1851.

Malta—Portsmouth—Swan River—Brown Down batteries—Kaffir war—Strength of sappers at the Cape—Corporal Castledine—Attack on Fort Beaufort—Whittlesea, &c.—Skirmish near Grass Kop Tower—Also in Seyolo’s Country—Patrol—Fight at Fort Brown—Patrol—Storming Fort Wiltshire—Patrols—Action at Committy’s Hill—Gallantry of corporal James Wilson at Fort Cox—Patrols—Increase to the Cape by withdrawal of Company from the Mauritius—Sir Harry Smith’s opinion of the sappers—Eulogies concerning them by Lieutenant-Colonel Cole and Captain Stace, R.E.

The fourth company under the command of Captain Craigie, R.E., was removed from Portsmouth on the 3rd January, and sailed from Southampton for Malta, where it landed on the 17th of that month. This was a new station for the corps, and its employment there was recommended on the ground that its services would be of great advantage in the erection of the proposed fortifications, and in providing an efficient force for the purpose of defence, in the event of the contingencies of the times rendering its co-operation desirable. Head-quarters were established at Valetta, and a large detachment was sent to St. Clement’s to build new barracks. Much opposition was shown by the working people to the employment of the company for months after its landing, and even violence in some instances was resorted to. The press of the island also entered into the controversy, and the ‘Mediterraneo’ used its agency in strong editorial articles against the company to effect if possible its removal from the island; but the ‘Malta Times’ ably defended it, and successfully exposed the statements of its contemporary. Malignant as the ‘Mediterraneo’ was, it nevertheless concluded one of its articles thus:—“The sappers and miners are, we admit, a most efficient and therefore highly useful body of men everywhere.”

Immediately on the removal of the company to Malta another from Chatham succeeded it on the works of the royal engineer department in the Portsmouth district.

The small party of five men at Freemantle, Western Australia, was this year increased to a company by the arrival of ninety-five non-commissioned officers and men under Lieutenant Wray, R.E. The additional force was sent out to superintend the convicts in the erection and repair of the various public works and buildings, and to afford military protection to the colonists in the event of any demonstration of the convicts against authority or the settlers. The first detachment of sixty-five non-commissioned officers and privates embarked at Woolwich 10th September, 1851, under Lieutenant Wray, and anchored in Gage’s Roads 17th December, 1851. The second, under Lieutenants Crossman and E. F. Du Cane, R.E., of two sergeants and twenty-eight rank and file, embarked as a convict guard 21st October, 1851, and landed 2nd February, 1852. The number of women and children that accompanied the parties were seventy-one of the former and ninety of the latter, and ten children were born on the voyage. Located for a time as a sanitary expedient on a slip of land running into the sea, called Woodman’s Point, the company was removed, as soon as the restriction was rescinded, to Freemantle, where the projected works for the formation of the convict establishment at once commenced. Many of the men were appointed instructing-warders, with working pay at 2s. a-day each. The company was soon after distributed in small sections through the penal district, superintending the formation of labour depôts for ticket-of-leave men, or working at their trades at the different convict buildings, bridges, &c., and also in the making of roads. One man for many months assisted in the duty of exploring and surveying a portion of the colony under the Surveyor-General; and another—private John Cameron—did good service as a diver in recovering from the wrecks of vessels on the coast, treasure and valuable property.

An additional company was added to the Portsmouth district by the arrival at Gosport from Woolwich on the 10th December, of the second company under the command of Captain J. H. Freeth, R.E. The object of this reinforcement was to enable the commanding royal engineer to construct two large earthen batteries on the sea-shore at Brown Down, some two or three miles below Gosport. As soon as the works were completed, the company, early in April, 1852, was removed to Chatham for instruction in the field duties of the corps.

Hostile irruptions had occasionally been made on the frontiers of the Cape of Good Hope by the Kaffirs from the adjacent territories, and murders of peaceable subjects perpetrated, which rendered it essential to check by force of arms their incursions and their crimes. With that intention the first movement of troops took place in December, 1850. The opposition of the enemy was determined and furious, and there was every appearance in the onslaught to induce the belief that the contest would be severe and protracted.

At the period of the outbreak the total of the sappers in the colony, scattered to fifteen posts and forts on the frontiers, was about 200 of all ranks, and notwithstanding that their services were much required in carrying on the temporary defences in the several localities, they were, in this war, called upon for a more general co-operation than in any previous struggle in the colony.

From the unexpected firing of a field-piece from the tower of Fort Beaufort on the 20th January, 1851, it was feared that the enemy by some means had entered the place unobserved. Corporal Benjamin Castledine of the corps, without any delay, reported the circumstance to Colonel Sutton, Cape mounted rifles, and received his orders to assemble the troops under arms at their several posts. The order was promptly obeyed; but scarcely had it been effected when a reinforcement of the Graaf Reinet levy rode up, and the tumult was readily explained. The firing was given as a salute to the reinforcement by some imprudent civilians who had not communicated their intentions to the authorities. The people who had thus so alarmed the fort were arrested, so that the affair might be fully sifted; but while measures were being taken with this object by Captain Pennington and a detachment of the 91st regiment to secure the persons of the offenders, a concourse of people assembled at Colonel Sutton’s quarters, where his lady was alone and unprotected, and there deported themselves with gross outrage, at the same time demanding an entrance. Corporal Castledine arrived at the moment, threw himself between the garden-gate and the excited people, and effectually prevented, by his firmness and military bearing, the ingress they so valorously sought. The party then made off, but all concerned were afterwards arrested to await the result of a full inquiry into their conduct. At this investigation, the explanations given being sufficiently satisfactory to exonerate them from the perpetration of intentional alarm or of complicity with the enemy, the Colonel at once released them from restraint. The “Graham’s Town Journal” of the 8th February, contained some animadversions on the conduct of corporal Castledine in this matter, which led Colonel Sutton, in the impression of that Journal for the 22nd February, to vindicate in every particular the corporal’s conduct, and added “Corporal Castledine is one of those well-educated, respectable, and efficient soldiers which are only at present occasionally met with.... During twenty-four years’ service as a regimental officer I have never met corporal Castledine’s superior in his position—seldom his equal.”

