The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
convincing) and occupied the lines. Every morning at seven o'clock
they returned to the ship; and during the afternoon went out upon
reconnaissance, accompanied by a boat's gun mounted in a bullock cart,
and a rocket-tube mounted on another bullock cart. Two horses were
harnessed to each cart, assisted, when required, by bluejackets hauling
on drag-ropes. The men of the _Condor_ were reinforced from the Fleet
on these expeditions, so that the total force of bluejackets and
Marines was 150. The cavalry being represented solely by the colonel
and the major of Marines, and myself, who were mounted, we had no
sufficient force wherewith to pursue the flying foe.
We used to play hide-and-seek with the soldiery and Bedouin among the
sandhills. When they approached on one flank, we shelled them with the
little gun until they retired; and then, hauling the gun-cart and
rocket-cart over the roughest ground, we suddenly appeared and shelled
them on the other flank, to their great amazement. All hands enjoyed
these expeditions amazingly.
In the course of these reconnaissances, large quantities of stores and
ammunition were found in the neighbouring villages. About three miles
from the lines, an immense store of gun-cotton and Abel's detonators
was discovered in a quarry among the low hills, stored in a shed. As
no hostile force appeared during the next two days, I determined to
destroy the gun-cotton. Captain A. K. Wilson of the _Hecla_ sent 20
bluejackets and six Marines to assist me. These were embarked and
landed within half a mile of the place. Outposts were set, with orders
to signal should the enemy appear, and the rest of the party set to
work.
{204}
Although gun-cotton does not, strictly speaking, explode except by
detonation, it is extremely difficult to define where ignition ends and
detonation begins; and there had been instances of its explosion,
supposed to be due to the internal pressure of a large mass. A
tremendous explosion of gun-cotton had occurred in 1866 at Stowmarket,
where its manufacture was being carried on under the patent of Sir
Frederick Abel, then chemist to the War Office. On another occasion,
when Sir Frederick was conducting an experiment designed to prove that
ignition was harmless, he had his clothes blown off his body, and
narrowly escaped with his life. Recollecting these things, I thought
it advisable to spread the stuff in a loose mass upon the hillside
sloping to the quarry. The gun-cotton was packed in boxes. These were
unpacked, and the contents were spread on the ground. Next to the
pile, a bucket of loose powder was poured on the ground and over the
fuse, to make sure of ignition. Into the powder was led one end of a
Bickford's fuse, which was then threaded through the discs of
gun-cotton. The fuse was timed to burn for five minutes.
The work was highly exhausting to the men, and more than once I felt
inclined to call in the outposts to help; but I decided that it would
not be right to take the risk of a surprise attack; for we were working
in a trap, being closed in by the quarries on one side and by the low
hills on the other. And sure enough, when the men had been working for
five hours, up went the outpost's signal, and the corporal of Marines
with his three men came running in to report that large numbers of the
enemy were in sight.
Hastening out, I saw about 50 scouts running up, an action so unusual
that it was evident they were strongly supported. Presently, about 200
skirmishers appeared, and behind them a large body of cavalry, probably
about 700 in number. The outposts were at once recalled. The men were
ordered out of the quarry, divided into two companies {205} of twelve
men each, and retired by companies over the hill towards the shore, out
of sight of the enemy. Mr. Attwood, the gunner of the _Hecla_, a
bluejacket and myself, remained to fire the fuse. It was a five-minute
fuse. The retreating men had been told to count as they ran, and at
the end of four minutes, or when they saw us lie down, to halt and lie
down. I gave the order in case there should be an explosion. When the
men were lying down, I fired the fuse. Then the gunner, the bluejacket
and I ran about 300 yards, and flung ourselves down.
Then there came a noise as though a giant had expelled a huge breath;
the blast of the ignition burned our cheeks; in the midst of a vast
column of yellow smoke, boxes and pieces of paper were whirling high in
air, and a strong wind sucked back into the vacuum, almost dragging us
along the sand. The enemy were so interested in the spectacle that
they gave us time to get back to the boats.
It is probable that information had been given to the hostile forces by
the inhabitants of the village past which we went to reach the quarry
where was the gun-cotton; for, in retreating to the boats, when I
looked back, instead of the 20 or 30 native women who were usually
sitting about the place, I saw about 200 men eagerly watching us from
the house-tops, evidently in the hope of enjoying the gratifying
spectacle of our destruction.
From the summit of the slope falling to the sea, I signalled to the
flagship, with a handkerchief tied to a pole, that I was surrounded:
one of the many occasions upon which a knowledge of signalling proved
invaluable. There was a haze upon the water, and I could not clearly
discern the answering signal; but the signalman of the flagship had
seen my figure silhouetted on the sky-line. Instantly after, Captain
John Fisher of the _Inflexible_ manned and armed boats, came ashore,
and the enemy immediately retreated.
