Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

in lieu "Three Sea Captains, whilst waiting promotion to Flag Rank" should be made Colonels of Marines at £2 a day, and appointed to command the Divisions at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth! A splendid way of teaching N.C.O's and men their military duties while stationed on shore !

This also was allowed and the abuse continued well into the 19th Century.

Is it to be wondered at then that, in spite of the worse conditions when afloat, Lieutenant O’Loghlan and others thought regretfully of the time when if they could not obtain the command of their own Battalion they had just as much chance as anybody else of exchanging or being promoted to some other regiment and even be in the run. ning for the highest Army Commands.

Still there were cases in which by luck, or interest, officers of the Corps were transferred to the Army, and some of them rose to high command. It was, too, always open to an officer to resign and purchase a commission in the Army, and a good many did so at various times. A few cases of transfer may be mentioned, but there were many

others.

Captain the Honourable John Maitland, of the 2nd Battalion of Marines that served at Boston in 1775-6, commanded the light infantry of the Army which fought in America during the next few years, and died in 1779, at Savannah, as Colonel in Command of the Frazer Highlanders.

Lieutenant H. D'Oyley was appointed Lieutenant, 52nd Foot, on November 22nd, 1776-vice Addison, killed. Three officers who fought at Trafalgar, Lieutenants Higgins, Rabon, and Whally, were appointed as Ensigns to the 92nd Highlanders, 7th Foot, and 52nd Foot, respectively, during the next three or four years—probably by purchase.

Lieutenant N. Harris Nicolas, who was a 2nd Lieutenant at Bunker's Hill, exchanged to the 44th Regiment and was afterwards Major in the Royal Cornwall Fencible Regiment.

Captain Mackenzie obtained a majority in the 78th in 1794. He commanded a brigade in Portugal, in 1808, and fell in the Battle of Talavera as a Major-General.

Since the abolition of purchase a certain number of officers of Marines have been transferred to the Army, generally by way of the Indian Staff Corps. Major-General C. V. F. Townshend, K.C.B., D.S.O., the gallant defender of Chitral and Kut, is a notable instance. Entering the Staff Corps he served in the Central Indian Horse, then commanded the 12th Soudanese, and afterwards the 7th Fusiliers. One or two have even been transferred direct in the recollection of the writer. Lieutenant Abercrombie was transferred to the Royal Scots Fusiliers about 1880 and Lieutenant Gordon to the Royal Engineers. But these are exceptional cases.

NOTE III.-MARINE ORDERS, 1742 (WHEN EMBARKED).

Supply'd in Cloaths &c as Sailors not to exceed 4s a Mth Pursers Bills Sign'd wn he pleases by/r Off/r Agent to pay it.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

6d a Mth except Com/nd Off'rs. viz 2d to ye Surg/n, 4d Chapl/n.

To Capt/ns &c Royal Navy. By ye R't H ye L/ds Admiralty. 1742."

(That the order against "ill-treatment" was not superfluous is evident from the experience of the 34th Regiment when embarked in lieu of seamen to complete the complement of the ships going on the ill-fated Cartagena Expedition of 1740. Fortescue tells us that upon this occasion “it lost half its numbers through ill-usage on board ship before a shot was fired.")

MARINES OR LAND FORCES when on board have their Pay (Seamen's Provision, Short Allowance, Conduct Money and Hospitals, etc., and Bread in Camp).

Officers of Comps: etc: every 2 months to return 3 perfect Lists of Officers and Soldiers on board, attested by the Capt. and Purser of the ship; when sick on shore the Physician's and O. Officer's Certificate is sufficient. No less than 24 and 1 Officer to go on board, but in Necessity.

Pay Master to adjust Accts: by the Muster Lists etc: (7th May, 1740).

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

From the above Table it will be seen that considering the purchasing value of money at the time-the Pay was by no means bad, and that the recent increases were very many years overdue. In the little work from which the above extracts are taken the Pay and Subsistence have not been shewn added together. They have been totalled here for easier comparison with the rates of a decade ago.

SILVER EPAULET. From a portrait of Col. A. T. Collins (1780-90).

[graphic][subsumed]

MARINES AND HIGHLANDERS STORM FORT LOUIS GUADELOUPE 13th February, 1759.

CHAPTER X.