In the attack on Fort Beaufort in which Hermanus was killed, corporal Castledine was posted with seven sappers in charge of a tower where the ammunition was kept, and commanded a 24-pounder howitzer mounted on it. The post of honour was given to this trustworthy non-commissioned officer in anticipation of an attack from Sandilli, who showed in force on the opposite side of the town. At the commencement of the action corporal Castledine was nominated to be garrison sergeant-major, and held the appointment until ill health compelled him to resign. This occurred in February, 1852, when Major-General Somerset, in a division order, acknowledged that “corporal Castledine had performed its arduous duties with the highest credit.” Colonel Sutton, for many months, was the only officer at Fort Beaufort, and on many occasions, when the nature of the service required his presence elsewhere, corporal Castledine commanded the garrison in his absence. Often he had to send escorts of provisions and ammunition to supply General Somerset’s division, which service was always so satisfactorily performed that both the General and Colonel Sutton repeatedly commended him for his judgment, promptitude, and zeal.

Five rank and file attached to Captain Tylden, R.E., employed surveying in the territory of the chief Mapassa, being interrupted in the duty, were now necessarily occupied in adopting expedients for protection. Early in the year they assisted the inhabitants of Whittlesea in strengthening their houses against attack, and in converting the village into a strong defensible position. Afterwards they constructed a small musket-proof redoubt of dry stones, twelve feet square, with walls three feet thick and seven high, round their own camp, to protect the field guns, military stores, and equipment. The waggons were also brought into requisition, and stone walls were built up under them to render them defensible. By the evening of the second day everything was completed. Into this miserable post the Captain with his five sappers, one officer, a sergeant of police and his wife and four children, took refuge. The sappers worked so hard during the day that the Captain had to take his turn at sentry during the night.[[61]] Soon after these precautionary services, repeated actions took place between the garrison with the levied troops raised by Captain Tylden, and the neighbouring tribes, in every one of which, though attacked by an immensely-superior force, the little band beat off their assailants with severe loss, and gained for it the admiration and thanks of the General commanding-in-chief. The desperation and difficulties of their isolation, coupled with the paucity of their numbers, whetted their spirit of enterprise, and though their endurance and heroism might be equalled, they could never be excelled. In all the operations at Whittlesea, and in the actions with the tribes at adjacent places, as many of the few sappers as could be spared from the redoubt and the village were engaged, who participated with credit in the frequent desperate attacks, exceeding twenty in number, which it fell to the good fortune of Captain Tylden to repel, and to his strategical tact and prowess to win.

Sergeant John Poole accompanied a patrol of fifteen mounted men on the 18th February, under Ensign Gill of the Cape mounted rifles, in pursuit of Kaffirs. Near Grass Kop Tower the spoor of cattle was discovered and followed up to within sight of Double Drift, where some cattle were seen in charge of about twenty of the enemy. Taking at once to the bush, half the detachment advanced, unperceived, until within a few yards of the kraal, where the Kaffirs fought for a short time, and then fled to the river. In crossing the stream, sergeant Poole shot one of the rebel Kaffir police, and one of the two other Kaffirs who were killed on the occasion. In this gallant affair the patrol captured 106 head of cattle, 2 guns, 3 horses, &c., and received the approbation of Sir Harry Smith. Sergeant Poole was second in command of the party.

One sergeant and twenty rank and file were attached, on the 28th March, to a patrol of 900 men under Major Wilmot, R.A., and assisted in the devastation of Seyolo’s country until the 31st March. With a detachment of the 6th regiment the sappers remained in charge of the pack-horses and ammunition, and when attacked, vigorously dispersed the enemy. Private George Wilson killed two Kaffirs in this skirmish, and private Charles Jarvis was wounded, the ball striking the fore-finger and thumb, and lodging in the stock of his carbine.

Two rank and file under Lieutenant Jesse, R.E., were present in the field with Major-General Somerset’s division from the 27th March to 9th April. During this patrol the country was scoured near the old Tyumie Post, Hertzog, Eland’s Post, and the adjacent highlands. The two men were found very useful in repairing the numerous bad drifts through which the guns and waggons had to pass, and in the execution of various incidental services of a professional character.

Sergeant John Poole and one corporal of the corps were present in repulsing a midnight attack on Fort Brown on the 9th April. The enemy consisted of ninety-three Hottentots and fifteen Kaffirs. Robert Dunlop of the corps was the corporal of the guard that night. Hearing the dogs barking more than usual, he went out to see that the sentries were on the alert; but finding the Hottentot posted over the cattle, away from his post in a cloak, he was satisfied of the existence of some traitorous design, and discovered that the enemy was already in the kraal. Giving the alarm, the guard and the military in the fort were quickly assembled, and, under the command of Ensign Gill of the Cape mounted rifles, a sharp action for two hours was maintained, when the enemy was driven from the fort with great loss. The rebels attacked both the tower and the kraal; but from the latter they succeeded in carrying off about 200 head of cattle.[[62]]

From the 20th to the 24th April, four sergeants and seventy-six rank and file under Lieutenant Pasley, R.A., were despatched, with Major Wilmot’s patrol, into the country of Stock and Seyolo. Near the Keiskama the sappers and artillery were placed in ambush to attack the flank and rear of the enemy, while the main body of the patrol engaged the Kaffirs in front. The country through which the division passed was very perilous, consisting of high kloofs and dense bush, broken by precipices. In this march the sappers assisted in destroying about 100 huts, several large gardens of the enemy, and capturing some large granaries of corn. In returning, the detachment, acting with the 6th regiment as skirmishers, kept the enemy at bay and desolated their crops.

