Naval brigades were well to the fore in the fighting which took place in the Sudan in 1884-5. At the Battle of El Teb 13 naval officers and 150 seamen, with six machine-guns, were present, as well as a battalion of 400 marines. It was in this action that Captain A. K. Wilson--now Admiral of the Fleet, Sir A. K. Wilson, V.C., G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O.--gained the V.C. for the gallant way in which he, single-handed, engaged no less than six of the enemy who had endeavoured to capture one of his machine-guns. The naval brigade suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Tamaii, which took place not long afterwards. In the Gordon Relief Expedition the naval brigade was naturally of great use on the Nile, and a small detachment of fifty-eight seamen under Lord Charles Beresford accompanied the Camel Corps in its dash across the desert and took part in the fiercely-contested fights of Abu Klea and Abu Kru. The marines formed the fourth company of the Guards Camel Corps on this occasion. In the operations on the upper Nile which preceded the fall of Khartoum there were a few naval and one marine officer in command of the Egyptian gunboats, whose fire proved such a useful auxiliary to the advance of the Anglo-Egyptian Army, while about a dozen non-commissioned officers of the Royal Marine Artillery were responsible for the instruction of their Egyptian gunners and the direction of their fire. [Illustration: THE NAVAL BRIGADE IN THE BATTLE OF EL-TEB] Naval brigades were very much in evidence in the South African War. No special squadron and no battalions of marines were sent out, because it was necessary to keep our main fleet and its personnel ready to hand in case of complications with European powers. The big cruisers _Terrible_ and _Powerful_, however, appeared on the scene, and their crews assisted in the formation of the naval brigades. In October, 1899, one of these was formed at Simonstown from the _Doris_, _Terrible_, _Powerful_, and _Monarch_. It is noteworthy that for the first time on record both seamen and marines were provided with khaki uniform in place of their usual blue-serge service-dress. This brigade was sent to Stormberg, on to Queenstown, and then, to its intense disappointment, back to Simonstown by sea from East London. That is, with the exception of the _Terribles_, who sailed for Durban. However, the very day the brigade arrived at Simonstown it was ordered off again to join Lord Methuen's force on the Modder River. The khaki-clad bluejackets, with their straw hats covered with the same coloured material, were rather a puzzle to the soldiers. During one of the engagements which took place, some of the Scots Guards, passing them standing by their guns, said to each other: "Blimy, Tommy, there's them Boer guns we've took!"