History of the Royal Sappers and Miners Vol 2 of 2 by Thomas William John Connolly

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Title: History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Vol. 2 (of 2)
From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date
when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers

Author: T.W.J. Connolly

Release Date: April 12, 2019 [EBook #59260]

Language: English

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Royal Sappers & Miners

Plate XVI.

plate XVI

Uniform 1854.

Printed by M & N Hanhart.

HISTORY

OF THE

ROYAL SAPPERS AND MINERS,

FROM THE FORMATION OF THE CORPS IN MARCH 1772, TO THE DATE

WHEN ITS DESIGNATION WAS CHANGED TO THAT OF

ROYAL ENGINEERS,

IN OCTOBER 1856.

BY

T. W. J. CONNOLLY,

QUARTERMASTER OF THE ROYAL ENGINEERS.

“Of most disastrous chances,

Of moving accidents, by flood and field;
Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach.”—Shakspeare.

“There is a corps which is often about him, unseen and unsuspected, and which is labouring as hard for him in

peace as others do in war.”—The Times.

With Seventeen Coloured Illustrations.

SECOND EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS.

IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. II.

LONDON:

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, AND ROBERTS.

1857.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

1848.

PAGE

Staff appointments—Survey of London—Colour-sergeant Smith—Sergeant Bay—Trigonometrical operations—

Opposition to the military survey—Observatory above St. Paul’s; the scaffolding—Privates Pemble and
Porteous—Sergeant Steel—Industry and conduct of the Sappers in the Metropolitan survey—Preliminary
arrangements of the Arctic expedition—Privates Waddell and Sulter—Corporal Mackie—Expedition starts;
corporal McLaren—Coasting journeys and services—Overland march—Winter at Fort Confidence—Party
detached to Great Bear Lake—Close of the search for Sir John Franklin and his crews
1

1848.

Augmentation to corps—A calculating prodigy—Company removed from Portsmouth to Ireland—Chartist

demonstration and services of the sappers in London—Road-making in Zetland—Company to the Mauritius—
Major Sandham—Sergeant Anderson—Sergeant Ross—Sir Harry Smith’s frontier tour at the Cape—Passage
of the Mooi; corporal Pringle—Passage of the Konap; sergeant McLeod; also of the Orange River—Boem
Plaatz—Spirited conduct of a party in removing an ammunition tumbril, which had upset in some burning grass
—Peace—Inspection at Gibraltar by Sir Robert Wilson—Also at Hong-Kong by Major-General Stavely—
Company at Corfu—Return of party to England from the Falkland Islands—Sergeant Hearnden
16

1849.

Breach in the sea embankment at Foulness—Company to Portsmouth—Augmentation to corps—Homeward

journey of the Arctic expedition—Private Brodie—Great Slave Lake party—Expedition arrives in England—
South Australia—Sergeant R. Gardiner—Road-making in Zetland—Survey of Dover—Wreck of the ‘Richard
Dart’—Miserable condition of the survivors on Prince Edward’s Island—Found, and taken to the Cape—
Remeasurement of the base-line on Salisbury Plain—Shoeburyness—Eulogium by the Marquis of Anglesey—
Fatal accident at Sandhurst College
27

1850.

Sir Robert Gardiner’s opinion of the corps—Party to the penal settlement at Swan River—Detachment to New

Zealand—Draft to Hong-Kong—Mining operations at Seaford Bay—Determinations of the latitudes of various
trigonometrical stations—Sergeant James Steel—Professor Airy—The leisure of the sergeant—New method
of acquiring a knowledge of chess—Hardships of a party landed at Rona
42

1851.