On the 30th April, two sergeants and forty-eight rank and file, in burgher jackets, and laden with provisions and the usual war equipment, were engaged with the Kaffirs on the march from the Chumie junction to Fort Wiltshire, and shared in storming and driving them from the heights, where they had occupied a strong position, under cover of the ruins of an old tower and a detached outwork. On the 1st May the party was again in action on the Keiskama; and after five days’ patrolling through the territories of Seyolo, Stock, Sonto, Tola, and Botman, regained King William’s Town on the 2nd May. The troops were reported to have conducted themselves admirably. As the sappers re-entered King William’s Town, Sir Harry Smith welcomed them by saying, with characteristic cordiality, “Well done, my lads; you can both build works and storm them!”

Two sergeants and sixty-nine rank and file, from the 9th to the 13th May, were employed with Major Wilmot’s patrol in the Amatola Mountains. In carrying out the service, the division penetrated difficult and precipitous fastnesses, surprised several of the enemy, and captured some cattle. The sappers were reported to have conducted themselves on this duty with willingness and zeal.

From the 17th to the 22nd May, one sergeant and twenty-one rank and file accompanied a patrol of 800 men under Major Wilmot to Seyolo’s country as far as Fort Peddie, and returned with a convoy of waggons, cattle, &c. A similar patrol of two sergeants and forty-one men scoured the Amatola range, was once engaged with the enemy near Bailie’s Grave, and returned to King William’s Town, after a harassing march of seven days, on the 31st May. One sergeant and twenty men were out with another detachment under Major Wilmot as far as Fort Peddie. The march extended over ten days, and the patrol returned to King’s William’s Town on the 14th June. Again from the 19th to 21st July two sergeants and forty-nine men were detached with Colonel Eyre’s patrol, and assisted in clearing the rebels out of the Buffalo Poorts and Mount Kempt. The marching was very heavy, being for the most part, between eighty and ninety miles, through dense bush.

Under Captain Robertson, R.E., four sergeants and seventy-seven rank and file quitted King William’s Town, with the force, about 400 strong, under Lieutenant-Colonel Burns of the 2nd Queen’s on the 30th August. A body of Kaffirs and Hottentots being at Committy’s Hill, the troops marched on the 1st September from their bivouac at Fort Montgomery Williams by Breakfast Vley to the hill. One division of the sappers was extended as flankers on each side of the advancing column, and upon them a galling fire was soon opened from the bush. The sappers readily charged into it, and where the thicket could be penetrated drove the enemy back; but the denseness of the kloof in rear afforded the Kaffirs much security in retreating. Having ascended the summit of the hill, the sappers faced right about, and made a rapid charge down the hill on the enemy, who were gradually collecting in the bush from which they had just been driven, and inflicted considerable loss upon them. The charge was made with cheering, yet not in a hurry; the men stopped at each kloof and fired volleys into it, and then dashed after the fugitives. “It is most gratifying,” writes Captain Robertson, “to report the admirable and gallant conduct of the men under my command during this conflict which lasted nearly three hours, and of the readiness with which they advanced to carry off the wounded of their own and of other corps under a heavy fire.” The officers of the 2nd Queen’s spoke in terms of high commendation of the spirited manner in which the sappers acted, and of their cheerfulness in obeying their officers. Private James Murray behaved with great courage in exciting the men both of the 2nd and his own corps to follow him. Running forward like one whose life depended on the action of the moment, he was followed by several who lined the bush to which he drew them, and some fell in their gallant exertions. Among them was private James Fergus, whose arm was pierced by a ball which passed through the left breast and out near the spine below the heart. He died in camp soon after the action. Private Patrick Conroy, a cool and brave soldier, fired at a Kaffir more than 300 yards away and killed him. Private John Arthur came in contact with one in passing round a bush, and in a personal conflict laid him dead at his feet; and private Robert M‘Intosh, whilst in the act of ramming home a cartridge, saw a Hottentot about to fire at him, but not having time to withdraw the ramrod capped and fired, and the ramrod passed through his opponent’s body. Lance-corporal Hosick Cowen and privates Charles Foot and Thomas Brooking were wounded; the last severely.

At Fort Cox, on the 28th September, second-corporal James Wilson behaved with intrepidity in repulsing a meditated attack on the cattle-guard. A body of Kaffirs intended to drive the cattle from the post unperceived, and then to massacre the guard. Two civilians and the corporal happened to go out at the time for recreation to an unfrequented spot, and were unconsciously directing their steps to the bush where the enemy were concealed in ambush. Fortunately one of the two in advance fired a random shot, and suddenly more than 200 Kaffirs made their appearance. The civilians were in front, and the corporal considerably in rear followed in support. A sharp fire now opened on the corporal, and the enemy made a disposition to surround him; but the corporal stealthily retired, and took up a favourable position, from which he kept up an unerring fire on his adversaries, who fortunately for him seemed more bent on capturing the cattle than spending their efforts in beating down a single opponent. Taking advantage of their predatory activity, the corporal shot down five of the Kaffirs before any assistance was rendered by the military cattle-guard. On being apprised of the approach of the enemy, the guard lost no time in collecting and driving off the cattle to a place of security, but in the attempt two soldiers of the 45th were shot dead. The Kaffirs at once stripped them, and placing their red jackets on their own bodies, danced frantically at their triumph. While this scene of exultation was going on, corporal Wilson, through the intricate windings of the bush, cautiously neared the group, and firing, one of the savages received the ball from his carbine and fell dead. On the troops advancing, the corporal at once joined them, and assisted in driving the enemy from the post.[[63]]

From the 14th to the 31st October, two sergeants and thirty-one rank and file served in the field operations with Major-General Somerset’s division in the Water Kloof, Fuller’s Hoek, Blinkwater, and Kat river. Again, from the 4th to the 7th November, two sergeants and forty rank and file were on patrol in Seyolo’s country; and again, from the 1st December until the 18th January, nine rank and file were present in the long marches and difficult services of the division under Colonel Eyre. This party was intended to cut loop-holes in the missionary station at Butterworth. The India-rubber pontoon raft taken with the party, was used in the passage of the Kei. This service occupied two days, and the sappers worked with much ardour in its accomplishment.

