History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (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 2 (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
The distribution of the party gave ample employment to every man, and
the division of labour was adapted to the attainments of the men and the
necessities of the duty. Corporal William Jenkins assisted the sergeant
at the bars and microscopes. The latter compared the microscopes with
the standard on Sundays; and frequently, after a severe day’s work, the
same process was necessarily gone through, and other adjustments of the
instruments effected. Corporal Edward Harkin constantly attended to the
aligning instrument, whilst one man assisted him in preparing the
stations, &c.; two privates levelled the triangles for the feet of the
supporting stools for the bars; two attended to the adjustment of the
stools on the triangles, levelled the camels on them, and moved forward
the microscopes, &c.; two carried forward the bars and point-carriers,
and levelled the former and fixed the latter; one registered the bars
and microscopes, and otherwise aided in moving them forward and
adjusting them; one, a carpenter, made the pickets, and repaired the
mallets, tents, &c.; four attended to the shifting and placement of the
tents; one was sentry over the bars at the dinner hour and during the
night, to prevent any disturbance in the apparatus; and two attended to
the domestic and miscellaneous duties of the huts.
The camp occupied three different positions on the line. It was thus
moved twice forward. On each occasion, for a few days, no progress was
made in the remeasurement, and sergeant Steel with two privates, filled
up the interval in comparing the bars and microscopes with the
standards. In the meantime, the remainder of the detachment fitted up
the portable huts in the position selected for them.
Great nicety and precision were required in the placement of the bars;
and so rigidly did the sergeant enforce the strictest exactness in their
alignment and contiguity, that he would not order the “move forward”
until he satisfied himself that the possibility of an error in the
operation was not likely to exceed the 10,000th part of an inch. In this
way the work was continued till the 16th October, 1848, when the 3,484th
bar shot over the old Sarum terminus of the line. This was followed by a
spontaneous cheer, hearty and sustained, from the assembled party who
thus commemorated the successful accomplishment of the operation. By
previous computations from the Lough Foyle base, the perfect accuracy of
the remeasurement was proved; for, not only did the predetermined bar
reach the gun, but the very inch of it entered the muzzle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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