Howard Hewett Once Twice Three Times Mp3 Download
Varinia Swicegood
In this chronicle, brief as it is, three notable figurescannot be omitted: Mr. Commissioner John Beresford,Admiral Sir John Poo Beresford, and the Marshal. (Forinformation concerning these worthies, I have drawn uponthe Dictionary of National Biography.)
What Mr. Lewis means by "admiral's time," let himexplain in his own words. "When our admiral" (SirWilliam Martin) "was captain of the Prince Regent, whichwas considered the smartest ship in the Navy, he broughtall her times of all her drills to the grand old Marlboroughalong with him; and you know, my lord, that he allowedus six months to get our good old ship in trim before wedrilled along with the Fleet; but we started to drill along withthe Fleet after three months, and were able to beat them all."
Morrison and I worked together at everything. Weturned in new boats' falls, replaced lanyards in wash-deckbuckets, as well as taking our turn at all tricks sailmaker'screw. We put in new clews to a topsail and course. Weroped a jib and other fore-and-aft sails. Both of these jobsrequire great care and practice, and both of them we had todo two or three times before we got them right. A sailmakerknows how difficult it is to keep the lay of the rope right inroping a sail. We used also to go aloft and repair sick seamsin the sails to avoid unbending.
The meeting of the British and American seamen gaverise to much discussion concerning the respective meritsof the British and American theories of gunnery. TheAmericans advocated the use of round shot to deliver a"racking blow"; the British preferred firing a pointedprojectile which would penetrate the target instead ofmerely striking it. When an American bluejacket askedhis British friend to explain the new English system of68shell-fire, the British bluejacket said: "We casts our shotfor the new gun so many fathoms long, and then, d'ye see,we cuts off a length at a time, regulatin' the length requiredaccording to the ship we uses it against. For your ship,I reckon we should cut off about three and a half inches."
The Russo-Turkish war of 1877 had brought Russia intoopposition to Austria-Hungary, thus destroying the allianceof the three Emperors; and although Bismarck made peacebetween the two Powers at the Congress of Berlin, Russiabecame estranged from Germany. In order to restore hersecurity, Germany concluded an alliance with Austria-Hungaryand shortly afterwards with Italy, which hadquarrelled with France concerning her occupation of Tunis.Thus was formed the Triple Alliance. Its counterpoise wasthe drawing together of France and Russia, in view of whosepossibilities Prince Bismarck in 1887 increased the GermanArmy. In 1900 Germany passed the Navy Law, whichordained that the German Fleet should be so strong that anyattack upon it would be dangerous to the attacking party.
But when the matter was under discussion, a certainex-naval officer assembled a public meeting, at which heattacked me with great vehemence and impassionedeloquence. He was interrupted by an old fellow at the backof the hall, who, refusing to be silenced, was asked to speakfrom the platform. He did. He gave the meeting a doseof lower-deck phraseology, hot and strong; and told theaudience they were not to believe a word they had heardconcerning myself; that he had been shipmates both withthe speaker of the evening and with myself. He devotedsome complimentary remarks to me, "but," says he, "asfor the other, he flogged every man in the ship three orfour times." Whereupon the audience rose in its wrath anddrove my opponent from the platform.
It is worth noting that Lord Lytton went out in theOrontes, one of the Imperial Service troopships, as theywere called. The troopship service was then at timesconducted by the Royal Navy, a practice since discontinued.The Orontes was commanded by Captain E. H. Seymour(afterwards Admiral of the Fleet the Right Hon. Sir Edward160Seymour, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., LL.D.) In his veryinteresting book, My Naval Career and Travels, Sir EdwardSeymour writes: "At Suez, by arrangement, we metH.R.H. the Prince of Wales (our late King) on his wayhome in the Serapis. At Aden Lord Lytton landed instate, it being the first point reached of his newdominions." The point illustrates the working in detail of the greatscheme of Imperial organisation which was conceived by themaster-mind of Disraeli, and which he continued to carryinto execution so long as he was in power.
The prisoners taken were organised in separate gangsset to work, and paid less than the rest of the labourers!The most critical part of the business of extinguishing firesand preventing incendiarism occurred at the Tribunal, whichwas stored with property worth many thousands of pounds.A fire-engine was purchased for its protection at a cost of160, 18s. 1d. The total expenses of the restoration or197order were, I think, under 2000. During the fortnight Iwas on shore, every station and port was visited at leastonce a day and twice a night.