With the exception of two or three patrols, in which the sappers were commanded by the officers already named, it was the good fortune of the corps in every instance during the campaign to be under the orders of Captain C. D. Robertson, R.E.

The cessation of the works at the Mauritius made the services of the company there available for duty at other stations. Accordingly, with the sanction of Earl Grey, the seventeenth company, under Captain Fenwick, R.E., quitted the island on the 25th October, and landed at the Cape of Good Hope on the 19th November. The force of sappers on the Eastern frontier now consisted of three companies, and counted 276 men of all ranks.

Speaking of the reinforcement Sir Harry Smith thus wrote to Earl Grey, under date the 4th October, “I assure your Lordship that I very much appreciate the value of this reinforcement. No officers and soldiers in Her Majesty’s army do their duty in a more gallant and exemplary manner.”[[64]] On the same date, Sir Harry thus wrote to Sir John Burgoyne, the inspector-general of fortifications, “I have 120 sappers here now, under as gallant a fellow as ever lived—Captain Robertson. These men are the finest soldiers I almost ever saw, and have taken their tour of most arduous patrol duty heart and soul.”

“From being employed on the works,” wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Cole, the commanding royal engineer, “and their usual industrious habits, the men were generally found to endure long marches and fatigues better than the line, particularly in the commencement of the war.” “Besides,” said Captain W. C. Stace, R.E., “the performance of garrison, patrols, and escort duties in the field at most of the posts on the frontier, the works provided for in the annual estimates, and several special and numerous incidental services, many of them contingent on the war, were executed by the sappers and miners, and their important and valuable services have been duly acknowledged to me verbally by different officers. The want of such a body of men would have been seriously felt on many urgent occasions during the war, in consequence of the difficulty at all times, and sometimes impracticability, to obtain artificers when required.”

1851.
GREAT EXHIBITION.

Sappers attached to it—Opening—Distribution of the force employed—Duties; general superintendence—Clerks and draughtsmen—Charge of stationery—Robert Marshall—Testing iron-work of building—Workshops—Marking building—Receiving and removing goods—Custom-house examination—Fire arrangements—Ventilation—Classmen—Private R. Dunlop—Clearing arrangements—Miscellaneous services—Bribery—Working-pay—Close of the Exhibition—Encomium by Colonel Reid—Also by Prince Albert and the Royal Commissioners—Honours and rewards—Their distribution—Statistical particulars—Lance-corporal Noon—Removing the goods—Return of companies to Woolwich—Contributors to the Exhibition—The Ordnance survey—And Mr. Forbes, late sergeant-major.

It was the good fortune of the royal sappers and miners this year to be associated with the Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, by which its name and character, its acquirements and usefulness, became more extensively known, appreciated, and commended. For this honour, the corps is indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, the Chairman of the Executive Committee. Receiving the cordial concurrence of his civil colleagues, he represented to Prince Albert and the Royal Commissioners, the desirableness of military co-operation for carrying out the subordinate details of the work. The measure—at once approved of—was ordered to be carried into effect, and accordingly, three lance-corporals—Richard Rice Lindsay, Thomas Baker, and Charles Fear—were attached on the 11th September, 1850, to the executive committee. The two former were clerks and draughtsmen, and the latter an ingenious mechanic and modeller. Their first duty was to execute a plan and model of the proposed arrangements for the Exhibition. By the end of the year, fifteen rank and file, clerks and draughtsmen, including a founder and an engineer, were added to the party, who for a time were quartered in Kensington cavalry barracks. By degrees the force continued to augment, and at last by the arrival of the fifth and twenty-second companies, under Captains Owen and Gibb, R.E., and a strong detachment under Lieutenant Stopford, R.E., who was appointed acting-adjutant, the corps, on the 21st April, 1851, counted 200 non-commissioned officers and men. This was the greatest number of the sappers ever employed at the Exhibition. The enlarged force was furnished on the ground that as the corps was composed of artizans, its services would be especially useful, particularly in the mechanical part of the arrangements. As soon as the small cavalry barrack was full, the subsequent arrivals at the Exhibition were quartered in the royal palace at Kensington, and ultimately the detachment in the former barrack was also removed to the palace.

Just prior to the opening of the Exhibition on the 1st May, parties of the corps placed barriers across the various entrances into the building and also at some of the naves leading into the transept. At each outer barrier a small section of men was posted to prevent its removal, or the ingress of persons not authorized to view or take part in the state ceremonial. Within the area of the transept a strong detachment was stationed near Her Majesty, to attend to any orders which Prince Albert or the Royal Commissioners might see necessary to enforce. As the crowd kept flowing in, the “temporary barriers to protect the space round the throne were in part swept away” by the excusable impetuosity of the throng, “and the entire space of the nave seemed to be permanently in possession of the spectators. In this emergency Colonel Reid called out a party of sappers who soon restored order, and thus,” wrote ‘The Times,’ to whose columns these pages are indebted for the above description—“added one additional service to the many others which they had contributed for months within the walls of the Exhibition.” With temper and management the confusion soon subsided, and by ten o’clock order was established, “and reasonable facility afforded for the royal progress round the nave of the building.”[[65]] Immediately the Queen proclaimed the Exhibition opened, the sappers removed the barriers, and the avenues of the building were at once rendered free for the unrestrained passage of the people. For the temperate, quiet, and efficient conduct of the sappers on the occasion, they received the thanks of Colonel Reid, Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, and Sir Richard Mayne, the Chief Commissioner of Police.[[69]]

The subjoined table shows the strength of the corps at the Exhibition at the beginning of each month from October, 1850, to December, 1851, and also illustrates the divisions of labour in which the several parties were occupied.[[70]]

18501851
RANKS—DISTRIBUTIONSepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Strength:—
Colour-Sergeants 222222222
Sergeants 24646564321
Corporals 171071061010992
Second Corporals1122231013814101310983
Privates6559113114215816015513714414213215417
Buglers 2444444441
Total Strength76711133716719318519116417917215917924
Distribution:—
General superintendence 222222222
Clerks, draughtsmen, autographic press, &c.4348915132517171722221777
Charge of stationery, &c. 2222222222
Testing iron-work2222222
Modellers—workshops11111112101010108721
Lettering and laying out passages 181810
Receiving, arranging, unpacking, and removing goods 44462328 12351214
Custom-house examinations 2424664422102
Charge of gates 22
Charge of fire-engines, &c. 14920202022201233
Ventilation 222211
Class superintendents 21484646495041423
Cleaning British side of building[[66]] 383838383739
Collecting and arranging specimens 13444
On guard 444455555
Cooks and cooks’ mates 111108996688101
Sick 793532112
Absent from various causes[[67]] 1312 433
Tailors 31 122384
On command[[68]] 11
Total76712133716719318519116217917215917924

[66]. Part of day only.

