1845.
Sheerness—Increase to the corps at the Cape—Survey of Windsor—Skill of privates Holland and Hogan as draughtsmen—Etchings by the latter for the Queen and Prince Albert—Unique idea of the use of a bullet—Inspection at Gibraltar by Sir Robert Wilson—Falkland Islands—Discharges on the survey duty during the railway mania.
On the 15th May twelve rank and file were detached to Sheerness, and, with little variation in its strength, continued to work there till April, 1849. The men were employed at their trades, and assisted in carrying out some boring experiments to ascertain the nature of the strata. Corporal Charles Hawkins, who discharged the duty of foreman of works, was highly spoken of for his activity and ability, and the men were praised for their good conduct and exertions.
A company was added to the strength of the corps at the Cape of Good Hope by the arrival from Woolwich of the ninth company under the command of Captain R. Howorth, R.E., on the 20th August. On landing at Algoa Bay, the reinforcement was removed to the different military posts on the frontier.[[470]] The two companies in the colony now reached a total of 174 of all ranks. This addition to the command did not occasion an augmentation to the corps, but reduced one company of the disposable force at home.
The survey of Windsor, including the Home Park, Castle, Frogmore, and the Royal Gardens, undertaken by Her Majesty’s command in 1843 by a party of about twenty non-commissioned officers and men of the survey companies, was completed in the summer of this year. Captain Tucker, R.E., had the direction of the work, and colour-sergeant Joseph Smith the executive charge. The drawings were accurately and very beautifully executed on a scale of five feet to a mile, which admitted of the fretwork of the ceilings being penned in for each apartment of the castle. So exquisitely[exquisitely] was the work performed, that the drawings by privates Charles Holland[[471]] and Patrick S. Hogan[[472]] were constantly mistaken for engravings; and Prince Albert, to mark his approbation of their merits, presented each with a useful and elegant case of mathematical drawing instruments. The plans were made to show the contour levels at every four vertical feet above and two vertical feet below the flood-line of 1841. Several sectional plans were also executed by the party to assist Sir Henry de la Beche in the drainage of the town and castle, which, at the time, was considered very defective. The plan for the office of Woods and Forests, designed with a view to the improvement of the sewerage, was drawn on a sheet eleven feet square; and a reduced plan was also drawn for the library of the Prince Consort. His Royal Highness and other distinguished personages frequently visited the office to view the progress of the work, and never quitted without graciously commending the party for their zeal and proficiency.
Sir Robert Wilson inspected the companies at Gibraltar in October, and when he concluded, was pleased to convey the expression of his satisfaction in these words, “that on parade, they showed they had duly attended to their military acquirements whilst employed at work, which,” he added, “will be a lasting monument to their merits.”
The Falkland Islands' detachment was still toiling in the formation of the colony, subjected to all the inconveniences and vicissitudes of a bad and depressing climate. Their duties embraced every variety of hard and laborious service, such as making excavations, drains, roads, jetties, building houses, huts, &c. Carrying heavy burdens of stores, and loading and unloading boats, were among their roughest tasks, accompanied as they were with the necessity of wading in the water on sharp stony beaches, which destroyed in a week or two the strongest boots. The wear and tear of clothes was almost ruinous; and to make up for the expenses incurred in replacing them, and in purchasing provisions which were dear, working pay, exclusive of regimental allowances, was granted to the men from 1s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. a-day. The sergeant received the highest rate, the privates the lowest. In winter they lived mostly in tents, with snow around and a humid soil beneath; and being constantly at work out of doors, they frequently returned at night, wet through, to a small cheerless fire, never lending heat enough to dry their dripping clothes. At times they were on short allowance; and when flour was selling at 6l. 10s. per barrel of 192 lbs., the men were glad of the chance of buying a small handkerchief-full of damaged biscuit for 4s. 4d. To the recklessness of a wretched and lawless community, composed of men of the lowest class, was opposed the five or six gentlemen in official appointments and the sappers. The latter, however, from constantly working with them, were incessantly exposed to every kind of evil influence; and without amusement or subjects of interest to occupy their attention in the intervals of labour, four of the party gradually yielded to the prevailing corruption and were removed from the settlement. The residue were highly commended for their “esprit de corps,” and sergeant Hearnden in particular, for his admirable conduct, was specially noticed in the Governor’s despatches to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The sergeant’s trials were very great, his exertions unflagging, and his unrestricted devotion of every hour to the public weal was frequently warmly acknowledged by the Governor.
A mania for railways set in this year which caused an excessive demand for surveyors to trace and survey the lines. This occasioned the withdrawal of more than 200 civil assistants and about 60 labourers, besides 1 sergeant, 1 corporal, 6 second-corporals, and 19 privates, who were discharged from the survey companies at their own request. Many of those who quitted, possessed superior abilities as surveyors and draughtsmen. The offers made were too tempting to be resisted; and some of the men secured employment, which enabled them to realize an income of more than six guineas a-week. To make up for the loss in the survey force, Colonel Colby proposed the augmentation of another company for the duty; but the measure was not acceded to till April, 1848.