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70
Appendix No. 4.
GAMBIA.
North-East Battery-
4 10-in. R.M.L. {
3 64-prs.
South-East Battery-
5 10-in. R.M.L. {
2 64-prs.
SEA Defences.
2 shielded 2 barbette
3 shielded
Works.
Armament.
£
£
28,500
15,750
2 barbette
}
34,650
18,900
30,000
14,400
East Batteries (two of 2 guns)—
4 10-in. R.M.L., shielded
LAND DEFENCES.
Nil (included in "Barracks.")
BARRACKS.
For 600 men
Battery of light guns
Works
Armament Barracks
Grand total
(Signed)
March 28, 1882.
The Inspector-General of Fortifications.
TOTAL.
60,000
1.500
*
153,150
50,550
£
93,150
50,550
60,000
203,700
G. PHILIPS, Lieutenant-Colonel, R.E., and Colonel,
Commanding Royal Engineer, St. Helena.
No. 10.
War Office Memorandum on the Defence of the Gambia.
THE town of Bathurst, at the mouth of the Gambia, stands on the Island of St. Mary's, which is formed by the River Gambia and some creeks which run into it. The eastern end only of the island and a strip along the north shore are capable of cultivation; the rest is mangrove
swamp.
The hard ground is about 5 feet above high-water mark.
The anchorage is just off the town, in about 14 fathoms water; there are, however, only The 4 fathoms at low water over a great part of the approaches. The rise of the tide is 6 feet. river is about 2 miles wide at the mouth, and expands to 7 or 8 miles above Bathurst. The shore on the north side of St. Mary's Island is shelving sand, and everywhere approachable.
The existing defences consist of a 6-gun battery for smooth-bore guns on the eastern point of the island, a 3-gun battery near it, and two 1-gun batteries looking up the river, mostly built after 1832.
The landward side is protected by a stockade from shore to shore, flanked by the buildings of the Garrison Hospital and by a little loopholed masonry work, called Fort Lovell, built in 1831. The barracks in the town are also surrounded by a loopholed masonry wall, 12 feet high and
2 feet thick.
•
At Barra Point, on the other side of the river, stands Fort Bullen, a rectangular work, 139 feet by 90 feet, with towers at the angles and loopholed walls, 12 feet high and from 2 ft. 6 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. thick, built in 1832.
The barracks at Bathurst will contain 196 men, and Fort Bullen 42 men.
There is no naval establishment here.
The chief point to be noted in connection with the defence is that the channel is 4,000 yards wide without any obstruction, for though it is broken up into smaller channels at the African Knoll and Middle Ground Shoals, about 5 miles in advance of St. Mary's Island, the construction of forts in this situation is out of the question on account of the cost.
The width also renders it impracticable to lay submarine mines, except at a considerable cost, and the defence of the place must therefore depend on the fire of guns on shore, supplemented perhaps by gun-boats and torpedo-boats.
The latter, if worsted in an engagement, might escape up the River Gambia, which is navigable for ships of 10 feet draught to a distance of 300 miles.
Another point to note is that the vessels lying off the town of Bathurst must be in front of any batteries erected there.
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