[265]. ‘United Service Journal,’ i. 1831, p. 235.
[266]. Martin’s ‘British Colonies,’ v. p. 79.
[267]. Was educated for a Baptist minister; but an introduction to Dr. Olinthus Gregory failing to realize his hopes, he enlisted in the corps in 1828. His intelligence caused him to be chosen for the two surveys of Ascension. He afterwards served at Bermuda, and at Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the former station he was wounded by the accidental firing of a mine whilst blasting rock, and submitted to the amputation of portions of his fingers with stoical composure. Wherever he went he took with him a small but valuable library, and was well read in the latest issues from the press. Byron, Carlyle, and some abstruse German writers, were his favourite authors. No man in his condition of life was, perhaps, as conversant with the roots and eccentricities of the English language as Beal, and his mental endowments rendered him capable of grasping any subject, however deep, and turning it to profit both in his duties and in his daily intercourse with men. Late in his service he attained proficiency as a draughtsman, and later still, an enterprising engineer in London submitted a plan for a system of sewers in the metropolis, which was accompanied by a report drawn up by this sergeant. He left the corps in April, 1849, with a pension of 2s.; and the knowledge and experience he had acquired by application and travel, are now being employed, with advantage to his interests, in one of the settlements on the Rideau Canal in Canada.
[268]. ‘Account of the fatal Hurricane at Barbadoes in 1831,’ p. 89.
[269]. Opposite the General Hospital, a monumental tomb, erected by his surviving comrades, marks the spot where the mangled remains of poor Shambrook were interred. Ibid., p. 95.
[270]. Ibid., p. 94.
[271]. Ibid., p. 97.
[272]. ‘Prof. Papers, Royal Engineers,’ ii. p. 36. ‘United Service Journal,’ iii. 1838, p. 37.
[273]. ‘United Service Journal,’ ii. 1839, p. 183, 184.