Malta—Portsmouth—Swan River—Brown Down batteries—Kaffir war—Strength of sappers at the Cape—

Corporal Castledine—Attack on Fort Beaufort—Whittlesea, &c.—Skirmish near Grass Kop Tower—Also in
Seyolo’s Country—Patrol—Fight at Fort Brown—Patrol—Storming Fort Wiltshire—Patrols—Action at
Committy’s Hill—Gallantry of corporal James Wilson at Fort Cox—Patrols—Increase to the Cape by
withdrawal of Company from the Mauritius—Sir Harry Smith’s opinion of the sappers—Eulogies concerning
them by Lieutenant-Colonel Cole and Captain Stace, R.E.
56

1851.

GREAT EXHIBITION.

Sappers attached to it—Opening—Distribution of the force employed—Duties; general superintendence—Clerks

and draughtsmen—Charge of stationery—Robert Marshall—Testing iron-work of building—Workshops—
Marking building—Receiving and removing goods—Customhouse examination—Fire arrangements—
Ventilation—Classmen—Private R. Dunlop—Clearing arrangements—Miscellaneous services—Bribery—
Working-pay—Close of the Exhibition—Encomium by Colonel Reid—Also by Prince Albert and the Royal
Commissioners—Honours and rewards—Their distribution—Statistical particulars—Lance-corporal Noon—
Removing the goods—Return of companies to Woolwich—Contributors to the Exhibition—The Ordnance
survey—And Mr. Forbes, late sergeant-major
68

1851.

SHETLAND ISLANDS.

iii

iv

Observations—Road from Lerwick to Mossbank—To the western districts—and southwards—Between

Olnafirth and Doura Voe—Voe to Hillswick; corporal Andrew Ramsay—Island of Yell; sergeant John F. Read
—Intrepid bearing of corporal Ramsay—Conduct and usefulness of the party employed on the roads
88

1852.

Party attached to the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition—Mount Alexander—Corporal John McLaren—

Spike Island—Brown Down—Hurst Castle—Holmfirth Reservoir—Alderney—Cambridge Asylum—Tidal
observations, river Dee—Van Diemen’s Land—Channel Islands—Kaffir war—Passage of the Kei—Patrols
—Party benighted in the bush—Action at the Konap pass—Patrol—Fort White—Patrols—Expedition against
Moshesh—Orange River—Passage of the Caledon—The Lieuw—Battle of Berea—Return of the expedition;
crossing the drift at the Lieuw—Repassage of the Caledon—Perils of the “sick-waggon” in crossing—Thanks
of General Cathcart—Conduct of the sappers during the campaign
93

1853.

Expedition to Central Africa—Private E. Swenny—Journey to Beni-Olid—Hospitality of the natives at Sokna—

Black Mountains—Privations and exertions—Private John Maguire—Gatrone—Sufferings of the slaves in their
march across the desert—Evidences of the number that perish—Trials of the expedition; halts at Kouka—
Party with the department of Practical Art—Sanitary survey of Woolwich—Detachment for survey of Van
Diemen’s Land—Additional commissions to the corps—Company at Alderney—Corporal James S. Taylor at
New York—Company recalled from the Cape—Company to the Mauritius—Party to Melbourne—
Inconvenience of its popularity—Epidemic at Bermuda—Detachment for the Mint at Sydney—Greatcoats
114

1853.

CHOBHAM CAMP.

Nature of the ground—Position of the sappers—Their strength—Quarters and cantonments—Equipment—Duties

and services—The survey—Marking out the encampment—Forming tanks—Wells—Lakes—Construction of
stables—Camp-kitchen—Oven—Incidental employments; Royal pavilion; Queen’s road—Sentry-boxes—Post-
office and postal statistics—Intrenchments—Submarine mining—Passage of Virginia Water—Her Majesty’s
gracious acknowledgments of the conduct of the sappers in the operation—The second passage of the lake—
Also of the Thames at Runnymead—Field-days—Inspections by the Queen—Breaking up the camp—
Satisfaction of Colonel Vicars and Lord Seaton
126

1854-1856.