The work was highly exhausting to the men, and morethan once I felt inclined to call in the outposts to help;but I decided that it would not be right to take the risk ofa surprise attack; for we were working in a trap, beingclosed in by the quarries on one side and by the low hills onthe other. And sure enough, when the men had beenworking for five hours, up went the outpost's signal, andthe corporal of Marines with his three men came runningin to report that large numbers of the enemy werein sight.
On 28th February, 1884, Graham defeated the enemy,inflicting upon them severe losses, at El-Teb, near the spotupon which Baker's disastrous action had occurred somethree weeks previously. On 13th March, after a hard andat times a dubious fight, Graham won another victory atTamaai, and the power of Osman Digna was broken.Graham was then ordered to return, and the expedition wasover.
By means of the distribution of work, each section beingplaced under a responsible officer, progress speedily becamethree times as fast. Officers and men worked magnificently.I was proud of the old Navy.
The Column left Jakdul at 2 o'clock p.m. on 14thJanuary, and marched for three hours. It was generallysupposed that we might be attacked between Jakdul andMetemmeh, a distance of between 70 and 80 miles; althoughthe only intelligence we had was Major Kitchener's reportthat 3000 men under the Mahdi's Emir were at Metemmeh.We did not know that the occupation of Jakdul by SirHerbert Stewart on the 2nd of January, had moved theMahdi to determine upon the destruction of the DesertColumn between Jakdul and Metemmeh. The news of theoccupation of Jakdul had travelled with extraordinaryswiftness. It was known on the 4th January, or two257days after the event, in Berber, nearly 90 miles from Jakdulas the crow flies; and on that day the Emir of Berberdispatched his men to reinforce the Emir of Metemmeh.If the news were known in Berber and Metemmehit must have run through the whole surrounding area ofdesert. The ten days occupied by the Column in returningto Korti and returning again to Jakdul, gave the enemy thetime they needed to concentrate in front of us. Moreover,Omdurman had fallen during the second week in January,setting free a number of the Mahdi's soldiers. But of thesethings we were ignorant when we pushed out of Jakdul.We picked up a Remington rifle, and saw some horse-tracks,and that was all.
They had been marching and fighting for four days andthree nights without sleep, and with very little food andwater, and had lost a tenth of their number. That nightwe in the zeriba also slept. I remember very little about it,except that Lieutenant Charles Crutchley, Adjutant of theGuards' Camel Regiment, woke me twice and asked me forwater. He made no complaint of any kind, and I did notknow that he had been hit early in the day and that he hada bullet in his leg. General Crutchley, who was so kind as to278write to me in reply to my request that he would tell mewhat he remembers of the affair, says: "I remember lyingon a stretcher that night, and people knocking against myleg, and that my revolver was stolen, I believe by one of thecamel boys." Crutchley was carried down to the river bymy bluejackets next day, and was taken into hospital. AsI remember the occasion, he left the decision as to whetheror not his leg should be amputated, to me. At any rate,the surgeon had no doubt as to the necessity of theoperation, at which I was present. With his finger he flickedout of the wound pieces of bone like splinters of bamboo.The leg was buried, and was afterwards exhumed in orderto extract the bullet from it. I think I remember thatCrutchley, seeing it being carried across to the hospital,asked whose leg it was. He was carried upon a litter backto Korti, and the shaking of that terrible march madenecessary a second operation, which was successful.
It was about two o'clock when the artificers joined him,so that he had already been toiling single-handed, exceptfor the leading stoker, for three hours. After another threehours, at five o'clock, the plate and bar were made, the holesdrilled in them and in the boiler, and the threads cutupon the bolts and nuts. But the boiler was still so hot, thatit was impossible for a man to be in it, and the plate could notbe fixed, because it was necessary to pass the bolts throughthe plates from inside the boiler. Mr. Benbow pumped coldwater into the boiler and out again once or twice; but by6 o'clock the heat was still too great for a white man toendure. We smeared a negro boy with tallow, and Ipromised him a reward if he would go into the boiler. Hewas delighted. He was lowered down, to climb out againfaster than he went in. After a short pause, he had anothertry. This time, in a frying heat that only a black skincould bear, he stayed inside, passing the bolts through,while Mr. Benbow caulked plates and bolts and screwedthem home. The boy was none the worse in body andricher in possessions than ever in his life. By seven o'clockthe job was done.
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