 28th June following. In May, 1851, the party returned to England, but its strength was reduced by casualties to six men only. Of the remainder, four were invalided, three died, one was drowned on passage from Victoria to Macao, and one was killed by falling over a precipice.