Home > Authors Index > William H. G. Kingston > Our Sailors; Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign > This page
Our Sailors; Gallant Deeds of the British Navy during Victoria's Reign, a non-fiction book by William H. G. Kingston |
||
Chapter 8. The Destruction Of Lagos--26th December 1851 |
||
| < Previous |
Table of content |
Next > |
|
________________________________________________
_ CHAPTER EIGHT. THE DESTRUCTION OF LAGOS--26TH DECEMBER 1851 The town of Lagos, built at the mouth of the river Ogun, which debouches in the Bight of Benin, is a healthy place, and well situated for trade. It is the seaport also of Abbeokuta, a town of considerable dimensions, sixty miles inland from it, and which it is hoped will become a very important place, now that Lagos is open for legal commerce. The more immediate cause of the attack on Lagos was in consequence of an application made for assistance by Akitoye, the lawful chief of Lagos, to Mr Beecroft, the British consul for the Bight of Benin, residing at Fernando Po. Akitoye, the younger of two brothers, had, by his father's will, succeeded as king of Lagos. The elder, Kosoko, had been, for misbehaviour, banished. After the death of the old king, Akitoye recalled Kosoko, and took him into favour; but Kosoko, bribing the army, usurped the government, and drove Akitoye to take refuge at Badagry. On this, Kosoko prepared to attack Badagry, and, had he been successful, would doubtlessly, as he intended, have attacked Abbeokuta also, and given a severe blow to the advancement of Christianity and civilisation in Africa. On this account Mr Beecroft felt it his duty to apply to the senior officer on the coast for a force to destroy Lagos, his movements being hurried by hearing that the king of Dahomey had sent 1000 picked troops for its support. The commodore, however, sent only the _Bloodhound_ and a few boats; and Lagos being really a strong place, they were compelled to retire with the loss of several men. The first expedition against Lagos having failed solely from want of sufficient force to keep possession of the town, Commodore Bruce sent one of ample strength, and thoroughly organised, to drive the slave-dealing chief Kosoko from his stronghold. The squadron appeared off Lagos by the 24th December. The boats of the _Sampson_ and _Bloodhound_ were for some time employed in ascertaining the position of the enemy's fortifications. The _Bloodhound_ and _Teazer_ at this time got on shore, and while they were being hove off, their people were exposed to a very hot fire from the negroes, who soon proved that they were no contemptible antagonists. As the fire from jingalls, petrals, and muskets continued from the ditch and embankment abreast of the ship, and as the enemy were observed trying to bring their guns into position, at half-past two, Lieutenant Thomas Saumarez, with the boats of the _Sampson_, accompanied by Lieutenant E. McArthur, R.M.A., in command of the Marine Artillery, was despatched to attempt a landing and to spike the guns. They did all that men could do; but it was found impossible to make their way through the showers of musketry opened against them. Mr Richards, a gallant young midshipman, was mortally wounded, and ten men were severely wounded; while so hot was the fire, that there seemed every prospect of the whole party being cut off. Still they bravely persevered. While undaunted efforts were being made to get on shore, Mr William J. Stivey, carpenter of the _Sampson_, setting a noble example, which others followed, leaped on shore, and, axe in hand, hewed manfully away at the stakes to make a passage for the boats to go through them. All, however, was in vain; their numbers were thinning rapidly; and at length Lieutenant Saumarez himself, being hit in three places, reluctantly, but very properly, gave the signal for return. The remainder of the day was spent in throwing shot and shell, as circumstances required, so as to prevent any guns being moved against the steamer. The nearest shot passed about ten yards astern of her. The _Teazer_ still continuing on shore, it became evident that before the tide rose the enemy would destroy her, unless the guns which were annoying her were captured. It was resolved, therefore, at once to effect this. All being ready, the boats pulled in towards the stockade, where the best place for landing appeared to exist, keeping up all the time a continued fire of spherical, grape, and canister shot. As the boats touched the shore, they received a discharge directly in their faces of some 1500 muskets; but, notwithstanding this, the men undauntedly landed, and, forming on the beach, after some severe fighting forced their way into the stockade, driving out the enemy, who fled into the thick bush close to the rear of it. Among those who landed and charged with Captain Lyster were Mr Walling and Mr Sproule, surgeons of the _Penelope_, and who afterwards exposed themselves equally in their attendance on the wounded under fire. Scarcely had the blacks retreated than Lieutenant Corbett rushed ahead and spiked all the guns in the fort. This object being accomplished, Captain Lyster issued orders for the re-embarkation of the party; but scarcely had he done so, when it was discovered that the enemy, having made a desperate rush at the first lifeboat, had succeeded in getting hold of her, and were tracking her along the beach towards the spot where the guns were posted which had first opened on the _Teazer_. On seeing this, the British, headed by their gallant leader, Captain Lyster, hurried down to the shore for the purpose of retaking her; but some delay occurred in consequence of having to divide her crew of sixty men among the other boats, which somewhat crowded them. The enemy, on seeing this, rushed back from their concealment in the woods by swarms, and poured in a destructive, crushing fire on the boats at pistol range. On this occasion a gallant young officer, Mr F.R. Fletcher, midshipman in command of the second cutter, and who had charge of the boats while on shore, was shot through the head and killed. Several officers and men had before been wounded on shore, among whom was Lieutenant Williams, of the Marine Artillery, who, though