[67]. Duty, furlough, pass, &c.

[68]. Clerk, Royal Engineers’ Department, Glasgow.

A brief but more extended exposition of their duties than the above detail adduces, is here given to show the general nature of the connection of the sappers with the Exhibition, and the availability of the men to discharge onerous duty and varied occupation.[[71]]

One of the colour-sergeants during the arrangements superintended the sappers on the British side, and the other on the foreign side. After the opening of the Exhibition, colour-sergeant Thomas Harding acted as sergeant-major; and colour-sergeant Noah Deary as foreman of works, in the repair of damages which accidents and the pressure of the crowd were continually causing to the railings, counters, &c. On two or three occasions when there was a press for money-takers, colour-sergeant Deary and sergeant Thomas P. Cook and William Jamieson did duty as collectors.

The clerks were employed under the various officers, military and civil, of the Executive Committee; the draughtsmen, partly under Sir W. Cubitt and Mr. M. Digby Wyatt, when they found such assistance necessary in the superintendence and record of the progress of the building; but principally under the Executive Committee, in making the numerous plans which were necessary during the preliminary arrangements. It was from their surveys and drawings that the plans in the Commissioners’ First Report were made. The men employed as clerks and draughtsmen varied at different times from three to forty in number. One of the men, lance-corporal John Pendered, was also employed in working an autographic press, which was useful when a few circulars were required at a short notice. The facility with which he acquired a knowledge of the apparatus was creditable to his aptitude, and the simple method he adopted to throw off the copies with rapidity and clearness proved him to be intelligent and skilful. The most distinguished of the draughtsmen were lance-corporals James Mack, Thomas Baker, and Nicholas Clabby, corporal Archibald Gardner, and lance-corporals Richard R. Lindsay and John Venner. The large plans, both of the ground and galleries, made for the convenience of the visitors, to enable them to find their way more easily to the parts likely most to engage their curiosity, and which were displayed at the south side of the transept during the later months of the Exhibition, were prepared by corporals Mack, Baker, Gardner, and Gabby. Both were considered to be highly-creditable specimens of drawing, combining boldness and skill with perspicuity. A daily journal, after noticing one of the drawings, thus wrote of the sappers, “Indeed that body have rendered invaluable services, not only in the general arrangements of the interior, but more especially in making those nice measurements which were essential with reference to the question of space.” It then concluded its notice by making some flattering allusions to the proficiency of the sappers employed on the national surveys.[[72]] The plans were each twenty-one feet long by six feet wide. Similar drawings on a very reduced scale, from which the plans in the first report were engraved, were executed by corporals Gardner, Mack, Clabby, Venner, and Lindsay, but the principal and most effective part of the work devolved on corporal Mack. The ground plan was drawn by the three first-named non-commissioned officers, and the galleries by corporals Mack and Venner. The interesting coloured diagram to show the fluctuations in the number of visitors, and other characteristic details, was wholly drawn by corporal Mack. The plan of the exhibition building to illustrate the water-supply, and measures for security against fire, was drawn by corporal Lindsay. These four drawings comprised the plans in the First Report.

The chart exhibited in the transept on the 6th October, to show by diagrams the fluctuations in the number of visitors to the building, was prepared by corporals Gardner and Mack, under the direction of Captain Owen. ‘The Times,’[[73]] said it was “a production of great merit and of much public interest, and resembled those scales of mountain elevations which are usually prefixed to atlasses. The shilling days were the Himalayas and Andes of the chart; while the half-crown and five shilling days were represented by heights of much lower altitude.” With the permission of the Executive Committee, these two non-commissioned officers compiled, on the same principle, a similar diagram with more copious general information, for the proprietors of the ‘Weekly Dispatch,’ from which an engraving was made, and copies in immense numbers were thrown off and issued on two stated occasions to the purchasers of that newspaper. Referring to the great chart shown in the Exhibition, the ‘Weekly Dispatch’ thus wrote: “This chart, which is beautifully executed, and is altogether a production of very great merit, reflects the utmost credit upon the authors—corporals Gardner and Mack of the royal sappers and miners, a corps which has rendered most intelligent and valuable service to the Exhibition.”[[74]]

Corporal Baker, under Mr. Henry Cole, had the honour of preparing a coloured plan of the arrangements for Her Majesty, another for Prince Albert, one for the Duchess of Kent, and several for the members of the Royal Commission. He also surveyed the whole of the arrangements on the ground floor. In an instructive article in ‘Chambers’ Journal,’ on the ‘Crystal Palace,’ allusion is popularly made to this portion of the sappers’ duty, and it is justly added, that “the men were found very useful. All our surveying and planning have been done by them.”[[75]]

During the latter months of the Exhibition, corporal Clabby recorded hourly the number of visitors who had entered the building up to the time of making the registry. This he did on a large sheet of paper fixed in the transept, at a sufficient elevation for the public to consult it. The rush at the moment of making the record was always great, and the interest with which the corporal was greeted and questioned by the curious, was accompanied by many honourable indications of kindness and good will.[[76]]

Two men were in permanent charge of the receipt and issue of printed forms, and all articles of stationery to the various officers. Second-corporal John Vercoe was in chief charge. He also assisted as a clerk, and was pay-sergeant for Lieutenant Stopford’s detachment. From the 2nd October, 1850, to 23rd January, 1851, he had the charge of the party then at the Exhibition, and for his courteous deportment and address, was well spoken of by those with whom he was brought in contact.[[77]]

