On the landing of the new company, the old West India hands, dwindled to twenty-eight in number including sergeants, were sent to St. Lucia, and assisted in repairing the damage done by a recent hurricane. In March following, they arrived in England and were disbanded. In summing up their character, Colonel William Johnston, of the engineers, thus wrote, “They are a drunken set, and require to be thought of and provided for like babies;” but, nevertheless, he urged that the sapper force in Barbadoes should be always maintained complete, as it would act as a check upon the contractors, and enable the estimates to be carried into execution with more despatch, economy, and superiority of workmanship in almost all the details, than if an equal number of artificers were derived from the country.
A company of fifty strong, intended for the service of the palace of the Lord High Commissioner at Corfu, embarked at Portsmouth on the 4th May, and after a month’s detention at Malta reached its destination in August. The employment of the company was chiefly confined to clearing away the rock, by blasting, for the foundations of the palace, and in executing such other miscellaneous services as were required. From local disagreements regarding the working pay of the company, the men were precluded from taking part in the artistic details of the palace, and eventually, from the same cause, it was removed from the island.
Colonel Carmichael Smyth made his last general inspection of the corps in France in May, and in complimenting the companies for the excellency of their discipline, interior economy, and improvement in the field duties, awarded to fifteen non-commissioned officers and men—the most advanced in the course of instruction—a silver penholder each as a token of his approbation.
This year, the companies in France substituted yellow worsted epaulettes for the plain shoulder-strap, the expense of which was borne by the men themselves. Among the companies there were four unepauletted privates who at all times fell in, like branded castaways, in the rear of their company. The badges had been placed on their shoulders, but, more mean than avaricious, they refused to pay for them. Feeling none of that becoming pride which has always been so largely developed among even the commonest soldiers, they were publicly stripped of the epaulettes intended to give them distinction, not allowed to disfigure the ranks with their presence, and ultimately removed in contempt to England. The circumstances of this curious proceeding are given in the following spirited order of Colonel Carmichael Smyth.
“C. E. O. Head Quarters, Cambray, 30th May, 1818.
“The commanding engineer has received a report that four men of Captain Stanway’s company, viz., privates—
Patrick O’Kean,
Andrew Graham,
James Ballingall,
James Scoble,