[409]. All had horses, as travelling on horseback was frequently necessary. The Governor presented one, with harness complete, to sergeant Hearnden. The men made themselves very expert in the management of horses, and throwing aside the rude thongs of raw hide by which they were controlled, quickly adapted the draught-horses to the use of artillery harness and collars.
[410]. ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ i., 1843, p. 45.
[411]. Reference would not have been made to this service only for the accident which attended it. Often it is the lot of the corps at the various stations to distinguish themselves at fires, and by their promptitude and cheerful exertions, to save both lives and property.
[412]. An insurance company, in no respect under obligations to the parties who assisted at the fire, felt interested in the exertions of the sappers and awarded them 5l. As the sum was too small for distribution, it was well expended in the purchase of a clock for the barracks at Woolwich.
[413]. After serving a station in China, died at Woolwich, in July, 1847.
[414]. The nine men of the East India Company’s sappers, whose names are appended, dived more or less as occasion offered. Lance-corporal Thomas Sherstone, privates James Hewitt, James Beale, George Taylor, William Brabazon, John Hunt, William England, John McIvor, and John A. Goodfellow. Hewitt was the best, Sherstone the next, and Beale and Taylor were very promising.
[415]. ‘United Service Journal,’ iii. 1843, p. 139.
[416]. Much of the information given about the wreck of the ‘Royal George,’ has been gleaned from the ‘Hampshire Telegraph,’ ‘Army and Navy Register,’ and the ‘Manuscript Journal of the Operations.’
[417]. Afterwards a sergeant. Was generally employed in duties of importance far exceeding his rank, at the Cape of Good Hope, Isle of France, and Hong-Kong. In 1847 he was present in the expedition to Canton, blew up the Zigzag Fort, and otherwise conspicuously distinguished himself. He died at Hong-Kong, after five years' service there, in 1848. Blaik had been brought up at the royal military asylum, Chelsea.
[418]. Four years previously, August, 1838, sergeant-major Jones was presented with a silver tankard, “by the sergeants of Chatham garrison, in testimony of their gratitude for the undeviating attention he evinced in superintending the formation of a military swimming-bath at that station.”