The disembarkation of the six companies went on regularly but slowly from 11 A.M. until 3.30 P.M., the boat being able to hold only 30 men at a time. At half-past 3 the last boat-load left the ship’s side. It contained those of the officers and crew who had remained to the last, Captain Gordon of the 91st, Lt. Black, R.N., agent of transports, the sergeant-major of the reserve battalion of the 91st, and one or two non-commissioned officers who had requested permission to remain.
Nearly 700 souls thus completed their disembarkation after a night of great peril, and through a raging surf, without the occurrence of a single casualty. Among them were many women and children, and several sick men, two of whom were supposed to be dying. Although it had been deemed prudent to abandon the men’s knapsacks and the officer’s baggage, the reserve battalion of the 91st went down the side of that shattered wreck fully armed and accoutred, and ready for instant service.
It would be difficult to praise sufficiently the steady discipline of that young battalion, thus severely tested during nearly seventeen hours of danger, above eight of which were hours of darkness and imminent peril. That discipline failed not when the apparent hopelessness of the situation might have led to scenes of confusion and crime. The double guard and sentries which had at first been posted over the wine and spirit stores were found unnecessary, and these stores were ultimately left to the protection of the ordinary single sentries. Although the ship was straining in every timber, and the heavy seas were making a fair breach over her, the companies of that young battalion fell in on the weather side of the wreck as their lots were drawn, and waited for their turn to muster at the lee gangway; and so perfect were their confidence, their patience, and their gallantry, that although another vessel was going to pieces within a quarter of a mile of the transport ship, and a crowd of soldiers, sailors, and convicts were perishing before the eyes of those on board, not a murmur arose from their ranks, when Captain Gordon directed that the lot should not be applied to the detachment of the 27th regiment and Cape Mounted Riflemen, but that the 91st should give the precedence in disembarking from the wreck.
The narrative of the wreck was submitted to Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington, who wrote upon it words of the highest commendation on the conduct of officers and men. “I have never,” the Duke wrote, “read anything so satisfactory as this report. It is highly creditable, not only to Captain Bertie Gordon and the officers and troops concerned, but to the service in which such an instance has occurred, of discretion and of firmness in an officer in command, and of confidence, good order, discipline, and obedience in all under his direction, even to the women and children.” The Duke did not forget the conduct of those concerned in this affair; it was mainly owing to the way in which Sergeant-major Murphy performed his duty on this occasion, that in 1846, through the Duke of Wellington’s influence, he was appointed to a wardership of the Tower.
In consequence of this unfortunate disaster the 91st remained stationed at Cape Town until Feb. 1843. In Oct. 1842 Lt.-Col. Lindsay took command of the 1st battalion at Grahamstown, and Major Ducat assumed command of the reserve.
As the histories of the two battalions of the 91st during their existence are to a great extent separate, and as the 1st battalion did not remain nearly so long at the Cape as the reserve, nor had so much fighting to do, it will, we think, be better to see the 1st battalion safely home before commencing the history of the 2nd.
During the remainder of its stay at the Cape, till 1848, the 1st battalion continued as before to furnish detachments to the numerous outposts which guarded the colony from the ravages and ferocity of the surrounding natives. Such names as Fort Peddie, Fort Armstrong, Trompeter’s Drift, Commity Drift, Eland’s River, Bothas Post, &c., are continually occurring in the Record Book of the regiment.
The three companies that were left at St Helena in June 1839 joined the headquarters of the 1st battalion on Dec. 6th, 1842.
In the beginning of Dec. 1842 a force, consisting of 800 men, of whom 400 belonged to the 1st battalion of the 91st, was ordered to proceed from the eastern frontier to the northern boundary, an insurrection of the Dutch farmers having been expected in that quarter. This force, commanded by Colonel Hare, the Lieutenant-Governor, arrived at Colesberg, a village near the Orange river, about the end of the month. No active operations were, however, found necessary, and the troops were ordered to return to their quarters, after leaving 300 men of the 91st in cantonment at Colesberg. Previous to the force breaking up, Colonel Hare issued a frontier order, dated Feb. 1st, 1843, in which he expressed his admiration of the conduct of officers and men.
In the beginning of June 1843 nearly all the disposable troops on the eastern frontier were ordered on a special service to Kaffirland. The 1st and reserve battalions of the 91st furnished detachments for this service. The object of the expedition was to drive a refractory Kaffir chief, named Tola, from the neutral territory, and to dispossess him of a number of cattle stolen from the colony. The third division, commanded by Lt.-Col. Lindsay of the 91st Regiment, in the performance of this duty encountered some opposition from a body of armed Kaffirs, in a skirmish with whom one man of the battalion was severely wounded. The force returned to the colony in the beginning of the following July, having captured a considerable number of cattle.