The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
supplies. Not he nor his men nor his camels had a day's rest from the
8th January, when the Desert Column left Korti, till the 27th, when the
convoy was back again at Jakdul. The convoy reached Gubat on the 31st
January; next day came the news of the fall of Khartoum; and the same
evening the convoy marched again for Jakdul with sick and wounded.
From Jakdul it returned with Sir Redvers Buller; arrived at Gubat on
the 11th February; and started again on the 13th, {323} as already
related, with another party of sick and wounded. On the way back to
Korti, Colonel Talbot, without engineers or commissariat, constructed a
camp and built forts at Megaga Wells, where the main body, including
the Naval Brigade, joined his convoy on 2nd March.
After Colonel Talbot's convoy had left Gubat on 13th February, I
disposed of the poor old _Safieh_ and the _Tewfikiyeh_, lest upon our
departure they should be taken by the enemy. The six brass guns were
spiked and thrown overboard, the ammunition was destroyed, the
eccentric straps were removed from the machinery, and finally the
valves were opened and the vessels sunk.
Then came the sad destruction of the stores for which we had no
transport. The number of camels would only suffice to carry rations
for three days, by the end of which the Column would have arrived at
Abu Klea, where were more stores. When Colonel Talbot's convoy of
supplies reached Gubat two days previously, the garrison had for ten
days been living on short rations: nevertheless, more than half of what
he brought must be destroyed. Count Gleichen (_With the Camel Corps up
the Nile_) says that "19,000 lbs. of flour, 3000 lbs. of biscuit,
21,220 lbs. of beef, 900 lbs. of bacon, 1100 lbs. of tea, oatmeal,
preserved vegetables, coffee, and all sorts of stores were pierced and
thrown into the river"--an example of waste in war resulting from
deficient transport.
Some of the medical comforts, small bottles of champagne and port, were
distributed. One among us--I think his name was Snow--took a bottle of
wine and swore he would keep it till he drank it in Khartoum. _And he
did_. He went into Khartoum with Kitchener thirteen years afterwards,
and drank his libation in the conquered city.
That incident reminds me that, when I went with the party of members of
the House of Commons to Russia in 1912, a Russian farmer sent a note to
the British admiral, of whom he said he had heard, together with a
bottle containing mustard which he had grown, and which he sent {324}
as a token that the aforesaid British admiral would give his enemies
mustard when he met them; for, said the farmer, the enemies of England
would certainly be the enemies of Russia. I have that bottle of
mustard.
What went to my heart when the stores were destroyed, was the dreadful
waste of my drums of precious lubricating oil, carried so far with so
great labour. My tears mingled with the oil as it was poured out upon
the sand.
On the 14th February, at 5.30 a.m., the Desert Column quitted Gubat and
started on the long return march to Korti, officers and men alike on
foot, excepting the Hussars. There was hardly a pair of boots in the
whole column. Some of the men cut up old rifle-buckets and tied the
pieces with string to the soles of their feet. As for my sailors, they
marched barefoot, every man carrying his rifle, cutlass, and 70
cartridges, and many of them towing reluctant camels. One camel to
every four men was allotted to carry saddle-bags and blankets; and the
camels kept dropping and dying all the way. By the time he had been
three days out, Count Gleichen, in charge of the baggage, had lost 92
camels. At first the weather was cool with a northerly breeze, and all
started well. On the march, in default of water, I used to spread my
clothes in the sun while I rubbed myself all over with sand; a dry bath
that was highly cleansing and refreshing. On the 15th February we came
to Abu Klea, somewhat weary.
We were of course in constant expectation of attack. On the next day
(16th) the Naval Brigade occupied a sand redoubt, on which the two
Gardner guns were mounted.
Sir Redvers Buller, finding that the water supply was insufficient and
that there was not enough food for the camels, sent on the Soudanese
troops, baggage, stores and camp-followers under escort to Jakdul,
while he halted at Abu Klea to keep the enemy in check, until the
unloaded camels returned from Jakdul, and until further instructions
arrived from headquarters. The remainder of the Column, entrenched at
Abu Klea, thus became the rearguard, in the {325} air, as the phrase
is; isolated for the time being and deprived of transport and reserve
stores; a dangerous position forced upon the general by the lack of
camels.
In the evening began the customary desert performance, opened by the
Dervishes firing at long range from a hill-top commanding the camp, and
continued during the long, cold, sleepless night with intermittent
sniping to a tom-tom accompaniment. But our men were seasoned by this
time; and although one among them was hit now and again, the situation
no longer set a strain upon their nerves, but was accepted as part of
the routine. That night two men were killed and thirteen wounded. It
is true that the faithful José Salvatro, my Maltese servant, who had
done and suffered so much, lost patience on this occasion. He was
heating cocoa over the fire, when a bullet struck the tin and splashed
the hot cocoa all over him.
"Why they fire _me_, sare?" said José. "Always firing _me_. _I_ never
did them any harm."
In the morning (the 17th) the enemy opened fire with a gun; which,
after three or four rounds, was knocked out by the Naval Brigade with a
Gardner.
I had walked a little way from the redoubt, when I was knocked over by
a stunning blow striking me at the base of the spine, and lay helpless.
