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Appendix No. 4.
SIERRA LEONE.
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22. West Battery.-A landing in Kroo Bay, assuming the defences proposed to be carried out, is considered as most improbable. The position of this battery as regards the Colonial Hospital, and the numerous buildings in the vicinity, together with the nature of the rock in front (para. 6), render it inadvisable to mount artillery here. As, however, the battery exists, it is proposed to prepare the parapet for musketry. About 50 yards of parapet can thus be rendered available in the last extremity, but without forming a prominent object to draw an enemy's artillery fire, unless a landing in front of the town be actually undertaken.
23. Aberdeen Hill.-The four batteries (Look-out, King Tom, Falconbridge, and Farran) recom- mended above occupy a line which is a little over 4 miles in length, and the outer works are each from 2,600 yards to 2,800 yards (say, 13 mile) from the inner ones. This line seems sufficiently extended. There is, however, a temptation to propose the occupation of the next hill (Aberdeen) 11⁄2 mile further to the west, which is an isolated knoll of rock about 220 feet in height, the communication to which by land would be by the low ground round the head of Pirate Bay Creek (see para. 16). From this hill an uninterrupted all-round view is obtained.
24. The following advantages would be obtained by occupying this hill
(1.) An additional amount of fire on ships, which must be incurred by an assailant.
(2.) The height of situation would render the fire formidable against ships.
Against these advantages must be set the following drawbacks :---
(1.) The sea slope of the hill is so steep (15 degrees), and the water in front so deep, as to enable
a ship, when she has closed on the battery to take up a position whence she could bring her guns to bear on the battery without the fire being returned.
This assumes the ordinary limits of elevation and depression to be about 12 and 5 degrees respectively, and to apply to both sides. Look-out Battery would of course effectively bear on the vessel in question at a range of 2,500 yards.
(2.) The work, if attacked, would certainly be taken in reverse from Cockerill Bay (where the water is deep close in shore) while being engaged in front. This liability would render the work cxpensive to construct with proper protection.
(3.) The general line of defence would be extended by 11⁄2 mile.
(4.) The work would be very isolated, and the communications to it over the low ground very difficult; in fact, would be impossible by day, in the face of the smallest gun-vessel in Cockerill Bay, out of range of the defensive artillery.
25. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, a well-designed work on Aberdeen would form a dccided, although costly, addition to the strength of the channel. Although it is not proposed now to occupy this hill, the foregoing points are noted for future guidance, as the importance of Sierra Leone appears to be very great and the future development of the port probable. Of the four ports reported upon by myself, this is the only one which seems to combine the requirements of a refitting as well as a coaling-station.
PROPOSED LAND DEFENCES.
26. Much difficulty attends a study of the ground round Sierra Leone. There is nothing existing in the shape of a map or military sketch of the neighbourhood, and the dense bush with which the hills are covered makes it almost impossible to reach some of the heights, and also obstructs the view after getting there.
Consequently, a good deal of the ground can only be studied from neighbouring spots, or from the sea on one side, and the river on the other.
27. The heights which surround Sierra Leone on the land side form a semi-circle or horse-shoe, in the middle of which is the Peak at Leicester (1,900 feet), from which two main ridges descend toward the harbour; one passes through Wilberforce (about 700 feet) and Signal Hill (430 feet) on the west. South of Wilberforce the ridge rises slightly, forming an important site, overlooking the coast-line and neighbouring ground. This is shown in sketch* (para. 28), but the bush prevented my getting on to the hill itself.
From Signal Hill the ground falls very abruptly (practically unassailable) towards Look-out Hill, which terminates the ridge.
Near the ruins of a hospital at Wilberforce, a spur juts out westwards (sketch,* para. 28), and affords, at about 300 yards from said ruins, a good site for a work overlooking Cockerill Bay, and the ground to the north and south.
28. On the east of Leicester Peak the ridge descends abruptly towards the village of Leicester, thence gradually towards Havelock Hill (1,200—1,300 feet), Kortright Hill (1,100 feet), to Jamaica Hill (900 feet), whence the ridge terminates abruptly, leaving about half-a-mile of level ground on the river side.
The top of Kortright Hill has lately been occupied by a new rifle range, to which a branch road has been constructed from the Freetown, Leicester Road.
29. South of the Leicester-Wilberforce ridge is a deep formidable valley, with dense bush and few paths; any attack from the sea, which is the most likely one, would therefore probably be by the road below Signal Hill.
But an attack by the south of Leicester Peak, by the villages of Gloucester and Leicester, although very difficult, is a possibility, and ought to be guarded against.
30. An attack from the east can only take place by an enemy having run past the sea batteries, and then effecting a landing. His advance on Freetown (which cannot, therefore, be a surprise) must take place by the road near Foura Bay, which is thoroughly overlooked from Jamaica Hill, and by a spur therefrom which runs out towards the north-east, and affords an advantageous site for defences, at a height apparently of 600 feet; it is now covered with bush.
*Not printed.
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