The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
bluejackets next day, and was taken into hospital. As I remember the
occasion, he left the decision as to whether or not his leg should be
amputated, to me. At any rate, the surgeon had no doubt as to the
necessity of the operation, at which I was present. With his finger he
flicked out of the wound pieces of bone like splinters of bamboo. The
leg was buried, and was afterwards exhumed in order to extract the
bullet from it. I think I remember that Crutchley, seeing it being
carried across to the hospital, asked whose leg it was. He was carried
upon a litter back to Korti, and the shaking of that terrible march
made necessary a second operation, which was successful.
Sir Charles Wilson's force, having bivouacked that night beside the
Nile, were up at daybreak; took possession of the empty village of mud
huts, called Abu Kru, but always known as Gubat, which stood on the
gravel ridge sloping to the Nile, 780 yards from the river; and placed
the wounded in Gubat under a guard. The force then returned to our
zeriba.
When we saw that gallant little array come marching over the distant
hill-top, and through the scrub towards us, we cheered again and again.
Hearty were our greetings. Our comrades, who had marched without
breakfast, were speedily provided with a plentiful meal of bully-beef
and tea.
Then we all set to work to dismantle the zeriba, to collect the stores
of which it was constructed and to sort them out, to mend the broken
saddles, and load up the wretched camels, who had been knee-lashed and
unable to move for twenty-four hours. About a hundred camels were
dead, having been shot as they lay. As there were not enough camels to
carry all the stores, a part of these were {279} left under an
increased garrison inside the redoubt upon the knoll in rear of the
zeriba, Major T. Davison in command.
At midday we buried the dead, over whom I read the service, Sir Charles
Wilson being present as chief mourner.
The last of the wounded to be moved was Sir Herbert Stewart, so that he
should be spared as much discomfort as possible. He was doing fairly
well, and we then hoped that he would recover.
Before sunset we were all safely lodged in Gubat. The Desert Column
had reached the river at last. It was the 20th January; we had left
Korti on the 8th. In the course of that 176 miles we had gone through
perhaps as sharp a trial as British troops have endured.
At the fight of Abu Klea, nine officers and 65 non-commissioned
officers and men were killed, and nine officers and 85 non-commissioned
officers and men were wounded. On the 19th January, between the wells
of Abu Klea and the river, one officer and 22 non-commissioned officers
and men were killed, and eight officers and 90 non-commissioned
officers and men were wounded. The general, Sir Herbert Stewart, had
received a wound which was to prove mortal. All the officers of the
Naval Brigade, except Mr. James Webber, boatswain, and Sub-Lieutenant
Munro, who was wounded, and myself, had been killed. The losses were
roughly one-tenth of the total number of the Column. The camels which
survived had been on one-third rations and without water for a week.
They were hardly able to walk; ulcerating sores pitted their bodies;
their ribs actually came through their skin. Count Gleichen says that
his camel drank from the Nile for 14 minutes without stopping; and that
subsequently the poor beast's ribs took a fine polish from the rubbing
of the saddle. The horses of the Hussars had been 58 hours, and many
of them 72 hours, without water. I cannot mention the Hussars without
paying a tribute to the admirable scouting work they did under
Lieutenant-Colonel Barrow during the whole march, up to the time the
last zeriba was formed, when the gallant little horses were dead beat.
{280} The present field-marshal, Sir John French, did splendid service
with the Hussars throughout the campaign.
When we came into Gubat I was painfully, though not seriously, ill.
The galling of the makeshift saddle during my three days' ride across
the desert from Dal to Abu Fatmeh on my way to Korti, had developed
into a horrid carbuncle; and I was unable to walk without help.
{281}
CHAPTER XXX
THE SOUDAN WAR (_Continued_)
VIII. DISASTER
"Comrades, who with us side by side,
Did in the brunt of battle stand,
Are absent now, their manly forms
Lie mouldering in the desert sand."
_Songs of the Camel Corps_ (Sergeant H. EAGLE, R.M.C.C.)
On 21st January, the day after the main body of the Desert Column had
come to Gubat, an attack was made upon Metemmeh, which resolved itself
into a reconnaissance in force. Lord Wolseley's instructions to Sir
Herbert Stewart were "to advance on Metemmeh, which you will attack and
occupy." These instructions Sir Charles Wilson, upon whom the command
had devolved, determined to carry into execution, although there was a
doubt whether under the circumstances the attempt would be justified.
Metemmeh was a walled town of considerable strength, lying two miles
down the river from the encampment. Between the encampment and the
town rose low ridges, in whose folds clustered the huts of deserted
villages.
The Naval Brigade joined in the attack; and as I was out of action, Mr.
Webber, boatswain, was in command, and did admirably well.
While Sir Charles Wilson's force was firing upon the town, whence the
enemy briskly replied, Gordon's four steamers arrived. His black
troops instantly landed with guns, and joyfully bombarded the mud
walls; while Sir {282} Charles Wilson conferred with Khashm-el-Mus Bey,
Malik (King) of the Shagiyeh tribe, and Abd-el-Hamid Bey, a young Arab
greatly trusted by Gordon, who were in command of the steamers. Abd el
Hamid subsequently deserted, and was, I think, shot by the Mahdi.
Khashm-el-Mus having reported that a large force was on its way down
from Khartoum under Feki Mustapha, Sir Charles Wilson decided that he
ought not to incur the further loss of men involved in the capture of
Metemmeh. He therefore withdrew from Metemmeh, and returned to Gubat,
destroying the three intervening villages on the way.
