Lance-corporal Frederick Hibling being the only non-commissioned officer not attacked, performed the whole duties of the eighth company, and for his exertions and exemplary conduct was promoted to the rank of second-corporal. Seven widows and twenty-two orphans were left destitute by this calamity, among whom a subscription (quickly made through the corps, assisted by many officers of royal engineers, nearly amounting to 200l.) was distributed, in proportion to their necessities—one woman with six children receiving as much as 33l. The lowest gift was 14l. to a widow without children. A monument of chaste and beautiful design, consisting of a fluted column surmounted by an exploded bomb, resting on a neat and finely proportioned pedestal, was erected in the military burial-ground at St. George’s, in mournful commemoration of the victims. On three panels of the pedestal were inscribed their names, and on the fourth was sculptured the royal arms and supporters. The work was executed by the surviving stonemasons of the company, and the royal arms were cut by private Walter Aitchison.
On the 26th August, in the evening, the ‘Missouri,’ United States' steamer, Captain Newton, took fire in the bay of Gibraltar, and a detachment of the corps at the Rock was sent out by Sir Robert Wilson, the Governor, in charge of two engines under Captain A. Gordon, R.E., to assist in extinguishing the flames; but all their diligence and intrepidity were unavailing, for the vessel was soon afterwards burnt to the water’s edge. During the service the men were in much danger from falling masts and spars, and from the explosion of a powder-magazine on board. The Governor, in orders, thanked Captain Gordon and other officers of royal engineers, and the non-commissioned officers and privates of royal sappers and miners, for the creditable and useful zeal displayed by them on the occasion; and added, “that the marines, military, and boatmen of Gibraltar have the consoling reflection that nothing was left undone to save the vessel, and that the gallant crew was preserved by their united labour and devotedness.” To each sapper employed at the fire was issued a pint of wine by his Excellency’s order.
One sergeant and thirty-three rank and file under Lieutenant T. B. Collinson, R.E., sailed for China in the ‘Mount Stuart Elphinstone,’ and landed at Hong Kong the 7th October. A party of variable strength had been stationed there, employed superintending the Chinese artificers in carrying on the public works until July, 1854, when the sappers were recalled to England. Some of their first services embraced the construction of roads and sewers, the erection of barracks for the troops and quarters for the officers, with various military conveniences, such as stores, guard-houses, &c. A residence was also built for the General in command, and a sea-wall of granite to the cantonment on the north shore of the island. They also directed the Chinese in cutting away a mountain to a plateau, of about eight acres, for a parade-ground, much of which was granite; and the several explosions rendered necessary to dislodge the mass were fired solely by sergeant Joseph Blaik. A company of Madras sappers also assisted in the superintendence of the coolies, who sometimes exceeded a thousand in number. The working pay of the royal sappers and miners was 1s. 6d. a-day each until the removal of the East India Company’s establishment, when the allowance was reduced to the ordinary payment of 1s. each. Before the party was quartered in barracks it was housed for a time in a bamboo hut and afterwards in a bungalow. The smiths and plumbers were invariably employed at their trades, as the Chinese were very incompetent in these branches of handicraft.[[449]]
On the 9th October his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Michael of Russia inspected the troops at Woolwich, on the common. The royal sappers and miners at the station were also drawn up with them, and marched past. Next day the Grand Duke, accompanied by Lord Bloomfield, visited the sappers' barracks, walked through the rooms, examined the carbine of the corps, and then looked over, with every mark of attention, the small museum of the non-commissioned officers attached to the library. On leaving, he expressed his gratification at what he saw, and of the efforts made by the soldiers to improve themselves.
Royal Sappers & Miners.
Plate XV.
UNIFORM 1843.
Printed by M & N Hanhart.