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Inclosure 3 in No. 8.
Mr. Bauer to Mr. Gouldsbury.
(Secret.) Sir,
Bathurst, Gambia, November 30, 1881. IN transmitting herewith my Report on the Gambia defences to your Excellency, I beg (1) to point out the defective state of the existing works enumerated on the printed Synopsis received on the subject; and (2) to give such explanation of the necessary alterations and repairs of existing works, and the construction of new works, as the short time available for it will enable me to prepare.
1. The six-gun battery in front of the barracks and facing the river has a masonry parapet only 4 ft. 8 in. thick, and a height of only 5 ft. 5 in. above its terreplein. All the guns are nearly 2 feet higher than the parapet, and are, with their cast-iron carriages, &c., in case of an attack from outside the harbour, very much exposed to enfilading fire. One well-aimed shot could dismantle several of them.
2. The above remarks apply also to the three-gun battery, except that, instead of barracks, some merchants' houses are in rear of it.
3. The two one-gun batteries are in a dismantled state, and are not provided with arrangements for the safe stowage of ammunition, which would, on account of their isolated position, be desirable.
4. No stockade existed on the Island of St. Mary for the last ten years or more, but dilapidated remains of a little place, called Fort Lovell, are still to be seen. This so-called fort is neither large nor strong enough to have a gun mounted in it, and would hardly hold a dozen men to defend it. It is, moreover, closely surrounded by native dwellings.
5. A part of the barrack wall, near the river, is only 3 ft. 6 in. high, and, though surmounted by a light wooden rail fence, would form but a slight obstacle against a determined attack.
The masonry over the gateway facing the river is very weak; a single gun-shot could demolish it. No loop-holes face the river, and there are only two in the entire wall, and they face the town.
6. The merchants' powder magazine, just opposite the barracks, and close to the river, would, in case of a sudden attack, form the greatest source of danger to our side, as the possible explosion of the powder contained therein would almost certainly destroy the barracks, colonial church, and Government House, if not a considerable part of the town as well. This powder magazine is built in the shape of an ordinary flat-roofed house, and has the doors of its different compartments facing the river, about 12 yards in front of them; they are merely protected by an ordinary 18-inch wall, some 11 feet high, which incloses an uncovered passage between the doors and the river bank.
7. The masonry of Fort Bullen is in a fair state of preservation, but the roofs and sundry wood- work of the buildings within the fort require renewal. There is no ditch round the fort, and the entrance, which is comparatively unprotected, faces the sea. The outside dimensions of the fort (from curtain to curtain) are 150 feet by 105 feet, and the four bastions are each 38 feet in diameter; a 24-pr. gun, running on racers, is mounted in each of them.
The banquettes within the curtains are not wide enough to mount guns thereon, but give standing room for men.
8. It may not be out of place here to mention that a fair-sized masonry fort exists on James Island, 17 miles from Bathurst, up the river, which might, after being put in repair, be found, from its advantageous position, to be very useful as a fortified coaling depôt, and also for opposing the passage of hostile vessels further up the river. No doubt it would require extensive repairs and alterations to withstand the attacks appertaining to modern warfare, but it would, when so improved, form a very fair means of defence for the river navigation.
9. As pointed out in paragraph 7 of the preceding remarks, there is no stockade existing now for the defence of Bathurst against an enemy's troops who may land at the northern part of the island, out of the reach of our guns; but the higher portion of the island being merely a narrow strip of ground extending from Bathurst to the Oyster Creek, the formation of ordinary field defences, from the shore of the river on the right to the swamp on the left, becomes a matter of little difficulty or expense. The part of the swamp bordering the road, being ordinarily passable at and below half-tide, might be intersected by a series of ditches, formed in a transverse direction and provided with fraises and other obstacles. The cost of these obstructional and defensive works would not exceed 500%. The proposed north-east battery would protect the right flank, while the main part of the swamp would form a very good natural defence on the left. In reference to the proposed construction of a masonry wall, in place of the former stockade, it is necessary to state that proper building stone can no longer be found now in sufficient quantity in this locality, but would have to be brought from a distance; bricks have, on account of this deficiency, been imported for a number of years past in these Settlements, and they form at present the only substitute for stone.
10. Owing to the present defects of the six-gun battery opposite the barracks (see appended plan of Bathurst*), it will be necessary to strengthen the masonry parapet en face, and also at the flanks, as there is not room enough to build traverses between the guns, and to raise the parapet to a sufficient height to at least protect the men at the guns from musketry fire, if not from shells. To effect this, without hindering the free use of the guns, merlons may be built on the parapet, giving in the embrasures an ample range for direct and oblique fire. The additions to the battery, if made of concrete to an average thickness of 12 feet in front of the masonry and an additional height of 3 feet above the present superior slope of the parapet, are estimated (at the rate of 11. per cubic yard) to cost 3801.
11. Similar additions to the three-gun battery near the public market would cost 3001.
12. The one-gun battery, near the fuel depôt, being not only dismantled and in a very dilapidated condition, but also too small to be of much use, might well be dispensed with, but the other one-gun battery at Half Die, although at present also dismantled, might be remounted, as the principal parts of its equipment are still in a serviceable condition, but simply not put together. As the position of this battery indicates its use to lay chiefly in the protection or else attack of small craft in the shallow
* Not printed.
Appendix No. 4.
GAMBIA.
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