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armament is provided; and also the proposed work on Watering Point, which may be constructed to carry two 10-inch 18-ton rifled muzzle-loading guns, with perhaps one 64-pounder for the defence of the inner harbour.
Appendix No. 4.
CEYLON. Watering Point.
The site has been prepared, and a road from the landing-place has been constructed to the Point, which occupies a salient and most important position upon the extremity of Battery the harbour opposite to the town, and for which site a design for a work has been pre. Armament (2 10-inch 18-ton,
1 64-pr.) pared to mount two 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns for action seaward, and one 64- pounder for inner harbour defence.
The work to be self-defensible, as it necessarily must be in such an isolated position. It contained provision for magazine, bomb-proofs, &c., and barrack accommodation for a small garrison.
102
£
9,680
7,170
16,850
Total Note.-1 64-pr. available in store not
included in estimate. Watering Point garrison, 1 officer and
50 men.
With regard to the occupation of Chapel Hill, no doubt the position is a good one for the more complete defence of the west side of Old Fort, but if the proposed arma- Battery ment of Old Fort be approved, I submit that it will not be necessary to incur the heavy Armament expense of a work on Chapel Hill.
I concur in the War Office estimate of garrison required at Galle, viz., 613 all arms, if the works proposed are carried out; but, as before remarked, it is more probable that the present garrison will be available for the more urgent demands of the service elsewhere.
Trincomalee.-3rdly. With respect to Trincomalee Harbour :-
If it be considered desirable to maintain and augment the existing Imperial Naval Establishment and to construct docks, &c., the port will assume such a degree of impor- tance, with its splendid harbour, as would justify a large expenditure on fortifications to render it secure against attack by a single cruizer or a small squadron.
I have made a minute inspection of the several positions referred to in the War Office Memorandum,* accompanied by Captain King, Her Majesty's ship " Euryalus," and Major Barton, R.E., the local officer of my Department, who has for some time given much consideration to the question of defence of Trincomalee.
I am entirely opposed to the occupation of Elephant Ridge, which, if occupied at all, would require extensive and necessarily expensive works, and a large garrison.
I think the weak points in Colonel Nugent's scheme are-distribution of force, the indefensibility of minor posts, and great expense and structural difficulty in defending Hood's Tower at all, which is not above effective battering height from the sea.
..
Chapel Hill.
£
17,040
7,170
24,210
Galle Garrison.
Total
Royal Artillery Infantry.. Mounted men
Elephant Ridge.
Elephant Point, 3 10-inch 18- ton guns, in shielded battery Armament
Total
Hood's Tower.
:::
123
460 30
613
£
23,210
10,488
33,698
2 10-inch 18-ton guns, en barbette, 2 64-prs.
Any of these isolated posts in the hands of an enemy would tell against us.
Works.. Armament
*
Total
··
£ 19,030 8,042
27,072
Chapel Hill Post. 2 20-prs. R.B.L. guns.
Battery Armament
•
Total
1,500 600
•
2,100
As estimated at the War Office.
Fort Frederick.
2 10-inch 18-ton guns, en barbette, 3 64-prs.
I do not think it desirable to alter existing batteries to receive a heavier armament, especially at the points suggested in Fort Frederick, but I would place two 10-inch guns for long range on suitable sites on Warren Point, and near citadel, as shown on sketch herewith, and called Western Battery; and, with a view to add to the defence on the land New works side of this fort, and give a flanking fire along its western side, and also on the foreshore Armament of both Dutch and Back Bays, I would suggest that two more 64-pounders be mounted in Zieburgh and one more in Amsterdam bastions.
The position at Flag Staff has been prepared for a 7-inch gun, but it has not been mounted. I think the 9-inch gun now in Half Moon Battery, Fort Ostenburgh (which has been condemned), should be mounted at Flag Staff Battery, requiring no alteration to the emplacement.
By the foregoing proposals I think Fort Frederick may be rendered safe from land attack, and be a valuable adjunct to the outer harbour defences, denying, as it does, the waters of Dutch and Back Bay to an enemy, and forming a "keep" for the protection of stores, reserve ammunition, &c., and for such portion of the general garrison as would not be required for the advanced works which I now propose to consider.
In February 1881 a project for the occupation of Great Sober Island, as an alternative Great Sober Island. scheme to that for Elephant Ridge, was prepared by Major Barton, R.E., and put forward with my recommendation, after making a close inspection of the island, and conferring with that officer, and the officer commanding Her Majesty's ship "Dryad," then in the harbour.
I still adhere to this project, with certain modifications and suggestions as regards Fort
* No. 58.
+ Not printed.
£
..
8,000
8,478
16,478
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