Soon after the hurricane, the ‘Arethusa,’ of Liverpool, a ship of 350 tons, was blown to pieces by gunpowder in the harbour of Barbadoes, by colour-sergeant Harris and a party of the 19th company under the direction of Major, now Colonel Sir William Reid. The destruction of the ship was effected by a number of successive small charges of gunpowder applied to the ship’s bottom as near the keel as possible, and fired at high water;[272] and as it has not been discovered, in the history of engineering, that the entire demolition of a wreck was ever accomplished by these means, it is therefore memorable that the royal sappers and miners were the first who ever destroyed a sunken wreck by submarine mining.[273] ----- Footnote 272: ‘Prof. Papers, Royal Engineers,’ ii. p. 36. ‘United Service Journal,’ iii. 1838, p. 37. Footnote 273: ‘United Service Journal,’ ii. 1839, p. 183, 184. ----- On the 7th October, the House of Lords threw out the Reform Bill, and as consequent riots had occurred in various parts of the country, it was expected that an attack would be made on the Tower of London. To assist in repelling any attempt upon that fortress, two sergeants and thirty-three rank and file under the command of Lieutenant John Williams, R.E., were sent there on the 8th November, but after being under arms for a week, they returned to Woolwich, without any necessity arising for the employment of their services. Late in December, second-corporal Edward Deane and private James Andrews, accompanied Captain C. Grierson to Western Africa, where they were employed in surveying the coast and the town of Bathurst. On this duty they were found particularly useful, and rejoined at Woolwich in June, 1832.