History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 1 (of 2): From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal EngineersConnolly, T. W. J. (Thomas William John)
History
History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 1 (of 2): From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers
Connolly, T. W. J. (Thomas William John)
Great Britain. Army. Royal Sappers and Miners
‘United Service Journal,’ i., 1845, p. 483.
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Besides using all vigilance and exertion at the different ports where
the royal military artificers were stationed, in furtherance of the
general business of preparation and defence, detachments of the corps
were constantly on the route from one place to another, erecting
temporary or permanent works. In April, at the suggestion of
Major-General Twiss, then commanding royal engineer in the Southern
District, the party at Dover was much increased to assist in forming
casemates in certain positions of the works on the western heights, by
which to remedy the defects in the original construction.
At Jersey, in the same month, every precaution was taken to render the
island capable of resisting any encroachment from its turbulent
neighbours; and all the batteries and forts, as far as practicable, were
manned with ordnance. In the execution of this service corporal and
master-carpenter Daniel Brown, described as “a worthy man and a useful
artificer,” was killed by a fall from the top of Platte Rocq Tower.
In September a small party was detached to Chelmsford, and
superintended, under the direction of Captain G. Whitmore, royal
engineers, the construction of a chain of temporary fieldworks,
consisting of intrenchments, batteries, and redoubts, from Woodford
Windmill to the windmill at Gallywood Common, a distance, by the line of
works, of about two miles and a half. Various regiments of militia
provided their contingents to execute these works, in which they were
assisted by detachments from the royal waggon train and royal staff
corps.
About the same time another party was despatched to Eastbourne to aid in
building the circular redoubt there, as also in erecting several
martello towers on the coast, at points best suited to protect our
shores. Fluctuating in strength according to the general emergencies of
the service, this detachment continued to work in the Eastbourne
district until the summer of 1817, when, after assisting in the erection
of all the towers as far as Rye Bay on the one side of Eastbourne, and
Seaforth on the other, it quitted the district and the men composing it
rejoined their companies.
At Woolwich, during the later months of the year, parties were specially
engaged in preparing and fitting out bomb tenders for the Channel fleet,
by casing their magazines, making racks for shot, and executing such
other precautionary services as would insure them from explosion and
destruction in action.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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