I thought I was done; and I thought what an unlucky dog I was to have
come through so much, to die on the way back from a wound in a place so
undignified. But it was only a ricochet; my men carried me in; and I
speedily recovered.
During the day Major F. M. Wardrop, D.A.A.G., and Lieutenant R. J.
Tudway of the Mounted Infantry, with three men, employed the tactics I
had used outside Alexandria two years previously. Riding swiftly from
one point to another, and concealing themselves in the intervals, they
impressed the Dervishes with the delusion that a large force threatened
them in rear, and so caused them to retreat. In the afternoon,
Lieutenant-Colonel H. McCalmont arrived with the news of the action of
the River Column at Kirbekan {326} on the 10th, and of the death of
General Earle. The mail from Korti contained a kind message of
congratulation addressed by the Khedive to myself, referring to the
engagement at Wad Habeshi, as well as congratulations from home. The
total number of killed and wounded during the 16th and 17th was three
men killed, and four officers and 23 men wounded. We heard on the 21st
of the death of our beloved General, Sir Herbert Stewart, who, in spite
of all our hopes, had succumbed to his wound on the 17th, during the
march of Colonel Talbot's convoy, seven miles north of Geb-el-Nus. He
was buried with full military honours on the following day near the
wells of Jakdul.
On the 22nd February a convoy under Colonel Brabazon arrived with 782
camels. These were only just sufficient to move the stores and
supplies.
It may here be noted that it was only a day or two previously that Lord
Wolseley had received at Korti Sir Redvers Buller's letters describing
the complete collapse of the transport of the Desert Column; and it was
this information, together with a minute from Sir Evelyn Wood, who was
at Jakdul, that finally decided Lord Wolseley to abandon his intention
of combining the Desert and River Columns to hold posts along the Nile
preparatory to an autumn campaign. At the same time, great anxiety
with regard to the Desert Column prevailed at home.
Upon the morning of the next day (the 23rd) our picquets reported that
the enemy had received a reinforcement of some 8000 men and six guns.
Perhaps the Column had never been in more imminent danger than it was
at that moment.
Sir Redvers Buller discussed the situation with me. I expressed the
opinion that the large force of the enemy would cut off our advance,
rush us, and then move upon Jakdul and so on to Korti itself; and
remarked that the Column was short of transport and of provisions, and
would be short of water.
{327}
"What would you do if you were in command?" said Buller.
I told him that in the evening I would light a larger number of
camp-fires than usual, and, leaving them burning in order to deceive
the enemy, I would then depart in silence and with speed.
"For a sailor ashore," said Buller, "you've a good head. I'll do it."
And he did.
At two o'clock the same afternoon, Sir Redvers Buller sent on his sick
and wounded--32 of all ranks--with a convoy of 300 men commanded by
Colonel Stanley Clarke; and that night, at 7.30, the rest of the Column
stole forth into the desert, leaving a ring of camp-fires flaming in
the dark behind us. We halted after four hours' march and bivouacked
in peace. Next day (the 24th) we were sniped by a few wandering
scouts: and save for these, saw no enemy. Then began the three days'
hard marching, on short rations, and very little water, in great heat,
to Jakdul. Many of the men fell out: but not one man of the Naval
Brigade.
We arrived at Jakdul on the 26th February. I did not keep a diary: but
Lieutenant Colin Keppel's journal defines the situation in three
eloquent words: "Water, mails, cigarettes!"
Next day I found time to write home, the first opportunity for so doing
during the past six weeks.
"Even now (I wrote), I am writing in a storm of sand and wind, my paper
blowing one way and my helmet another, among my camels, who smell most
poisonous. Poor things, they were eight days without water, and had
only what food they could get when foraging in the desert. And they
have so many and so large holes in their backs, that I am obliged to
put shot-plugs in, to keep the water in when they drink...."
It was true that I put shot-plugs in the camels. My official report
(and what can be truer than an official report?) {328} contains under
date 27th February the sole entry: "Employed repairing camels' sides by
plugging them with oakum!" Lord Wolseley laughed when he read it. But
although the surgery may appear empirical, it was wonderfully
successful. The admixture of tar acted as an antiseptic.
On the following day (28th February) we resumed the march to Korti; on
2nd March the Naval Brigade joined Colonel Talbot's convoy at Megaga
Wells, with the Heavy Camel Regiment and Royal Artillery. The Guards'
Camel Regiment had gone on to Abu Halfa. The remainder of the Column
under Sir Evelyn Wood left Jakdul on 3rd March.
At Megaga Wells Colonel Talbot took command and we left for Korti,
officers and men continuing to march on foot, very few having soles to
their boots. There was one camel allocated to carry the kits of five
men; 30 camels carried water; and 10 carried the sick. The thermometer
registered 112° in the shade, and a hot wind blew. And so we came to
Korti on the 8th March, two months after we had left it.
Lord Wolseley inspected the Naval Brigade on parade; and expressed his
extreme satisfaction at the work they had done, and the manner in which
it had been performed. The next day the Brigade was broken up, and
told off to different stations, under the command of Captain Boardman.
I was ordered to rejoin the staff of Lord Wolseley.
Colonel Talbot notes that the Heavy Camel Regiment, of which he was in