Staff appointments—Party to Melbourne—Mint detachment to Sydney—Survey of Aldershot heath—Department

of Practical Science and Art—Staff ranks to the survey companies—Dress—Party detached to Heligoland—
Also to Paris for the Exhibition—Corporal Mack’s services in testing woods—A foreigner’s surprise at the
varied employments of the sappers—Sergeant Jenkins’ interview with the Emperor—Fire at the Manutention
du Commerce—Radical change in the dress—Arms and accoutrements—Costume of the quartermasters—
Supernumerary sergeants—Additional staff appointments—Exhibition at the Mauritius—Arrival of company
from Bermuda, and removal to Aldershot—Chatham becomes the head-quarters—Rejection of the services of
Van Diemen’s Land detachment by the Legislative Council, which are accepted by the Governor of New South
Wales—Organization and pay of driver troop—Additions to the corps and various incidental alterations—Detail
of establishment of corps—The band—Its costume—Dress of the bandmaster—Party recalled from Purfleet
—Detachment to Hythe for rifle practice, &c.; the system pursued there becomes a leading feature in the
instruction at Chatham
147

1854.

BOMARSUND—TURKEY—BULGARIA—WALLACHIA.

v

vi

War with Russia—Detachment attached to Baltic fleet—Second company to the Aland Islands—Landing—

Brigadier—General Jones—Preliminary services—Operations—Fort Nottich attacked—Adventure at Fort
Tzee and escape from it—Bomarsund captured—Destruction of the forts—Conduct of the company—
Sickness; it returns to England—Detachment to Turkey—Augmentation to the corps—Seventh company
withdrawn from Hurst Castle—Eleventh and seventh companies to Turkey—Odessa—Services of the first
detachment in Turkey—Corporal Cray—Gallipoli; Boulair; Ibridgi—Commendation by Sir George Brown—
Tenth and eighth companies to Scutari—Redoubt Kaleh—Works there—Circassia—Working-pay—
Companies attached to divisions of the army—Buyuk Tchekmedjie—First detachment to Varna—Followed by
the tenth company—Also by the eleventh—Complimentary order for services of the latter—Contrast between
the French and English sappers—Works at Varna—Also at Devno—Encampments at Aladyn and Varna—
Works at Gallipoli and Boulair—Eighth company to Varna—Gallantry of corporal Swann and private Anderson
—Sappers join at Varna from the fleet—Coast of Circassia—Photographers—Detachment to Rustchuk—
Trestle bridge at Slobedzie—Bridge of boats over the Danube—Return to Varna of a portion of the sappers
from Rustchuk—Misconduct of the detachment; also of the seventh company—Spirited conduct of corporal
Cray—Major Bent and party of sappers to Bucharest—Private Anderson and the Austrian Dragoons—Fourth
company to Varna—The Somerset Fund—The Central Association
171

1854.

CRIMEA.

September—18th October.

Instructional operations—Embarkation for the Crimea—The landing—The sappers sink wells—Attempt to erect a

pier for landing the horses—Bed of the Bulganak improved with reeds for the passage of artillery—The Alma
—Services of the sappers during the battle—They repair the Buliack timber bridge—March to Balaklava; Sir
John Burgoyne; services of the third company—The corps encamps at Balaklava—Then removes to the
heights before Sebastopol; misery for want of tents—Parties assist to reconnoitre the positions and trace the
lines—An instance given—Two sappers carrying the mail miss their way, are wounded and benighted—
Destruction of Upton’s aqueduct—Positions on the heights; staff engineers—The attacks; parks—Sapper
brigades—Reliefs—Breaking ground—Duties of the sappers—Their deficiency of tact in working the skilled
portions of the batteries—Progress of the works; a party wanders from the trace—Sergeant Morant misses his
way, and only discovers his mistake when encountered by a Russian guard—A mistrusted guide restores
confidence by his conduct—State of the works on the night before the first bombardment—The batteries and
parallels—Siege operations—Restoration of the works—Sir John Burgoyne’s remarks on them
196

1854

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.
18th October—31st December.

