The Highland Furies by Victoria Schofield

Author:Victoria Schofield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2012-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Mediterranean Routine:

Gibraltar: the 42nd 1825–32; the 73rd 1827–29

Malta: the 42nd 1832–34; the 73rd 1829–34

Ionian Islands: the 42nd 1834–36; the 73rd 1834–38

While the 73rd Regiment remained in Ireland, the 42nd was travelling to Gibraltar. As always, a journey by sea in cramped conditions had its discomforts. Before long, half of the soldiers ‘were prostrated with sea sickness. The violent movements of the ship deranged everything,’ Wheatley recorded. ‘None of the sick men were able to appear till induced to crawl up to see the Coast of Spain.’54 In mid-December they reached Gibraltar. Anton, with his literary flair, described their arrival: ‘The sun was rising on the horizon, as our vessel, borne on the rippling stream, first caught a view of the gray rock for which we were bound. Not a breeze ruffled the face of the wide opening bay.’55 Once on shore, they proceeded to Windmill Hill Barracks. Their first casualty occurred when ‘a fine young man of the Light Company, attempting to get off Windmill Hill, being refused to go out at the barriers, being drunk, fell over the Rock and was killed on the spot’.56

Six regiments were stationed in Gibraltar. ‘The rations rather astonished us new arrivals, six days salt meat, Beef or Pork in the week, only one day of fresh meat – many of the salt meat barrels were marked 1812 and 14, and something could be made of the Pork but the Beef was what the men named “The Mahogany.” As to the fresh [meat] it was so blubbery and it shook so, that it would hardly lye on the hand barrow carrying it [to] the cook house.’ As the men discovered, the reason for the poor-quality meat was that there was an epidemic in North Africa and a strict quarantine was being enforced on all vessels. Since most of the meat came from North Africa, ‘good beef was seldom seen in the market’.57 After some time, fresh meat days were increased to two per week and the quality of the meat improved.58

New arrivals had to buy ‘three mules, three carts with harness, two asses with pack-saddles and cross-trees, and about fifty water kegs, each holding about five gallons’. As he explained, this constituted the Regiment’s ‘watering establishment’. Depending on the price of the animals and the chance of taking the place of another regiment, the cost was ‘about two hundred pounds’. To defray expenses, ‘every soldier is charged about five pence per month, and the officers in proportion to the number of kegs required’.59 In 1826 white gaiters or ‘spats’ came into use, and the sergeants still wore silver lace until 1830.60

Having briefly been in Ireland together, the paths of the 42nd and 73rd crossed again when, in September 1827, the 73rd arrived in Gibraltar. Both regiments were among those who suffered the following year from another severe outbreak of yellow fever. ‘In the end of July,’ recorded Anton, ‘or about the beginning of August, 1828, the Swedish vessel Deigden, from Havannah, entered the bay,

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