During the reconnaissance of Metemmeh, Major William H. Poe, of the
Royal Marines, was severely wounded in the leg. He insisted upon
wearing a red coat, saying that his other coat was not fit to be seen;
and he made a conspicuous target. His leg was amputated, and he
eventually recovered; and he rides to hounds to this day.
In view of the approach of the enemy, the wounded were brought from the
fort on the ridge to an entrenched camp on the river; and opposite to
it, upon Gubat Island, a breastwork was constructed, and was occupied
by some of Gordon's Soudanese who had come in the steamers. Major T.
Davison's outlying detachment, with the remaining stores, was brought
in.
It was now necessary very carefully to consider the situation. Sir
Charles Wilson read the letters dispatched by Gordon and brought in one
of the steamers, the _Bordein_, which had left Khartoum on 14th
December. Sir Charles gave me these letters to read. In a letter
addressed to the Officer Commanding H.M. Troops, Gordon requested that
"all Egyptian officers and soldiers" be taken out of the steamer. "I
make you a present of these _hens_," he wrote, "and I request you will
not let one come back here to me." In another letter, addressed to
Major Watson (colonel in the Egyptian Army), dated 14th December,
Gordon wrote that he expected a crisis to arrive about Christmas; and
implied that he had abandoned hope of relief.
{283}
It was now nearly a month after Christmas, and Khartoum was still
holding out. But it was no longer possible to carry into execution
Lord Wolseley's original intention: that Sir Herbert Stewart should
capture and occupy Metemmeh; that I should man Gordon's four steamers
with the Naval Brigade and should take Sir Charles Wilson with a
detachment of infantry up to Khartoum. Now, Sir Herbert Stewart was
incapacitated by his wound; it was not considered practicable to take
Metemmeh; all the officers of the Naval Brigade were killed or wounded
except Mr. Webber; and I myself was so ill as to be unable to get about
without help. Moreover, the weakened Desert Column, including more
than a hundred wounded, would in all likelihood shortly be attacked by
a greatly superior force.
Two main provisions of the original plan, however, had been fulfilled.
The Column had reached the river; and Gordon's steamers had joined the
Column. And it was then supposed that Wolseley was marching across the
Bayuda Desert with reinforcements.
Sir Charles Wilson determined to go to Khartoum (a decision in which I
strongly supported him), provided that he could make reasonably sure
that the force to be left behind was not in immediate danger of attack.
He reckoned that the news of the defeat of the Mahdi's forces at Abu
Klea would have served both to inspirit the garrison at Khartoum, and,
owing to the dispatch of a number of the enemy to meet us, to relieve
them in some measure. And after examining the commanders of the
steamers on the point, he was satisfied that the delay of two days
spent in reconnoitring, would not be material; a conclusion which was
not shared by Khashm-el-Mus, who was eager to go to Khartoum.
Accordingly, on 22nd January, Sir Charles Wilson took three steamers
down stream to reconnoitre. The four boats sent down by Gordon were:
the _Bordein_, under Abd-el-Hamid; _Talahawiyeh_, under Nusri Pasha;
_Safieh_, under Mahmoud Bey; and _Tewfikiyeh_, under Khashm-el-Mus.
{284} Sir Herbert Stewart was moved on board the _Tewfikiyeh_, a small
boat, which was employed as a ferry between Gubat Island and the
mainland. I went with Sir Charles Wilson in the _Talahawiyeh_. I was
not of much use, as I had to be helped on board, and was obliged to lie
down in the cabin. In the same steamer were Major Phipps and two
companies of Mounted Infantry. Old Khashm-el-Mus was made commandant
of the boat instead of Nusri Pasha. In the _Bordein_ were Captain
Verner, Abd-el-Hamid, and native soldiers. The _Safieh_ had her own
crew and captain.
These vessels, about the size and build of the old penny steamboats on
the Thames, had been ingeniously protected and armed by poor Colonel
Stewart, he who was treacherously murdered on 18th September, 1884,
after the wreck of his steamer _Abbas_ at Hebbeh. (It will be
remembered that Colonel Stewart was sent by Gordon, with a party of
refugees, to communicate in person with the authorities in Egypt.) In
the bows was a small turret constructed of baulks of timber, and
containing a 9-pr. brass howitzer (_canon rayé_) to fire ahead;
amidships, between the paddle-boxes, was the central turret, also built
of timber, and mounting a gun to fire over the paddle-boxes. Astern,
on the roof of the deckhouse, was an enclosure of boiler-plate,
protecting the wheel and giving shelter to riflemen. The sides and
bulwarks were covered with boiler-plate, above which was fixed a rail
of thick timber, leaving a space through which to fire. The boiler,
which projected above the deck, was jacketed with logs of wood. The
improvised armour of wood and iron would stop a bullet, but was
pervious by shell.
The ships' companies were an interesting example of river piracy. The
steamers had been cruising up and down the Nile since October, a period
of four months, during which the crews lived on the country, raiding
and fighting. Everything was filthy and neglected except the engines.
The forehold was crammed with ammunition, _dhura_ {285} grain, wool,
fuel, and miscellaneous loot. The main-hold was inhabited by women,
babies, stowaways, wounded men, goats, amid a confusion of ammunition,