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31st Regiment’s introduction to life in the Bengal Army
was not an auspicious one. History does not relate why the regiment
was required to move by water from Calcutta to Dinapore, near
Patna, some 400 miles up the River Ganges at a season when the
river level was low and shallows greatly extended. Perhaps its
accommodation was needed for units returning from the Burma War
which was coming to an end. Possibly it was the last move in a
sequence planned for the cold season which was well advanced.
Perhaps it was just administrative inefficiency. Whatever the
reason, it was unfortunate that the regiment had to set out in
February 1826 having only come together a few months earlier after
moving from Berhampore north of Calcutta to Fort William to the
south of the city.
It was the time of the year when the direct route to the Ganges
by the Hoogley River was impassable as it was too shallow to permit
the passage of boats of any size, and it was necessary for flotillas
proceeding up country first to go south toward the sea for a considerable
distance before passing into the Ganges proper by way of the Sundarbans,
an area of waterways, swamp, and tiger-infested jungle.
The regiment was encamped on the glacis of Fort William, close
to the water-front; but it took a whole month from the date on
which the order for the move was given before the boats could
be obtained. The officers were obliged to supply their own, and
those for the rank and file were impressed by the commissariat.
The crews were unwilling and the boats, for the most part, faulty.
When at last a sufficient number of boats had been assembled,
many of the crews absconded, and a great deal of valuable time
was lost in rounding them up, or in procuring others. It was the
custom for regiments changing station to take all their possessions
with them, and as many camp followers as were able to do so went
along as well. It was also the custom of the commissariat to spend
as little as possible on soldiers and their families.
The fleet eventually numbered some 300 craft of all sizes. The
16-oared “budgerow” which drew about two feet of water
was the largest, and most of them had thatched roofs. The regiment
went off by companies, the head of each one marked by a large
flag, with the hospital, under a broad back pennant, bringing
up the rear. It was not an orderly embarkation. One of the 31st
officers later described the scene:
“Budgerows, horse-boats, baggage boats, cook-boats, hospital-boats
and soldier-boats. Every officer had a sort of Noah’s ark
attached to his budgerow, and the uproar to fill it with its various
animals was terrible; unwilling horses and obstinate cows, with
goats and sheep running in all quarters; men, women and children,
in all colours and costumes; carriages, gigs, palanquins, coops
of poultry, ducks, geese and turkeys, scattered about, cackling
and hissing with all their might. Until we were fairly launched
I do not think any person seemed to be perfectly possessed of
his judgment.”
As the procession of boats made its way through the ramifications
of the delta it had frequently to pass long strings of barges
carrying wood from the Sundarbans jungle to Calcutta; and nothing
that the officers could do prevented the crews from pilfering
the timber, greatly to the indignation both of the owners and
the local inhabitants. At night the boats were tied to the bank
as close together as possible. On the first night two of the boatmen
strayed into the jungle and were not seen again, carried off,
it was supposed, by the tigers. The incident proved to be a deterrent
for others who might have felt inclined to abandon the voyage.
After a while the course lay through a labyrinth of creeks, lakes,
and tidal mud flats. A score of boats at a time were often entangled
in overhanging branches, and progress was tortuously slow. It
was thirteen days before the Ganges was reached and passengers
could land and stretch their legs - as long a time as might have
been taken to sail from England to Gibraltar.
Progress up the Ganges continued to be slow. The water was so
shallow that the boats were frequently aground and hundreds of
boatmen were in the water at a time struggling to get them afloat
again. Occasionally they came upon parties of Europeans beating
the jungle for game and at times the 31st officers made up their
own shooting parties. It was often a matter of hours before the
rearmost boats closed up into their stations for the night. Each
one as it arrived was moored in its allotted place, and immediately
they were all reported present the troops, women and children
would scramble out and run along the shore.
The soldiers’ and families’ accommodation in the boats
was crowded and the provision for the sick was little better.
Cholera appeared - it would have been surprising in those days
had it not - and casualties were heavy, not only among the soldiers
and their families, but among the native followers. When the latter
died their bodies were thrown overboard, or deposited on the river
bank, there to be eaten by the vultures and jackals that for days
had been accompanying the convoy. The British dead were given
a more decent burial in such graves as could hastily be scooped
in the sand. .Every boat on board which a person fell sick was
required to make for the nearest budgerow where an officer would
administer a wine glass of “cholera mixture” the main
ingredients of which were laudanum and brandy. The moment the
draught had been swallowed the sufferers appeared to rally somewhat,
and their boat dropped quietly back to the hospital. But as the
disease was not recognised as contagious no effort was made at
segregation, and it was thought that the cholera mixture saved
many lives.
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