A corporal guides the field officer to the 21-gun battery in open day—The last shot—Two sappers mend a gap of

some magnitude in a mortar battery—Scarcity of soil and materials for carrying on the works—Picket-house
battery—Mishap to a tracing party—Platforms—Magazines—A detachment with arabas moves from the
valley during the battle of Balaklava—Private Lancaster the only sapper engaged in it—Steady conduct of the
sappers at the platforms during Sir De Lacy Evans’s combat—Battle of Inkermann—A corporal gallantly alters
the splay of an embrasure while the fight rages—Sappers trench the road leading to the heights from the
harbour—Two privates repair an embrasure under a severe fire—Submarine divers—Progress of the works—
Hurricane of the 14th November; wreck of the ‘Prince’—and the ‘Rip Van Winkle’—Effects of the storm on
shore—Lines of Inkermann—Mode of proceeding with the construction of the general works—Strength of
corps at the siege and detached—Field electric telegraph—Sergeant Anderson—Casualties—Sergeant Drew
—Arrival of second company; its colour-sergeant taken for a Pacha—Incentives to induce the Turks to work
—The Navvies—Army Works Corps—The sappers, though under a seeming cloud, are upheld by a vigorous
vindication in Parliament
214

1855.

1st January-8th April.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

vii

viii

Sanitary state of companies—Warm clothing—Collecting detachments in England to forward to the siege—

Services of party with Omar Pasha’s army—Granted medals by the Sultan—Mishap on the Tchernaya—
Destruction of the village of Inkermann—Exertions of sappers in the trenches during snow-storms—Anecdote,
Corrigan’s charcoal—Obstructions to the trenches by mud—Arrival of first company—Hut stables for the
cavalry horses—French build No. 9 battery; right attack—Conduct of Corporal Lendrim—Sappers’ share of
the work—The parallels—Huts—French sappers entertained at Southampton—Casualties—Reforming works
to counteract enfilade fire—Nos. 7 and 8 batteries, left attack—Moving guns to the front—International
parallel; zeal of non-commissioned officers—Destroying a rifle-screen—Completion of the parallel—Death of
captain Craigie—Sir John Burgoyne’s farewell address—Sorties—Bearing in a wounded Russian—
Augmentation to corps—Driver troop—Efforts to obtain recruits; militia-men—Sergeant Docherty captured on
suspicion of being a Russian spy—Countermine under cave magazine—Casualties—Zigzag from right rifle-pit
in advance of second parallel; wound sustained by a singular agent—Death of Lieutenant Bainbrigge—Third
parallel, right attack—Progress of the works—Faultless energy of sappers in building a two-gun battery in the
third parallel, left attack—Two corporals singularly escape from a shell which destroyed the magazine they
were erecting—Embrasures of No. 7 battery opened—Preparations for a bombardment—The weather
233

1855.

9th to 19th April.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

Second bombardment—Gallant exertions of individual sappers—Repairing a magazine—Assistance to a comrade

in an embrasure—Fatal meeting of schoolfellows—Cheerfulness in suffering—Slippery platforms—Repairing
telegraph wire—Resistance of the magazines—Inkermann lighthouse battery—Progress of the siege—Mud in
the trenches—Battery for two light field-pieces—Magazine on fire—Burning sand-bag on a merlon—Fixing
mantlets—Unshrinking labours of sappers—Damages and repairs—Progress of the siege and works—
Gallantry of two sappers—and two linesmen—Noble perseverance in an embrasure—Exertions at the batteries
—Explosion of a magazine—No. 9 battery, left attack—Gallant extension of left advance sap, right attack—
Firmness of the last leading sapper in it—Progress of the works—Capture of the rifle-pits—Gallantry of
sergeant McDonald—Casualties—Corporal Coles—Acknowledgment of services of sappers in the attack
263

1855.