Two men were employed during the erection of the building in testing the cast-iron girders and columns with an hydraulic press, &c., and in ascertaining that all the bolts were sufficiently screwed up; also in keeping a record of the ironwork fixed each day. This duty was intrusted to lance-corporals Robert Fleming and Joseph Barrow; the former tested the girders, and the latter the proper adjustment of the fitments and bolts. In cases of dispute about the practicable application of some defective columns and girders, the opinion of corporal Fleming was, on three or four occasions, sought for; and he gave it in so clear and manly a manner, that his views were readily followed by the contractors. It is not a little remarkable that this non-commissioned officer was the only sapper recommended by Sir William Reid for promotion, during the period that the Colonel commanded the corps at the Exhibition. Corporal Barrow, when not employed in examining the fitments, took his place in the drawing-room, and notwithstanding the rough occupation he had been accustomed to, was found efficient. For the successful stability of the building, some little credit is at least due to these two humble officials. Their exertions were very great, and their vigilance in the important work intrusted to them was fully equal to the responsibility.

Soon after the building was constructed, and before the goods began to be deposited, it was considered desirable to ascertain the effect of regular oscillation in the galleries. Experiments of different kinds were tried, but to carry out that which was regarded as the most trying, a strong detachment of the corps in close columns, keeping military time and step, was marched several times up and down, and round, and finally were made to mark time. With the result of this last test the eminent scientific men present expressed themselves highly gratified, and the incident was considered to be sufficiently interesting to become the subject of illustration in a popular journal.[[78]]

Lance-corporal Charles W. Fear made, in the early part of the arrangements, a model of a portion of the building for the information of the Royal Commissioners, and afterwards was employed in making small models of counters of various parts of the building and other things of the kind required during the progress of the work. After the opening of the Exhibition a party was employed in repairing damages caused to the railings, counters, &c., and in copying, in model, some of the simplest and most instructive mechanical inventions and appliances for provincial institutions. The better to carry out the new style of constructing models, four of the party attended lectures on the subject delivered by Professor Cowper at King’s College, Somerset House.

A party, varying from five to twenty-five men, all painters, was employed during the arrangements in numbering and lettering the columns, and laying down on the floor of the building the plan of the proposed passages and counters. Lance-corporal John Venner, who also worked as a clerk and draughtsman, was conspicuous in this division of duty. Corporal Archibald Gardner, also a draughtsman, was in great request for printing. The facility with which he lettered notices, labels, &c., required in an instant, brought him greatly into favour with the officials. The amount of work he had to execute rendered it indispensable that some more convenient substance than Indian ink, which took an immense time to grind, should be found. This he effectually provided, and thereby caused a considerable saving of expense. Gas-stoves were used in the Exhibition offices, in which he observed a very available description of soot to accumulate; and carefully collecting the material and mixing it with common ink and a little glue, he manufactured an abundance of a fine jet black preparation, which was always ready for emergencies.

The number available for unloading the goods when they were coming in varied from twenty to fifty men, and was not sufficient without the assistance of considerable numbers of porters from the docks. As the waggons containing the packages arrived within the building, they were driven to the centre of the transept and there unloaded and marked by a Custom-house officer. From the transept relays of sappers conveyed the packages in trucks to the compartment of the foreign country from which they had been consigned, where another band of Custom-house officers was ready to receive them. There was always a fresh supply of sappers with chisels and other implements to break open lids or other coverings, and who, with military determination, swept everything before them until the goods were revealed. This was the usual course of the reception arrangements.[[79]] “We have here,” writes a London Journal, “to commend the aptitude and intelligence with which the force of sappers execute the duties intrusted to them. So quietly and precisely do they obey instructions, that their assistance is properly considered of material consequence to the punctual fulfilment of the arrangements in which they are concerned.”[[80]] Another thus writes, “The sappers and miners form prominent objects in the animated scene. Their work is principally to facilitate the reception of goods, and they get through all they have to do with great energy, and with a certain observance of military precision which is not without its interest to the looker on.”[[81]]

From ten to twenty men were employed during the receipt of goods in opening the cases, and in assisting the Custom-house examination. Both in this duty and in removing the goods the greatest care was taken; so much so indeed, that only two or three accidents by breakage occurred to the exhibitors’ property.

As early as January, 1851, while the building was still under the control of the contractors, a party of four men of the royal sappers and miners patrolled the building and its workshops every evening after work, remaining until they had seen every fire and light properly extinguished except those in the offices, where the great press of work rendered it necessary to allow fires and lights to be kept up during the night. With the addition of a party of the London fire brigade, this arrangement remained in force until the opening of the building, when a picquet of twenty-four men of the corps was mounted in the building at eight P.M.; this party on arriving at the Exhibition was marched round it to all the stations where the different fire-engines, fire-cocks, tanks, buckets, &c., were placed; thus every individual ascertained that all the stores were correct and ready for use. The whole of the men of the corps at the Exhibition had been drilled to the fire-engines, and made acquainted with all the arrangements undertaken to provide for the immediate extinction of any fire. The twenty-four men slept in the building every night, one man remained on sentry to be in readiness to rouse the men in case of alarm, and a non-commissioned officer and two men patrolled the building every two hours. The picquet came off duty at six A.M., when another party of the sappers relieved them for the usual daily duty. This arrangement continued until the 4th November, 1851. The number was then reduced to twelve, and on the 11th November to two men, who remained all night in the building until it was again given over to the control of the contractors, Messrs. Fox and Henderson, in December, 1851.

