In the action at Oriamendi on the 15th and 16th March, they also served. Ten of the number assisted in levelling the enemy’s parapets and destroying their barricades and works. The other seven, under Lieutenant Burmester, R.E., did duty with the royal artillery commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Colquhoun. Their help, readily afforded at a time when it was of much value, enabled a third gun to be brought into action; and in cutting fuzes and loading shells, &c., they were found but little inferior to experienced artillerymen. Lord John Hay complimented Lieutenant Vicars upon the good service of this detachment; and the officers of the royal and marine artillery were loud in their praises of the exertions of the sappers, and of the efficiency of their assistance at the guns. One private was wounded.
A brief interval of repose followed, in which the detachment was occupied in fortifying the eastern entrance of Passages, also in barricading the advanced picket-house near that point, and in completing the batteries on Santa Clara. Four men were likewise detached to the river Nervion, and, with the crews of the ‘Scylla’ and ‘Savage,’ restored the works of the Desierto convent which protected the communication with Bilbao. On the return of the men, the commander of the ‘Savage’ brig spoke most favourably of their conduct.
In the operations of the army under Espartero on the 14th May, fifteen of the detachment were present and assisted in working the guns of the royal artillery. On the 17th they embarked to act in an attack on Fuentarabia, and were present at its capitulation on the 18th May. Here the detachment restored one of the ruined bastions of the fortress, and, besides making embrasures for two heavy guns, cleared away the debris from other parts of the defences and placed them in temporary repair.
At Oyarzun the Carlists were in the habit of creeping up to the town and annoying the troops. To prevent this, the hill above was crowned with a square redoubt for two guns. Ten of the detachment superintended its construction, and the work was executed in so excellent a manner, that experienced officers spoke of it with unqualified satisfaction. The working party consisted of peasants who were skilful in the construction of earth-works, and zealous in the use of the spade and pickaxe.
At the solicitation of General O’Donnell of the Spanish service, nineteen of the sappers, under the command of Lieutenant Vicars, were attached to his force. The party reached Aindoin on the 11th September, and were set to work with a company of Gastadores under them, on a height on the extreme left of the position. Very rapidly, a large hedge surrounding the height was turned into a parapet; and in places where it was too high to cut down, loopholes were formed. A dense wood that joined the hedge was partly felled, and from its ample resources abattis were thrown out in front of the line of hedge. For three days the work progressed; at intervals under heavy rain; and on the 13th September a formidable work of more than half a mile in length was ready to obstruct the advance of the enemy. At daylight on the 14th the Carlists opened fire on Aindoin, and the first shot went through the house where the sappers were quartered. At once they were withdrawn to the church, and ultimately removed to a circular fort to attend to orders either from Lord John Hay or General O’Donnell. Scarcely had they commenced the movement before the enemy approached the church with irresistible impetuosity, and drove the forces of O’Donnell from the town with signal disaster. The escape of the detachment of sappers was almost miraculous; a few moments later would have thrown them[them] wholly into the hands of the Carlists.
During the later months of the year the detachment repaired Fort Morales, and the lines on the western heights of Passages. There also they fitted up barracks for the royal marines, and strengthened the advanced picket-house. Four of the men superintended a working party of the royal marines in completing and arming the redoubts around San Sebastian, in which service much difficulty was experienced from the want of an adequate working party and materials. So impoverished were the stores, that to provide planks and sleepers for the platforms and magazines, recourse was had to old splintered timbers from ruined sheds and buildings. Among other services performed by the detachment was the construction of a redoubt at Cachola on the high road from San Sebastian to Hernani, to protect that communication.
On the 13th May, six rank and file were attached to Captain A. Henderson, R.E., and were employed for the fourth summer under his direction in the trigonometrical survey of the western coast of Scotland for the Admiralty. The nature of the operations, as on former occasions, necessitated their encampment on the mountains; and when the service closed in November, the party returned to Woolwich.
Lord Hill and Sir Hussey Vivian, the Master-General, inspected the seventh company and detachment of the corps at Chatham on the 15th June, and afterwards witnessed the siege operations carried on by the troops and sappers under Colonel Warre. At the steadiness of the latter on parade, and the able manner in which the siege details were executed, his lordship expressed the highest gratification; and Colonel Warre, in his public orders of 16th June, also eulogised the corps for the cheerful and indefatigable manner in which they had worked in the field, adding, “that the construction of the works did credit to their skill as engineer workmen, and their appearance to their discipline and efficiency as soldiers.”
Second-Captain Henry Sandham, R.E., by commission dated 1st August, was appointed adjutant to the corps at Chatham vicê Captain Jebb promoted. The latter had filled the office with much advantage to the public service; and his many excellent qualities, as evinced in the discharge of his duties, commanded the esteem of the corps, and caused him to be much regretted at his leaving.
Sergeant Hugh Lanyon, after Sergeant-major Forbes’s removal, was appointed to the charge of the detachment at Sandhurst College, and carried on the field details in every way to the satisfaction of the authorities. For many years, as a private and non-commissioned officer, he worked at the college, and his example had the best effect on the successive parties with which he served. As a practical sapper he was one of the ablest and most skilful in the corps, and in the rapidity with which he threw up earth-works was unsurpassed. Sir Charles Pasley has done him honour by noticing the extraordinary labours of the sergeant in his ‘Practical Operations for a Siege.’[[300]] His willingness and ability in this respect, covered, in great measure, his educational deficiencies. In charge of the detachment he displayed his usual industry and exertion, kept his men in perfect discipline and order, and the excellent work resulting from their united efforts elicited an encomium in a popular periodical very creditable to the sergeant and his party.[[301]] Indeed, so effectually were all the instructional operations carried out, that the governor of the college, with the sanction of the Master-General, presented him in November with a case of drawing instruments, bearing an inscription flattering to his zeal and services.[[302]]