“I must not omit to acknowledge the professional aid received from the chief and assistant engineers of Her Majesty’s ship ‘Royal Albert,’ (until that ship sailed for Malta,) in the taking to pieces of the dock-gates. In connexion with this service, the assistance afforded by a large party of the royal artillery, placed at my disposal by Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Dacres, and under the superintendence and direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Bent, royal engineers, I cannot but greatly appreciate.
“I have, &c.,
(Signed) “E. T. Lloyd,
“Lieut.-Colonel Commanding Royal Engineer.
“His Excellency,
General Sir W. Codrington, K.C.B.,
Commander of the Forces.”
As the last efforts were being made to overthrow the remnants of the docks, the engineers sent a force of 180 sappers with 100 men of the line under Major Ranken to destroy the White Barracks, built of stone, situated to the west of the Karabelnaia. In their magnitude they were nearly equal to the artillery barracks at Woolwich. The east and west ranges were almost a quarter of a mile in length, while the north and south ranges measured each 582 feet long. The area enclosed within the pile was a rectangle. The two latter ranges had three stories, the west two, the east one. Many other buildings for offices and domestic purposes occupied the interior of the rectangle, starting inwards from the eastern range, leaving a wide street adapted for parades towards the west. The clock tower stood over an arched entrance in the centre of a group of miscellaneous buildings. Heavy vaults were in the principal structures, in which were several sets of apparatus for warming the rooms. In most cases the walls were four feet thick. The west range rested upon two rows of strong pillars, and heavy masonry occurred in situations where taste and artistic development were desirable for strength and display. During the siege some of the walls and roofing had been pierced and torn by shot and shells. Much of the timber had been burnt, and a great quantity abstracted for war emergencies; but injured and dismantled as were some of the buildings enough remained to excite the destructive action of an army bent upon humbling the military greatness in the Crimea of a stiff-necked and aggressive people.
No end of mines were made by the sappers in the piers of the windows, dead walls, vaults and cellars, and in pits underground. Innumerable were the charges varying in each chamber from 15 lbs. to 600 lbs. of gunpowder. The largest charges were placed in the vaults. Always tedious were the processes; the labour in many instances considerable, and the hardships experienced were those which arose out of intense cold, snow-storms, thaws and frost. The first charges were fired on the 30th January, the last on the 1st March, when the six largest vaults each loaded with 600 lbs. of powder were demolished. The great result of the operations was the complete destruction of the barracks. Here and there, however, were broken clumps of wall gravely standing as so many monuments of the general wreck, creaking upon shattered bases, all sufficiently dangerous to render the removal of every stone and plank from the site essential before attempting the re-establishment of such another pile.
The only drawback to this service—and a lamentable one it was—was the death of Major Ranken of the engineers on the 28th February. Sergeant Coppin went forward to ignite some mines which were ready for exploding. Four of them were in the angle of the south building, seven in adjacent windows and one outside. These he commenced to fire, passing on rapidly from one to the other, when to ignite the last he had to jump out of the window. In applying the light a rather large heap of powder in its vicinity caught the flame, which caused the hose prematurely to go off with luckily no other damage than burning his hand. Four of the mines missed. To repair the failure promptly was the major’s determination, and so the charges were relaid in the gable to be fired from one focus, consisting of a three-feet length of fuse attached to the powder-hose. The major took with him second-corporal Baker, a man of tried intrepidity, who assisted in adjusting the fuses and hoses for explosion, and then passed out of the window already much shaken by two explosions, through which the major intended to escape after firing the charges. In front of the opening the corporal stood to attract the attention of the major, so that should any mishap occur he might readily find his way out. The corporal saw the match applied, he saw the danger—the mines suddenly went off! In one fall down came the gable wall and angle of the building with the roof, and before the major could escape he was caught by the breaking mass and mangled under the ruins. Baker run at the instant, struck as he flew in several places, and was miraculously saved. Expecting that the major was following he looked back with a foreboding impulse to see how he fared; but his excitement and sorrow were great, when, seeing nothing behind him but the thick dust settling slowly over the ruins, it became his unhappy duty to bear the harrowing tale of the major’s untimely death to those who were awaiting their return. With melancholy anxiety the sappers and others turned over the mound of rubbish to extricate the officer possibly with life. All night the duty was continued, and his remains were not discovered till eight o’clock the following morning. In this sad way was lost to the corps and the service as good and brave an officer as ever drew sword. His death was the last tragic event of the war!