By day two non-commissioned officers were selected, one for each side of the building, Foreign and British, whose sole duty it was to take charge of the men who belonged to the fire-party, and in conjunction with the men of the London fire brigade on duty at the building, they were held responsible for all the stores connected with the fire department, that everything was in its proper place and ready for immediate use, and also that the water was on, and the pressure not less than sixty feet. When the body of sappers was marched to work in the building each day, a party of twelve or fifteen men was allotted for each side of the Exhibition, and placed under these two non-commissioned officers, who distributed them to the various fire stations, and visited them during the day to see that they were at their posts, and alert.[[82]] The promptitude with which this service was attended to was exemplified on an occasion when a fire, in the southern part of the Colonial collection, raised an alarm. The flue attached to a stove in one of the offices of the contractors having become heated, ignited a piece of wood with bunting attached to it. A piece of the burning cloth fell into an open cask of Indian corn, but the drapery of the counter concealed for a time what had happened. Eventually the smoke began to break forth, and as soon as the existence of fire was ascertained, it was extinguished before it had time to do more than slightly char one plank of wood. The stores in charge of the non-commissioned officers were 8 engines complete, 40 cisterns, 16 hydrants, 410 spare buckets, 16 spare hose, 16 axes, 18 hand-pumps, and 15 fire annihilators.

Opening and closing the louvre-boards for ventilation, and keeping a register of the temperature in the building, were attended to by a few of the men. The register was kept from 19th May to the 11th October, and the indications of fourteen thermometers were taken three times a-day.[[83]] Corporal Thomas Noon was the chief at this duty, and was found very intelligent and attentive.

There were one or more men, termed classmen, attached to each class on the British side, who carried out the orders of the class and district superintendents during the arrangements, and also during the time of the Exhibition. The number of classmen appointed to the thirty divisions of the arrangements during the progress of the building, &c., was fifty-seven; and the number included in the organization for assisting in the classes during the exhibition, was sixty-one of all ranks. Five or six men also assisted on the foreign side, of whom two were attached to the Chinese court. The classmen afforded material help to the exhibitors and their assistants in displaying their property to advantage, and in protecting it.[[84]] They likewise were often found very useful in giving information to the public, and in conducting individuals through the masses, to those parts of the building which they were the most anxious to visit. Their courteous demeanour and intelligence were rewarded with repeated expressions of thanks and satisfaction, and the exhibitors were desirous to mark, in a substantial form, their appreciation of the services of the classmen, but it was declined on military considerations. Private tokens of respect, however, were frequently presented by some of the superintendents and class assistants to their military subordinates.

A party of about forty men came early in the morning during the Exhibition, and superintended a force of boys in sweeping the British side of the building. The arrangement was systematic, simple, and effective. Six hours—from four o’clock in the morning until ten—were dedicated to this purpose. Had it not been for the peculiarity of the structure, the duty of sweeping would have been insurmountable, but fortunately both floors and roof assisted very greatly to carry off much of the dust and dirt.[[85]] After finishing the service each morning, the detachment was either kept as a reserve, or returned to the barracks.

In addition to the above they on several occasions assisted the police in their duties, especially on the opening and closing days; occasionally a few trustworthy non-commissioned officers issued tickets during the arrangements,[[86]] and some of the privates rung the bells at the time the building closed each day. In assisting the police, corporal George Pearson detected an official personage, holding a lucrative situation at the Exhibition, taking money from the place in which it was deposited. The corporal for a long time watched his proceedings, and making known the case to the superintendent of police, the delinquency of the official was fully proved, and his dismissal from employment forthwith ordered.

During the preliminary arrangements the non-commissioned officers who issued tickets, and took charge of the gates and private entrances, were frequently besought by bribes to permit individuals the privilege of entering the building, &c., but no man of the corps was so wanting in a right sense of his duty as in this way to break the trust reposed in him. An instance of another kind was brought to the notice of Colonel Reid by sergeant Thomas P. Cook, who had a party under him employed removing goods from the hoarding to their destination in the building. Many of the exhibitors, wishing to insure a priority of attention in the removal of their property, offered considerations to effect it, but they were justly exposed, and the Colonel made it the occasion of complimenting the sergeant for his integrity.

The working-pay of the non-commissioned officers and men was 1s. 3d. a-day each; but from twenty-five to thirty of the most useful draughtsmen and others received 2s. a-day.

The Exhibition was closed on the 15th October, on which occasion small parties of sappers were posted at the barriers, and in the various passages leading to the transept, to assist the police in preventing the rush of the crowd. They were also placed around three sides of the dais from which the ceremony took place, and from which Prince Albert “took leave of all those who had given their assistance towards conducting the Exhibition to its prosperous issue.”[[87]] The sappers were engaged the whole of the previous night in removing obstacles likely to interfere with the arrangements for the ceremonial. They also constructed the platform, or dais; and while attending, on the morning of the ceremonial, to the preliminary arrangements for the temporary accommodation of the Prince and the Commissioners, a sustained cheer was given by the visitors for the sappers, as a parting token of thanks and satisfaction for their past services.

Colonel Reid, now Sir William, on being appointed Governor of Malta, resigned on the 27th October, 1851, his charge in London, and the command of the corps at the Exhibition consequently devolved on Captain H. C. Owen, R.E. “I have,” said Sir William on leaving, “the most perfect confidence that they will continue to the end of this service, to perform their duties with the same zeal which they have hitherto invariably shown, and with the same considerate and forbearing conduct towards all with whom they have been connected in this arduous undertaking.”

The crowning testimony to the useful services of the corps was graciously given by Prince Albert and the Royal Commissioners in a letter to the Marquis of Anglesey, the Master-General of the Ordnance. In promulgating the letter,[[88]] a copy of which follows, his Lordship expressed his confidence that this high testimonial in approbation of the valuable services of those immediately concerned, would be received with feelings of pride and gratitude by the whole corps of ordnance.

“My Lord

“Windsor Castle, Oct. 29th

“I have the honour, as President of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, to convey to your Lordship, both in my own name, and in that of the Commission, our thanks for the cordial aid you lent us in allowing several of the corps of royal engineers, and two companies of royal sappers and miners to assist the executive committee in the arrangement and management of the Exhibition.

“Her Majesty’s Commissioners consider it due to the officers of royal engineers, and to the non-commissioned officers and privates of the royal sappers and miners, who have been thus employed, to express to your Lordship, in strong terms, the sense which they entertain of the admirable conduct of the whole body while engaged in this novel, delicate, and responsible duty.