IN ACTION AFLOAT (18TH CENTURY).

There's the Fleet upon the water,

There's the crowd upon the quay,

There's the Roy'l Marines a-goin' forth

To fight across the sea.

There's sobbin' from the women,

Men are cheerin' for they know

When a bit o' fight is wanted,

"Joey's always first to go!"-RICHARD MORTON.

[graphic]

T the end of the year 1758 the British Government determined to make an attack upon the French possessions in the Leeward Islands, information having been received that they were in but a poor posture for defence. The Squadron detailed for this purpose sailed from England about the end of November under the command of Commodore Moore, and consisted of seven line-of-battle ships a 50-gun ship, some frigates and bomb vessels. The Military part of the expedition -comprised the 3rd Buffs, the 4th (King's), the 6th, the 63rd and 64th regiments, seven companies of the Black

Watch, some gunners and 800 Marines, most of the latter being the detachments on board the various ships of war. General Hopson was in command. Captain Richard Gardiner, who commanded the Marines on board the Rippon,1 published in 1760 a comprehensive account of the expedition, and we cannot do better than quote from this, which, of course, gives the story of the operations from the Marine point of view.

66

On board the several men-of-war," he writes, "the Marines were augmented to the number of 800, and were intended to be formed into a battalion under the command of a Lieutenant-Colonel2 and a Major in order to land with the troops, and do duty in the line; but upon the arrival of the squadron at Barbadoes, Commodore Moore refused his assent to land them in battalion, and did, in effect, take away all command from the Lieut.-Colonel and Major of Marines." The Commodore, doubtless, could not help looking at the matter from his own point of view, and preferred for a good many reasons, to retain this valuable portion of his ships' companies on board, at any rate until he was able to form an opinion as to what demands the expedition was likely to make upon the fighting powers of his squadron.

On arriving at the "Great Bay of Port Royal," on 16th January, 1759, Captain Gardiner relates that "The first attack upon the Island of Martinico was made this morning at Fort Negro, a strong battery of seven embrasures, and within seven miles of the Citadel. The Bristol, Rippon and Lyon were ordered overnight for this service, but the Lyon driving out to sea afterwards, at six the Bristol and Rippon stood in for the Fort, and at eight the Bristol having anchored close in with it, began to engage. About nine, the Rippon anchored astern of her, when the battery being silenced, at ten the Marines from both ships, landed in the flat-bottomed boats, and climbing up the rocks, entered it at the embrasures with bayonets fixed, but found it entirely abandoned by the enemy, and seemingly with some precipitation, several hats and swords, silver spurs, etc., being picked up by the men in different parts of it. A lieutenant from each ship, with a party of seamen, who rowed the boats, entered with the Marines, and about half-an-hour after ten, the English colours were hoisted and Marine sentinels posted upon the parapet. The officers having made the necessary dispositions in case of being attacked by any detachment from the Citadel or garrison at Port Royal, the Lieutenant of the Bristol returned on board to acquaint Captain Leslie with the condition of the Fort, and that it was the opinion of the Marine officers, that it was tenable against any attempts of the Enemy to retake it, especially as the troops employed on such an occasion must of necessity be exposed to the fire of the two ships; upon which Captain Leslie ordered them to keep possession till he made a signal to re-embark. In the meantime the Detachment in the Fort proceeded to spike up the guns, knocked off the trunnions, broke the carriages,

[ocr errors]

1 It may interest some readers to note that the regulation that a whole year's service afloat is necessary in order to reckon a tour" of embarkation duty was laid down by the Admiralty on 16th June, 1761. 2 Lt.-Col. Rycaut.

3 Besides the number of Marines on board the men-of-war had been augmented to 800 men, with a view to their being formed into a battalion, under the command of a Lieut.-Colonel and a Major, expressly named by the King for this service, in order to land with the troops and to do duty in the line; but this disposition never took place." - Hist. of the late War in America. Thos. Mante, 1772.

4 Special boats for landing troops and guns-sometimes called "flats."

5 Drive long spikes into the toucholes, which, being very brittle, would be broken off in the hole and so be difficult or impossible to withdraw. The pointed ends of the aigulettes worn now by Staff Officers are really ornamental editions of the old spikes."

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]
« VorigeDoorgaan »