Shortly afterwards, as I was now a captain, I was relieved of the
command of the _Condor_ by Commander {206} Jeffreys, and went on
half-pay. I should naturally have much preferred to remain in my
little ship; but she was not a captain's command; and I left her (as I
see I wrote at the time) with a tear in each eye. Commander Jeffreys
discovered the place where she had been hit during the bombardment, one
of her under-water plates having been started. Until then, it was
thought that the only damage consisted of a hole through her awning and
the smashing of a boat.
At the conclusion of this period of my service, I was most gratified to
receive a gracious message of congratulation from Her Majesty the Queen.
H.H. the Khedive wrote to me, kindly expressing his sense of my
services, and at the same time offering me an appointment upon his
staff, in which capacity I was to go to the front. Lord Granville and
the Admiralty having signified their permission that I should accept
the post, I left Alexandria for Ismailia, together with several members
of the Khedival staff.
We went by steamer, which towed a huge iron lighter carrying horses. A
beam ran from stem to stern of the lighter, and to it the horses were
tethered with halters. I remarked to the captain of the steamer that
it would be advisable, in order to avoid injuring the lighter, to take
every precaution to prevent the steamer from having to go astern. But
in Ismailia Bay, which was crowded with shipping, a vessel crossed the
steamer's bows, the steamer was forced to go astern, and she cut a hole
in the lighter with her propeller. One of the ship's officers
instantly descended the Jacob's ladder into the lighter with me, and we
cut the halters of the horses, just in time to free them before the
lighter sank, and there we were swimming about among the wild and
frightened stallions. By splashing the water into their faces, we
turned one or two shorewards, when the rest followed and came safely to
land.
Upon discussing the matter of my appointment to the staff of the
Khedive with Sir Garnet Wolseley, to my {207} surprise he declined to
permit me to accept it. Discipline is discipline, and there was
nothing for it but to acquiesce.
I was about packing up my things, when Mr. Cameron, the war
correspondent of _The Standard_, informed me that he was authorised to
appoint a correspondent to _The New York Herald_, and also that he had
permission to send the said correspondent to the front, where I
particularly desired to go. The notion attracted me. I applied to the
military authorities for permission to accept the offer. Permission
was, however, refused. So there was nothing to do but to go home. But
before starting, I consoled myself by sending some provisions,
privately, to the unfortunate officers at the front, who, owing to the
substitution by the transport people of tents for food, were short of
necessaries. I obtained from the Orient four large boxes filled with
potted lobster, salmon, sardines, beef, tins of cocoa, and so forth,
and sent one box each to the 1st Life Guards, the Blues, the Guards,
and the Royal Marines. The orders were that no private supplies were
to go up. These I ventured to disregard; got up bright and early at
three o'clock in the morning; and had the boxes stowed under the hay
which was being sent up in railway trucks, before officialdom was out
of bed. Then I went home.
I consider that Sir Garnet Wolseley's conduct of the campaign, and his
brilliant victory at Tel-el-Kebir, were military achievements of a high
order. The public, perhaps, incline to estimate the merit of an action
with reference to the loss of life incurred, rather than in relation to
the skill employed in attaining the object in view. The attack at dawn
at Tel-el-Kebir was a daring conception brilliantly carried into
execution. Many persons, both at the time and subsequently, have
explained how it ought to have been done. But Sir Garnet Wolseley did
it.
The public seem to appreciate a big butcher's bill, although it may be
caused by stupidity or by lack of foresight on the part of the general.
But if he retrieves his mistakes, the public think more of him than of
the general {208} who, by the exercise of foresight and knowledge, wins
an action with little loss of life.
I carried home with me a 64 lb. shell fired from the _Condor_ at the
Mex magazine, intending to present it to the Prince of Wales. I found
it in the sand. It had passed right through the walls of the magazine,
and it had not exploded. Having brought it on board the _Condor_, I
caused the gunner, Mr. Alexander Greening, to sound it with a copper
rod: and he came to the conclusion that it was empty of gunpowder. I
therefore thought that it had never been filled. I intended to have it
cut in two and a lamp for the Prince made of the pieces, and took it to
Nordenfelt's works for the purpose. The foreman, desirous of taking
every precaution before cutting it, had it again filled with water and
sounded with a copper rod, when it suddenly exploded, blowing off the
foot of the workman who held it, and doing other serious damage. The
explanation seems to be that the force of the impact when the shell was
fired had solidified the powder into a hard mass. But explanation
would have little availed had the shell burst in the smoking-room at
Sandringham, where a fragment of it remains to this day.
{209}
CHAPTER XXII
PASSING THROUGH EGYPT
At the beginning of the year 1883 I was on my way out to India with
Lady Charles in the P. and O. s.s. _Malwa_. Proceeding into Ismailia
Lake, the _Malwa_ was rammed by another vessel which tried to cross the
_Malwa's_ bows. I was looking over the side of the _Malwa_ and I saw a
curious thing. I saw the colliding vessel rebound from the _Malwa_ and
strike her again. I ran up to the bridge, where the captain had
already given orders to stop the engines. The ship was sinking; it was
no time to stand upon ceremony; and I ventured to suggest to the
captain that he should put his engines full steam ahead, when he might
hope to beach the vessel, whereas if she stayed where she was, she