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148

(A.)

Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 17th ultimo, with inclosures, relative to the defences of the Cape of Good Hope Peninsula. I have already informed your Excellency verbally that, having arranged to leave the Cape for the West Coast of Africa in the middle of the present month, I cannot now, without much inconvenience to the service, alter my plans, especially as the future movements of the vessels of the squadron under my command have been ordered in accordance with the programme I have proposed to follow.

"Boadicea,” in Simon's Bay, December 6, 1879.

I have therefore given the important question of the defences of the Cape my most careful study, and the opinion I have formed is contained in the memorandum which I have the honour to inclose for your Excellency's consideration.

The course of events in South Africa for the past two years has prevented the Commodore from paying his usual visit to the West African Settlements, and it is most inexpedient now, peace being established, that any further delay should occur in the performance of this necessary duty, but I should not hesitate to postpone my departure until after the Committee had met if I thought that any practical benefit could accrue from my remaining to take part in its deliberations. The main question involved has, however, already been practically decided more than once, and it would appear that the principal point the Committee about to be formed will have to discuss is the apportionment of the cost of the proposed armament between the Imperial and Colonial Governments.

On that subject I have but to say that, were I a member of the Committee, I should state it as my opinion that the maintenance of the integrity of the Cape of Good Hope is pre-eminently an Imperial question, and that, in the event of a serious European war, it would possess an importance to England as great, if not greater, than it ever possessed in past times.

Although the approaches, to the Suez Canal would, in time of war, be in the hands of Great Britain so long as she maintained her supremacy in the Mediterranean, it cannot be doubted that all the ingenuity at the command of the nations with which she might be at war would be directed to the purpose of rendering it useless, or at best precarious, as a highway, and that that portion of the stream of commerce and communication with the East now diverted by it would resume its original channel.

Whether, therefore, the Cape be regarded as a half-way haven for our commerce and transport with the East, or as a coaling station and base of operations for our fleets, its importance to the Empire cannot, in my opinion, be overrated, and on these grounds I consider that the Imperial Government should be at the entire cost of the necessary defences of the naval port at Simon's Bay, of the gun-boat for Table Bay, and of the torpedo service, naval as well as military.

The Colony providing, either wholly or in part, for the permanent works necessary for the defence of its principal commercial seaport and metropolis.

I have, &c.

(Signed) FREDK. W. RICHARDS, Commodore. His Excellency the Right Hon.

Sir Bartle Frere, Bart., G.C.B., G.C.S.I.,

&c.

&c.

&c.

Memorandum inclosed in Letter dated the 6th December, 1879, from Gommodore Richards

Commanding Cape and West African Station, to his Excellency the Right Honourable Sir Bartle Frere, Bart., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., &c., Governor and High Commissioner.

There appears to be no practical differences of opinion as to what should be the position of the works for the defence of Simon's Bay, the Colonial Defence Committee having, on all material points, adopted the views expressed by the Committee which reported on this subject in November 1875, under the Presidency of Sir Arthur Cunyngbame.

There is also a general agreement on the part of Lord Chelmsford and the Colonial Defence Committee with the opinions expressed by General Westmacott in his exhaustive Report of the 30th April, 1874, as regards the sites for the permanent works to be constructed for the general defence of the Peninsula.

The question as to the armaments to be provided for these batteries appears, however, to be still undecided.

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So far back as September 1875 the Inspector-General of Fortifications, writing by direction of the Secretary of State for War (Mr. Hardy), informed the General commanding in South Africa that it was in contemplation to provide an armament of fourteen 18-ton guns for Simon's Bay alone.

In the plans accompanying the Report of the General commanding, Lord Chelmsford (22nd July, 1878), the armaments proposed by the Inspector-General of Fortifications for the defences of the two harbours are: for Table Bay twelve, and for Simon's Bay fourteen guns, of from 18 to 38 tons.

But the present recommendation of the Colonial Defence Committee provides only for five improved 18-ton guns for Table Bay, to which the Inspector-General of Fortifications proposes to add a sixth.

This Report makes no provision for an improved armament for Sinfon's Bay.

In my view, the defence of the Peninsula proper would, in a general way, resolve itself into a defence of its two harbours against the attacks of small squadrons or of single ships powerfully armed, which might attempt to destroy the naval establishments and coal depôt at Simon's Bay, or the docks and shipping at Table Bay, at long ranges, and to provide against aggression of this character the armaments of the defensive worke should be proportionately heavy, certainly not less than 18-ton guns.

Hout's Bay, as affording a landing-place, should certainly be defended by batteries, or at least be entirely blocked by mines at the outbreak of war,

On the utility of defensible posts on the heights overlooking Simon's Bay I do not feel called upon to offer an opinion.

But that any serious attempt at landing an army for the purpose of wresting the Cape of Good Hope from Great Britain would be made on the west coast of the Peninsula I do not regard as probable,

The Commanders of a powerful expeditionary force would scarcely choose this rugged and difficult country, so well suited for defence, as a base of operations, when the whole head of False Bay, from the Muizenberg eastward, affords practicable and easy landing in ordinary weather.'

Having regard, therefore, to the number of troops which it is proposed shall be the war establishment, viz., 1,000 infantry and 200 artillery, to be supplemented by colonial levies, I cannot but consider that the defence of the Cape of Good Hope must continue to be primarily a naval question, and that the squadron in these waters must in time of war be of strength sufficient to insure its safety against all eventualities.

When the gigantic proportion which Continental armies have now attained and the facilities of transport which steam power gives are taken into consideration, it becomes evident that a comparatively small number of large armed merchant steamers carrying, as each one could easily do, 1,500 men, might, in the course of a few weeks from the outbreak of war, convey to the Cape a forte so seriously outnumbering the garrisons of the Peninsula as to endanger its safety if such a force succeeded in effecting a landing in the absence of the squadron.

I am therefore of opinion that the stationary guard-ship at Simon's Bay should in time of war be a powerful ram such as the "Rupert," carrying two 25-ton guns in a revolving turret.

I also think that the maintenance of a gun-boat of the "Comet" class, carrying one 18-ton gun, would (as has been suggested) form a very valuable adjunct to the defences of Table Bay, not only as an advanced battery, calculated to keep hostile cruizers out of shelling range of the city, but as a safeguard against the successful landing of a force on the coast to the northward.

The necessity for powerful vessels to strengthen the defences of important ports has been recognized for some years in other parts of the Empire, the Government of India having established two double-turret vessels at Bombay, and the Colony of Victoria having purchased one for the defence of Melbourne.

As has already been pointed out, neither Table nor Simon's Bays are well adapted for defence by torpedoes. Table Bay is altogether too large for this purpose, and to defend Simon's Bay in this way it would be necessary to block the northern part from the Roman Rocks to the north battery with mechanical mines, and to guard the southern passage with a comprehensive system of electric torpedoes.

To adopt this course would be to argue naval inferiority.

Whitehead's locomotive torpedoes would be useful, no doubt, as auxiliaries, both for attack and defence, but, as the Colonial Defence Committee have observed, are not to be too much relied upon.

Spar torpedoes, as used in boats, would be principally useful for night attacks on

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C.O. 885

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