“The officers of engineers have, in the able assistance rendered by them, afforded another instance of the useful manner in which a military body may be employed in civil services during a time of peace.

“The Royal Commissioners, being desirous of marking their sense of the share which the different persons employed in connexion with the Exhibition have had in bringing it to a successful issue, have requested the various civilians so employed to accept a certain sum of money in recognition of their services. We have ascertained from Colonel Reid, that such a course would not be agreeable to the feelings of the engineer-officers who have similarly given their assistance, and to whom we could have wished to offer a similar token.

“With regard to the non-commissioned officers and privates, it gives me much pleasure to state, that at the period of the preliminary arrangements, when the labour required was sometimes excessive, their exertions were always cheerfully made. During the course of the Exhibition, they practically demonstrated the great value of their schools of instruction by the many useful plans which they drew; and by carefully acting always in subordination to the civil police force, they established for themselves a character for good conduct and attention to the exhibitors and visitors, greatly to the credit of the corps to which they belong.

“The Royal Commissioners have therefore thought fit to award a sum of 600l., to be laid out either in drawing or mathematical instruments, or in other suitable lasting memorial of their connection with the Exhibition, for the non-commissioned officers and privates of the royal sappers and miners, to be distributed by the officers in such manner as your Lordship and the Inspector-General of Fortifications may approve; and we trust that you will give your sanction to the acceptance of these testimonials of their good conduct.

“I have, &c.,

“Albert, President Royal Commission.

“Field Marshal the Marquis of Anglesey,

“Master-General of the Ordnance.”

In the first report of the Commissioners to the Right Honourable the Home Secretary, the corps of sappers and miners was thus alluded to: “In many parts of these arrangements, both before and after the opening of the Exhibition, the Commissioners derived the most important benefit from the co-operation and assistance of the corps of royal engineers and royal sappers and miners, who had been placed at their disposal.”[[89]]

To carry out the intentions of the Commissioners with respect to the disposal of the 600l. according to individual merit, a board of officers of royal engineers—Captains Owen and Gibb, and Lieutenant Stopford—laid down rules to guide them in the distribution. The cardinal grounds for exclusion were, that none should participate in the rewards who had been less than a month at the Exhibition, or who had been sent to head-quarters in consequence of irregularity, or who had been notoriously idle and useless. Of this character it is satisfactory to add, that among the whole body employed, from the very beginning to the close, only two privates had earned the unenviable distinction.

The distribution of the grant was arranged into sums considered to be equivalent to the criteria of five specific classes of qualification and utility. On this principle therefore, the first class comprised men only, who in situations of considerable responsibility, drew public attention for their steadiness and general ability.

The second and third classes embraced men, who in various degrees called for favourable mention, and who displayed considerable aptitude and zeal.

The fourth class contained men, who not having the same opportunities of distinguishing themselves as the men in the previous classes, gained the commendation of their officers and others for attention to duty, and cheerfulness and exertion in its execution.

The fifth class comprised men who had only been a short time at the Exhibition, but who, nevertheless, rendered themselves, by their conduct and zeal, deserving of a slight memento of their services.

According to this classification, the prizes distributed were in value and number as follows:—

Class. Value.Number.
1st.each10l.13
2nd. 5l.41
3rd. 3l.41
4th. 1l.97
5th. 10s.14
—-
Total206

The prizes embraced a selection of gold and silver watches, cases of instruments, portable writing-cases, and such other articles as would tend to increase the professional efficiency of the men, and at the same time form a suitable and handsome memorial of their services. Every article was suitably inscribed with the owner’s name, and the source from whence it was obtained.

In addition to these rewards, each non-commissioned officer and soldier, to the extent of the above number, received a bronze medal inscribed with his name, in a morocco case, to be kept as a token of useful services rendered, and also a pictorial certificate signed by Prince Albert.

The number of men sent to the Exhibition from September 1850 to December 1851, reached a total of 274 of all ranks. Sixty-eight of the number reaped no advantage from the grant. Of these, twenty-four had been removed to head-quarters for slight irregularity, two deserted, two did not participate on account of indolence, thirty-three were only three weeks at the Exhibition before it closed, and the remainder, seven men, were removed after short periods of employment, in consequence of illness.

Only one casualty occurred in the companies during their service under the Royal Commissioners. Lance-corporal Thomas W. Noon had obtained leave to visit his friends at Oxford, and was killed by a railway accident at the Bicester station on the 6th September. Liberally educated, and brought up to the profession of an architect and builder, he promised to be very useful both as a non-commissioned officer and foreman. In several situations of responsibility, he proved the superiority of his attainments, and was consequently one of the first men selected for duty in London. Mr. Wiltshire, under whom he was employed at the Exhibition, bore testimony to the value of his services. Much esteemed by his comrades, his melancholy end was deeply deplored, and his remains, interred in the cemetery of St. Sepulchre, at Oxford, were followed to the grave by a large concourse of mourners, among whom were seven non-commissioned officers of the corps from the Exhibition. In a funeral sermon, preached by the Rev. W. Mitchell, M.A., in Hornton-Street Chapel, Kensington, was given a review of the history and character of the deceased, which awakened interesting sympathies in the crowded congregation.

The removal of the goods commenced immediately after the closing of the Exhibition, and all the available sappers were for some weeks employed in assisting the exhibitors and their assistants to pack their property, and remove it from the building. Soon these duties, from the rapidity with which the clearance was carried on, permitted a large force of the corps to be withdrawn, and accordingly, the 22nd company quitted for Woolwich on the 4th November, and the 5th company with the greater part of Lieutenant Stopford’s detachment on the 11th November. Of the number left, a few were employed in collecting and arranging specimens presented to the Commissioners for the formation of a trade museum, and gradually the numbers were reduced to twenty-four, and by the end of the year to nine men only.

Among the contributors to the Exhibition were the Ordnance Survey, and 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.

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.[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]]