20th April-15th May.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

First day’s work in the lodgment—Improviséd grenades—Polish fusilier—Capture of the third rifle-pit—

Preliminary incidents connected with it—Saps issuing from the pits—No. 13 sand-bag battery—No. 9 battery,
left attack—Building a magazine in day-time—Constancy of sappers in the trenches—But little relief afforded
them—Apparent want of ingenuity in their camp arrangements—Reason why so few sappers die—Their
miserable condition—Regimen; its effects—Care of the baggage animals—The means employed to preserve
them becomes a vexed question—Rifle-holes—No. 11 battery, left attack—Generals’ and engineers’ huts—
Diversified engagements of the sappers—Death of Lieutenant Carter—Progress of the works—Wells—
Repairing the advance saps after a sortie—Expedition to the sea of Azoff—Storms of rain, and consequent
difficulties in carrying on the works—Sortie—Effects of the rain—Endurance of the men exposed to it—
Casualties
285

1855.

16th May-7th June.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

The batteries—Stoical tranquillity in blasting rock—Round-hill or fourth parallel—State of the works—Siege

materials and expedients—Corporal William Swann—Expedition to Kertch—Second international
communication—No. 15 battery on the right—Rope mantlets—Hospital caves—Companies reviewed by
General Jones—French officers’ opinion of the corps—Repairing right rifle-pit—Arrival of ninth company—
Progress of the works—Third bombardment—Bravery in the embrasures—Corporal Stanton in the batteries of
the second parallel on the right attack—Casualties—First appearance of ninth company in the trenches
trenches—The sailors—Voluntary resolution of Corporal Lockwood and his sappers—The engineers—
Inobtrusive devotion in an embrasure—Adam McKechnie—Death of Captain Dawson—Selection of old
sappers for front duty; their sterling exertions—Labours in the batteries; platforms—Magazine blown up—
Russian plan of extending their trenches—Capture of the quarries and white works—The lodgment—Death of
Lieutenant Lowry; bravery of corporal Stanton—Casualties—Lord Raglan’s approbation of the sappers—
Infernal machines in the quarries
305

1855.

8th June-18th June.

ix

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

Repairs to the works—Death of corporal Fraser—Conduct of private Orr—Improviséd church—Perseverance in

the quarries—Segmental trench in front of them—Successful exertions of the miners—Yenikale—Cape St.
Paul—Detail of sappers furnished for the trenches—Completion of defences in the lodgment—Casualties in a
party mending a trench bridge—State of the works—Platforms—What is an embrasure?—Destruction of one
—Its repair—Casualties—A tolerated grumbler—Generous conduct of corporal Lockwood—Fourth
bombardment; preparations for assault—Vigorous conduct of sergeant Anderson in repairing the electric wires
—And of corporal Borbidge in renewing a platform for a sea-service mortar—First storming of the Redan—
Chivalric behaviour of private Head—Casualties—Conduct of the sappers in the assault—Volunteer services
of sergeant Drew and corporal Jenkins—They rescue some of the wounded—So also does private Ramsay—
Brigadier-General Eyre’s column in the cemetery grounds—Valiant behaviour of corporal Baker—General
casualties—Death of Lord Raglan
327

1855.

18th June-16th July.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

Condition of the batteries; their repair—Alarm of a sortie—Noble intention of four comrades to recover the body

of corporal Baker—Strategic occupation of the rifle redoubt behind the cemetery—Interchange of civilities
between the Russian and English truces—Capture of a memento—Escape of Lieutenant Donnelly and lance-
corporal Veal—Lodgment in the cemetery—A sortie frustrated—Destruction of the rifle redoubt—No. 18
battery, right attack—Perils in the saps in advance of the quarries—Progress of the works—Reoccupation of
the cemetery—The stone double sap; corporal J. T. Collins—The two Dromios—Industry of the miners—
Progress of the works and repairs—even during a storm—Advance of the chevaux-de-frise up the Woronzoff
ravine—Sappers annoyed by light balls—Difficulties in executing the works—Demolitions in the rear parallels
—The Picket-house—Approach to the cemetery—Wooden bridge—General officers’ hut—Abstraction of
gabions by the French—Gallantry in pushing the sap from left advanced parallel, right attack—Night details—
No. 15 battery, left attack—Obstacles to success in commencing the fifth parallel, right attack—Trenches in
the cemetery—Progress of the works—Conduct and exertions of the engineers and sappers
357

1855.

