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GAMBIA.
No. 8.
Colonial Office to Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad.
Downing Street, December 23, 1881.
Sir,
I AM directed by the Earl of Kimberley to transmit to you, to be laid before the Royal Commis- sion on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, copies of two despatches from the Administrator of the Gambia, together with an original Report by the Colonial Engineer on the defences of the Settlements; and I am to request that when this Report shall have been printed, copies may be furnished to this Department for transmission to the War Office and the Admiralty.
I am, &c.
(Signed)
EDWARD WINGFIELD,
Inclosure 1 in No. 8.
Mr. Gouldsbury to Mr. Herbert.
Government House, Bathurst, November 14, 1881.
(Secret.) Sir,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the Right Hon. the Secretary of State's Circular despatch, Secret, dated the 23rd August, 1881,* transmitting to me a copy of a letter, dated the 26th July, 1880,† from the Royal Commission on the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, and also transmitting a copy of certain correspondence which has passed between the Colonial Office and the War Office and the Admiralty on the subject of the letter from the Royal Defence Com- mission, together with a copy of the printed Memoranda inclosed in the War Office letter of the 25th February.‡
2. With reference to the Earl of Kimberley's instructions that a careful Report on the measures necessary for the defence of the places referred to in the War Office letters of the 25th February and 18th August, 1881,§ that are within the Settlement on the Gambia, should be prepared by a local Committee of Colonial, Military, and Naval Officers, I have the honour to state, for his Lordship's information, that there are no military or naval officers in this Settlement, and that as the Colonial Engineer was the only officer available for the preparation of such a Report, I requested him to draw one up, and to accompany it with such plans and estimates as his professional training and local know- ledge might suggest. Should this Report be ready for the first homeward mail, I shall transmit it direct to the Colonial Office with this despatch, but if not, then I shall forward it through the regular channel.
3. In the meantime I beg to state that the existing defences of Bathurst are not quite in accordance with the description given of them in the War Office Memorandum.||
4. The defences at present consist of a six-gun battery (of 24-pr. smooth-bore muzzle-loading guns) situated towards the western extremity of the town, and with the guns en barbette, and mounted on traversing platforms, and a three-gun (24-pr. smooth-bore muzzle-loading guns) battery, situated some little distance to the east and more towards the centre of the town-front than the six-gun battery. Guns also en barbette and mounted on traversing platforms. These are all the defensive works existing now at Bathurst.
5. There is only one one-gun battery looking up the river; the other work situated near the coal depôt was never a battery, but merely a semi-circular parapet-wall, with a banquette inside to allow of musketry-fire over the parapet.
6. The one-gun battery looking up the river has been dismantled for several years, and the masonry work is split and out of repair. At best, it was but a weak and trifling defence, consisting of a circular stonework parapet-wall, with a gun mounted en barbette, and was only of use against small craft.
7. The stockade spoken of in the Memorandum|| disappeared many years ago, and when I arrived here in 1877 not a trace of its existence could be seen.
8. The masonry work called "Fort Lovell" has been in ruins for many years, and the town has extended beyond the line marked out by it and by the formerly-existing stockade.
9. The wall surrounding the barracks in Bathurst is not loop-holed (there are only two loop-holes altogether), and I cannot observe any evidence of its ever having been loop-holed, as no sign of apertures or banquette can be detected.
10. Fort Bullen, at Barra Point, is not in a very bad condition, and is repairable at a moderate outlay, but I do not think it is sufficiently strong to support or to withstand heavy ordnance.
11. The six-gun battery is situated in front of, and close to, the barracks, so that any ship engaging it would, with every shot or shell that cleared the battery by a few feet, or ricochetted off it, be sure to strike the barracks, so that there would be, as it were, a double object for the ship's guns to fire at.
Again, as the merchants' gunpowder magazine, colonial church, and other buildings are close to the battery, it does not command the harbour in front of the town, and a vessel might easily steam
† No. 1 in Appendix No. 1, First Report.
§ Inclosure 1 in No. 2 A.
* Inclosure 2 in No. 2 A.
Inclosure 1 in No. 6, Appendix No. 1, First Report.
[1103]
I No. 10.
R
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Appendix No. 4
GAMBIA.
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