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The Naval Brigade - Part 5

© John Barham

The Second Bombardment began on 9th April and lasted until the 17th. The Army Siege Train had not received its promised reinforcements, and the Navy was asked to fill the gap. As a result the sailors manned 50 guns out of the total 135 engaged. It was not easy for the newcomers, particularly as there had been heavy rain overnight, leaving water a foot deep in the emplacements. The Russian counterbattery fire was much more effective than it had been in October and direct hits and near misses caused casualties which were heaviest among the Naval gun crews; these were larger and spent longer in the open away from cover than their army equivalents.

The problem arose from the naval gun carriages or 'trucks' and the small size of their wheels. After every shot the guns recoiled and had to be hauled back up into their firing positions; the detachments were exposed in the open whilst this was going on. The Royal Artillery guns with their very large wheels could be run up in less than half the time that it took the Bluejackets, and the sodden ground made matters worse. These circumstances were reflected in the casualty figures for the Bombardment; 26 killed (2 0fficers) and 96 wounded (4 Officers) for the Navy Brigade, as against 20 killed (2 Officers) and 71 wounded (3 Officers) for the much larger Siege Train participation - almost two to one.

By the time the Third Bombardment started on 6th June, the Army gunners were manning most of the newly established forward batteries, and thenceforward took the brunt of the casualties. The Brigade were manning 58 guns out of 159. Of these 21, the famous battery group, were in the Right Attack and provided fire support for the French attack on the Mamelon. They were perfectly sited to create havoc in the ranks of the Russian counter attack, accurately landing shells from the 8 inch guns some fifty yards ahead of the advancing columns for maximum effect.

Now however a new and extremely hazardous role was to be undertaken by the Naval Brigade - the provision of ladder parties for the assault on the Redan. 7 Officers and 60 men were provided under the command of Captain Peel, responsible for carrying ten 18 feet long scaling ladders across no mans land under fire and raising them against the wall of the fortress. The action was an unmitigated disaster, and is described in detail in the article Flaming June Part 3. As far as the Brigade ladder party was concerned, operating with the Right Column, they were progressively cut down during their 500 yards approach over open ground. Midshipman Evelyn Wood provides graphic detail: "We had started with six men to a ladder, and a petty officer to every pair. All the petty officers were carrying, having replaced men who had been knocked down. As we went forward we instinctively inclined to our right hand to avoid a blast of missiles which was poured on us from two guns on the (proper) left face of the Redan, but after going another fifty or sixty yards, we came under fire of guns on the Curtain connecting the left of the Redan with the Dockyard Ravine, and this caused the column to swing back again to our left. When I approached the abatis, which I did about fifty yards on the Malakoff side of the Salient, there were only two ladders still being carried forward, borne by four and three men respectively. As I joined the leading ladder its carriers were reduced to three, and then the right-hand rear man falling, I took his place. The second ladder now fell to the ground, all the men being killed or wounded, and when we were about thirty yards from the abatis, my fellow carriers were reduced to two. There was a young man (ordinary seaman) in front and one man alongside me. The latter presently was killed, and the young man in front, no doubt realising a greater drag on his shoulder, for I found the load too heavy for my strength, turned his face round towards me, whom he imagined to be his comrade, shouting,'Come along Bill; let's get ours up first', and before he had recognised me, he was killed, and with him fell the ladder."