17th July-25th August.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

Trials in carrying on the works—Fifth parallel, right attack—Detachments and statistics—Spirited conduct of

corporal Ross—Neglect of non-commissioned officers—Trench dress of the line—Shifts of the miners to form
the parallels and approaches—Siege minutiæ—Trenches flooded—A sergeant, in the absence of an engineer
officer, in charge of the lines—Casualties—Sortie by the Russians—Sergeant Docherty examines the chevaux-
de-frise—Overseers of the miners—The carpenters—Renewal of the chevaux-de-frise demolished in the
sortie—Casualties during a moonlight night—Exertions of sergeant Jarvis and party; the sailors—Strange
sensation produced by the blow of a shell splinter—Resources for field-work purposes—Progress of the
trenches and batteries—Removal of the right attack sappers to the camp of the left attack—They thus escape
a subsequent catastrophe—Fifth bombardment—Cost of a whiff of tobacco—Activity of the sappers in the
batteries and works—Anecdote of a new-comer visiting the works—No. 17 battery, left attack—Corporal
Jenkins, the master carpenter of the left attack—The white-banded cap—Fifth parallel, right attack—Breaking
ground from it for the last approach to the Redan—Workmanlike industry and vigour of corporal Ross in the
sap—Corporal William Baker, 7th company—Progress in the advanced trenches; sergeant Hale of the guards;
corporal Stanton—Prolongation of fifth parallel, right attack—Effects of wounds.
380

1855.

26th August-5th September.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

x

xi

State of the works—Russian floating-bridge across the harbour—Gallantry of corporal McMurphy and his

sappers—The sailors—Advance from fifth parallel on salient of Redan—and on its extreme left flank—
Defection of the workmen in the latter sap and firmness of the two sappers in charge—Valour of sergeant
Castledine and private McKellar—Intrepid continuance of the right sap—The double sap, left attack—Fifth
parallel of the same attack; corporal Paul its overseer—Experienced hands selected for the front; charge of the
non-commissioned officers—Casualties—Fresh details—Trench from fifth parallel to cemetery—Unsuccessful
attempt to open a screen in advance of white rifle-pit—Notice of corporal Phillips—A sapper guides his party
along the open or part of fifth parallel in preference to taking a longer route though a covered one—
Perseverance of sappers in the front saps—Sixth bombardment—The works and repairs proceed steadily—
Results of the cannonading—Fatal meeting of friends—Siege career of sergeant Wilson
405

1855.

6th September-9th September.

SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL.

State of the batteries—The foremost saps—Repairs to embrasures while opposed by blinding dust driven through

the trenches by a fierce wind—Distribution in the trenches—No. 22 battery—Final attack of the Redan and the
Malakoff—Names of the sapper storming party—Their brave and steady demeanour and exertions—Escapes
of corporal Baker—Valour of private Bowman—Casualties—Continuation of the foremost saps—Daring
adventure of corporal Ross—His report leads to the bloodless occupation of the Redan—Conduct of the corps
in the siege—Captain Ewart—Reflections
423

1855.

SEBASTOPOL.

9th September, 1855-28th January, 1856.

