The average strength of the three companies set apart for the survey, for each year from 1825 to 1842, is subjoined:—
| Least | Greatest | Average for each | |||||||
| Strength. | Strength. | 12 Months. | |||||||
| 1825 | 61 | 109 | 86 | ||||||
| 1826 | 106 | 134 | 115 | ||||||
| 1827 | 129 | 220 | 177 | ||||||
| 1828 | 232 | 259 | 248 | ||||||
| 1829 | 234 | 257 | 242 | ||||||
| 1830 | 233 | 258 | 247 | ||||||
| 1831 | 248 | 268 | 255 | ||||||
| 1832 | 230 | 256 | 242 | ||||||
| 1833 | 211 | 231 | 220 | ||||||
| 1834 | 204 | 215 | 209 | ||||||
| 1835 | 199 | 204 | 201 | ||||||
| 1836 | 195 | 198 | 196 | ||||||
| 1837 | 191 | 213 | 199 | ||||||
| 1838 | 208 | 217 | 213 | ||||||
| 1839 | 199 | 220 | 208 | ||||||
| 1840 | 183 | 213 | 197 | ||||||
| 1841 | 87 | 179 | 142 | ||||||
| 1842 | 31 | 74 | 50 | ||||||
During the above period the casualties by death in Ireland only amounted to twenty-nine of all ranks, proving the general healthiness of their occupation. Of these, three were untimely: two by drowning as shown in a preceding paragraph, and one killed—private John Crockett—by falling from a car while proceeding on duty from Leixlip to Chapelizod.
Here it should be noted that the sappers, in the prosecution of their duty, necessarily mixed with all descriptions of society, and were invariably treated with respect, civility, and hospitality. The spirit of agrarianism, the bigotry of religion, or the natural irritable temperament of the people, were seldom evinced against the companies in abuse or conflict.
As the work was drawing to a close the sappers by rapid removals augmented the force employed in the survey of Great Britain, so that at the termination of 1841 there were no less than 143 men chiefly in the northern counties of England, and thirty-four carrying on the triangulation of Scotland, leaving for the residual work of the Irish survey only eighty-seven men of all ranks.
In June, 1842, the payment of the companies in England commenced on a system of consolidating the detachments into a series of vouchers prepared for their respective companies. At that time the force in Ireland, left for the revisionary survey of Dublin and the northern counties and for the engraving office at Mountjoy, reached a total of six sergeants and forty-one rank and file; while the absorbing work of the survey of Great Britain had on its rolls a strength of 217 of all ranks. Southampton, in consequence of the destruction of the map office at the Tower of London by fire, was established as the head-quarters of the survey companies; and in the institution formerly known as the royal military asylum for the orphan daughters of soldiers, are now carried on those scientific and extensive duties which regulate with such beautiful accuracy and order, the whole system of the national survey.
1843.
Falkland Islands; services of the detachment there—Exploration trips—Seat of government changed—Turner’s stream—Bull fight—Round Down Cliff, near Dover—Boundary line in North America—Sergeant-major Forbes—Operations for removing the wreck of the ‘Royal George’—Exertions of the party—Private Girvan—Sagacity of corporal Jones—Success of the divers—Exertions to recover the missing guns—Harris’s nest—His district pardonably invaded—Wreck of the ‘Edgar,’ and corporal Jones—Power of water to convey sound—Girvan at the ‘Edgar’—An accident—Cessation of the work—Conduct of the detachment employed in it—Sir George Murray’s commendation—Longitude of Valentia—Rebellion in Ireland—Colour-sergeant Lanyon explores the passages under Dublin Castle—Fever at Bermuda—Burning of the ‘Missouri’ steamer at Gibraltar—Hong-Kong—Inspection at Woolwich by the Grand Duke Michael of Russia—Percussion carbine and accoutrements.
The settlement at Port Louis, in the Falkland Islands, was daily growing into importance, and works applicable to every conceivable emergency were executed. This year the old government-house was thoroughly repaired, and a new substantial barrack for the detachment erected. Unlike the other buildings of the colony, the foundation-stone was laid by the Governor with the usual ceremony, and in a chamber was placed a bottle of English coins of the reign of Queen Victoria. There were also built houses for baking, cooking, and to hold boats. A butcher’s shop was likewise run up, and cottages erected for the guachos and their major-domo, as well as a small calf house on Long Island and a large wooden peat-house at Town Moss. To add to the variety of their employment the sappers repaired the pass-house, put the pinnace in fine sailing condition, and constructed a jetty of rough stones for boats. Other services of less note but equally necessary were performed, such as quarrying stone, building a sod-wall to enclose a space for garden purposes, stacking peat for the winter, and removing stores and provisions from the newly-arrived ships, &c.
Parties were detached on exploring services to North Camp and Mare Harbour. In both places wild cattle abounded and troops of horses made no attempt to scamper away. On one excursion sergeant Hearnden and corporal Watts accompanied Mr. Robinson to Port St. Salvador in the face of a snow-storm, opposed by a cutting wind. Several wild horses and a herd of savage bulls were met in the trip; and geese, too, crossed their track in vast numbers, merely waddling out of the way to prevent the horsemen crushing them. Night at length spread over them. To return in such weather was impossible; and looking about they discovered a heap of stones, which turned out to be a sealer’s hut. The ribs of a whale were its rafters and turf and stones served the purpose of tiles. Leashing their horses and fastening them in a grassy district some four miles from the hut, Hearnden at once repaired the roof of the desolate hermitage, and Mr. Robinson with his companions crept into it through a small aperture on their hands and knees. Here they passed a bitter night; and so intense was the cold that four of the five dogs taken with them perished. Next day they returned to the settlement with less appearance of suffering than cheerfulness, and with a heavy supply of brent and upland geese and some wild rabbits.