hit in three places, had continued at the head of his men till they returned to the boats. Commander Hillyar was also wounded, and very many of the men were killed. Among the latter was James Webb, gunner's mate, belonging to the first lifeboat. When he saw that she was likely to fall into the hands of the blacks, he made a desperate attempt to spike her gun; but, while thus engaged, he was cut down by the enemy, and mortally wounded. While Commander Hillyar was arranging the boats so that they might keep up their fire as they retreated to the _Teazer_, some of the kroomen on board Mr Beecroft's _Victoria_ let go her anchor, and there she lay exposed entirely to the fire of the blacks. On seeing this, Captain Lyster pulled back to her to learn what was the matter. "What has occurred now?" he asked of Mr Blight, the boatswain. "The kroomen let go the anchor without orders," he replied. "Then slip your cable, and get out of this," exclaimed Captain Lyster. "It's a chain cable, clenched to the bottom, and we can't unshackle it," replied Mr Blight. On hearing this disheartening intelligence, Captain Lyster jumped on board to see what assistance he could render. Just then Lieutenant Corbett staggered up towards the stern, exclaiming, "I have done it, and am alive!" In truth, he had cut the chain cable with a cold chisel, and in so doing, while leaning over the bows of the boat, had received five different wounds, which, with the addition of a severe one received on shore, rendered him almost helpless. His right arm was hanging to his side, but he still with his left worked away, and assisted in getting the _Victoria_ off to the _Teazer_. While Captain Lyster was leaving the _Victoria_ to get into his own boat, he was shot in the back with a musket-ball. On account of the hot fire to which they were still exposed, and the number of men already killed and wounded, he judged that he should not be justified in attempting to recover the lifeboat on that occasion. Leaving her, therefore, on the beach, the party returned to the _Teazer_. The people who had at first got possession of the lifeboat had afterwards abandoned her; but they now returned, and some forty or fifty got into her, intending to carry her off. Seeing this, Mr Balfour, acting mate, assisted by Mr Dewar, gunner, pulling back to the shore in the first cutter, threw a rocket towards her, and so well-directed was it that it entered her magazine and blew it up. As soon as the party got back to the _Teazer_ (having now pretty well silenced the fire of the enemy), they set to work to get all the provisions out of her, and then, having thrown overboard all her coals with the exception of ten tons, they contrived to shore her up, to await the rising of the tide. At length their exertions were crowned with success, and at sunset they succeeded in heaving her off. Then, getting up the steam, they anchored out of gunshot for the night. On this unfortunate occasion there were no less than thirteen men killed belonging to HMS _Penelope_, besides Mr Fletcher and Mr H.M. Gillham, master's assistant, who afterwards died of his wounds; while Captain Lyster, Commander Hillyar, Lieutenant Corbett, and First Lieutenant of Marines J.W.C. Williams were wounded severely, together with fifty-seven men of the _Penelope_ and two of the _Teazer_, most of them also very severely wounded. Crowded together in so small a vessel during the night, the poor fellows suffered greatly, though the medical officers of the expedition, Mr R. Carpenter, senior surgeon, Mr Walling, assistant surgeon of the _Penelope_, Dr Barclay, acting surgeon, and Dr Sproule, assistant surgeon, exerted themselves to their very utmost in the performance of their duty to the wounded. During the day they had never flinched from exposing their own lives, as, in the midst of the fire, they stepped from boat to boat to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded and dying. Soon after seven o'clock in the morning the _Teazer_ was got under weigh, and, finding the right channel, steamed up towards the _Bloodhound_, with the squadron of boats in her company. As soon as she was seen from the _Bloodhound_, Captain Jones ordered that the guns of the _Bloodhound's_ gunboats should open a deliberate flanking fire on the west part of the enemy's defences; and he then sent a boat under Mr Bullen, his clerk, who was acting as his aide-de-camp, to point out to Captain Lyster the position in which he wished the _Teazer_ to be anchored. At ten minutes past eight, the _Teazer_ having anchored, Captain Jones pulled on board her, to consult further with Captain Lyster on the plan of proceeding. The rocket-boats were then ordered to take up a position to the northward of the _Bloodhound_. This was quickly done, and Lieutenant Marshall threw some rockets with beautiful effect, setting fire to several houses, among which, to the satisfaction of all, was that of the Prime Minister Tappis. When this was seen, a hearty and spontaneous cheer ran through the whole squadron for the crew of the rocket-boat, who had thus punished the chief instigator of the former attack on the British boats. After this, the rocket-boat shifted her position ahead of the _Teazer_, and a general but deliberate fire was opened from the whole force. At forty-five minutes past ten, Lieutenant Marshall threw a rocket, which struck the battery below Tappis' house, and at the same time a shot from the _Teazer_ capsized the gun. The firing became still more rapid; an awful explosion ensued; a magazine of the enemy's had blown up. And from this moment the fate of Lagos was decided; house after house caught fire, and the whole town was shortly in a general blaze. More ships-of-war now came in, and Kosoko, finding his case hopeless, took to flight, and Akitoye was reinstated. The only portion of the British forces landed was a small body under Commander Coote, who went on shore to spike guns. The next morning he and Commander Gardner, with the boats' crews of the _Sampson_ and _Penelope_, were employed in a similar way. They returned in the afternoon, having by extraordinary exertions embarked or destroyed fifty-two pieces of ordnance. Lagos has now become a British province. _ |
||