Statistics—Andrew Anderson—Misconduct of the sappers—Non-commissioned officers and men who received

honours, appointments, or commissions for their gallantry or useful services—Sergeant Samuel Cole—Field
electric telegraph—Private Fox taken prisoner—Exploring the batteries for machines and electric wires—
Commence batteries near Fort Paul—Sappers removed to the Karabelnaia—Reinforcements from Gibraltar
and England—Driver troop to Scutari—Sapper quarters in the docks—Huts—Companies attached to divisions
of the army—Expedition to Kinbourn—Marshal Pelissier’s acknowledgment of services of the sappers
attached to it—Sir William Codrington assumes the command of the army—Explosion of the great French
magazine—Exertions of tenth company in arresting the fire—Gallantry in preserving the Inkermann magazine
mill—And removing live shells from the vicinity of the flames—Construction of a magazine for small-arm
ammunition—Stone bridge over the middle ravine—Barrel causeway across its swampy bottom—Another
reinforcement from England
439

1855-56.

13th September-1st March.

DEMOLITIONS AT SEBASTOPOL.

Testing the authenticity of some Russian plans concerning the docks—Force employed in the demolitions—

Situation of the docks—Their magnitude and strength—The operations—Difficulties encountered in their
execution by storms and frosts—Labours and hardships of the miners—The explosions—Destruction of the
docks—Accidents; intrepid exertions of corporal Cray—Poisonous gas in a gallery; prompt efforts to rescue
the sufferers—Shelling the docks while the demolitions were proceeding—Sir William Codrington’s despatch
reporting the success of the operations—Also Colonel Lloyd’s report—The White Barracks—Their destruction
—Death of Major Ranken; notice of conduct of second-corporal Baker
462

1856.

CONCLUDING SERVICES IN THE CRIMEA.

xii

xiii

Surveys, &c.—Casemates in the Redan and contiguous works—Roads—injuries sustained by men in their

execution—Huts and stables—Wharfs at Balaklava—Company to Cossack Bay—Peace—Bridge across the
Tchernaya—Reinforcements to the East—Barrel-floats for the embarkation of the army—Graveyards and
monuments—Parting Order by Lord Paulet to tenth company—Final services; Miss Nightingale—Order of
leaving the Crimea and Turkey—Reviews at Aldershot; inspections by the Queen—Names of the distinguished
men specially paraded before her Majesty—Wreck of the Clarendon—Last detachment from the East—
Statistics since the fall of Sebastopol—Surveys near Erzeroum—Parties detached for employment in the
ratification of the Moldavian and Danubian boundaries—Company added to the Cape of Good Hope command
—Corporal Mack present at the coronation of the Emperor of Russia at Moscow—A company to Portsmouth
—Another to Aldershot—Removal of the museum from Marlborough House to Kensington Gore—A company
moved to Devonport—Augmentation—A party embarks for Ceylon—Another for Mitylene—Corporal
Pennington wins the “Champion’s Belt” at the foot races on Chatham Lines—Corps incorporated with the
royal engineers—Grade of private changed to that of sapper—History of the royal sappers and miners closed
476

1856.

CONCLUDING CHAPTER.

Establishment of the corps—Organization of companies—Distribution—Establishment at Chatham—The

Ordnance Survey—Its divisional districts—and military character—Qualifications of the observers—List of the
non-commissioned officers employed as such—Greatest distances observed by them—Importance of the
services of the non-commissioned officers, as proved by the reduction of the officers—Situations of trust filled
by them—Strength of the companies—Average distribution in the United Kingdom—Division of labour—Great
triangulation—Private James Weir—Secondary and minor triangulations—Other general survey duties—
Perambulation of boundaries—Sergeant Robert Meade—Pay and allowances—Skilful and distinguished talents
and usefulness of eleven non-commissioned officers; and of quartermaster William Young—Merits and
services of the survey companies
494

Appendix
529

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

VOL. II.

XVI.
XVII.

Uniform
Working-dress

1854
1854 }
To face Title.

xiv

Royal Sappers & Miners

Plate XVII.

plate XVII

Working Dress 1854.

Printed by M & N Hanhart.

xvi

HISTORY

OF THE

ROYAL SAPPERS AND MINERS.

1