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Appendix No. 4.
GAMBIA.
16. Fort Lovell is also a work of defence of rather unique character. It consists of a single room 14 feet square, with a flat roof and parapet-wall, the latter only being loop-holed, with four loop-holes on each side and one at each angle. The floor of the room is 6 feet above ground, and the crest of the parapet-wall 20 feet. Joined to one side of this block-house is a circular masonry emplacement for one gun on traversing platform, the window of the main room communicating thereto. The sketch shows the details, which could hardly be traced in the ruinous condition of the building, which has now for some years been included in an allotment of ground to some natives.
17. No traces are now to be seen of the stockade alluded to in the War Office Memorandum, and I am informed that for at least thirty years no traces have existed; neither is there any local knowledge of any having existed.
As the above are the only existing works of defence at Bathurst, it follows that everything will have to be created in carrying out any proposed scheme of defence.
18. Fort Bullen, at Barra Point. The general dimensions are given in the War Office Memorandum. Other details are here sketched. The walls of both bastions and curtains are only 2 feet thick, those of the former being 14 feet high, and of the latter 12 feet. There are no walls 51 feet thick, as stated in the War Office Memorandum. The terrepleins of the bastions (towers) are each filled up to 6 feet below the crest, in one of them (north) a powder magazine has been built underneath.
Each tower mounted a 24-pounder smooth-bore on traversing platform; one remains for signalling mail-steamers.
Three of the curtains are loop-holed, and have a 3-feet masonry banquette, 7 feet below the crest. Steps lead to the banquettes and bastions. The curtain nearest to Bathurst (south-west one) has been deprived of its loop-holes and banquette, and its wall used as one side of a barrack-room and kitchen, 60 feet long by 15 feet. The wood roof (felted) is ruinous, as is also the woodwork in this and the other buildings in the fort; the masonry remains in good order.
Quarters for two officers are provided in a a separate house at the north-east end, but the shingle roof, floors, woodwork of verandah, &c., must be renewed before occupation.
The limited space inside the work is much curtailed by these buildings, which, allowing for kitchens, &c., would only accommodate about twenty-five men besides officers.
19. If Barra Point be held, the necessary extra barrack accommodation is recommended to be constructed in the neighbourhood; sanitary considerations render it undesirable to crowd men in Fort Bullen, which, since it exists, might be placed in repair, and held as a station for a few men as a guard against surprise and the new battery being taken in rear.
Outside the fort there is room for the battery proposed in the War Office Memorandum.
Proposed Sea Defences.
20. It is difficult to prepare a scheme for sea batteries that will not be open to many objections in such a site as Bathurst, where all the guns must be on a low level, with the emplacements about 6 or 7 feet above high-water mark. If the three batteries suggested in the War Office Memorandum could be placed at moderate altitudes, whence a good view of the sea could be obtained, and the field of fire, as it were, overlooked, I should consider them to be the best that could be suggested for the difficult case under consideration.
21. But a view of Bathurst from Barra Point suggests the fact that a battery at this point would be objectionable, because when an enemy might be engaging the north-east battery, he would place himself between Barra Point and the town, and the latter would be bombarded to a considerable extent by Barra Point Battery if the fire were continued on the enemy's ships.
It is also difficult to estimate distances in the case of a battery situated, as all the Bathurst batteries must be, so near the level of the water, and intended to defend a wide channel. Although this drawback would apply to any battery here, its inconveniences would be augmented at Barra Point with one required to fire in the direction of Bathurst.
It is also to be noted that a ship closing on Bathurst from the African Knoll Shoal may easily keep more than 3,000 yards from Barra Point Battery.
Barra Point would also be very difficult to communicate with in presence of any hostile force near the Settlement. This would, in fact, render it advisable to quarter the full force necessary for its occupation and defence on the spot, and so would lead to the isolation of a considerable portion of the garrison.
22. Instead of the proposed battery at Barra Point, I would suggest that this point be not occupied, but that four 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns, shielded, be placed at or near the salient eastern point of the town of Bathurst (almost on the sites of the existing six-gun and three-gun batteries), to defend the river within the 5-fathom line. This would require protection on a sectoral space of 190 degrees.
There is no spot suitable for a single battery to effect this purpose, but the sites specified above are each suitable for a battery of two 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns behind shields, to defend one- half of the space as here sketched, and this would enable two guns, viz., the inner one of each battery, to concentrate on a space of 50 degrees in front where it is most required, while one gun would bear on the other defended spaces.
23. When it is considered that the range of these guns to defend the opposite 5-fathom line is about 3,000 yards, while the corresponding range from Barra Point is about 3,500 yards, in combina- tion with the other questions referred to above, it would seem that the balance of advantage lies with the present proposal, which would result in the entire defensive force being concentrated and easily supervised.
24. North-east Battery.-The "proposed armament" of four 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns (two shielded, two barbette), with three 64-pounders, is suitable and sufficient. It is recommended to place the 64-pounders on the left flank for action against gun-vessels, &c., inside St. Mary's Shoal,
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