The Army Had Now Passed Beyond The Scope Of A Camel, Or Other Pack-Animal,
System Of Supply, Except For Very Short Distances, And It Was Obvious That
They Could Only Advance In Future Along Either The Railway Or A Navigable
Reach Of The River, And Preferably Along Both.
From the Dal Cataract
near Kosheh there is a clear waterway at high Nile to Merawi.
To Kosheh,
therefore, the railway must be extended before active operations could
recommence. A third condition had also to be observed. For the expulsion
of the Dervishes from Kerma and Dongola it was desirable that a flotilla
of gunboats should co-operate with the land forces. Four of these vessels
- the Tamai, El Teb, the Metemma, and the Abu Klea; and three steamers -
the Kaibar, Dal, and Akasha, which it was proposed to arm - had, since 1885,
patrolled the river from Assuan to Wady Halfa, and assisted in protecting
the frontier from Dervish raids. All seven were now collected at the foot
of the Second Cataract, and awaited the rise of the river to attempt the
passage. To strengthen the flotilla three new and very powerful gunboats
had been ordered in England. These were to be brought in sections over the
railway to a point above the Second Cataract, and be fitted together there.
It was thus necessary to wait, firstly, for the railway to reach Kosheh;
secondly, for the Nile to rise; thirdly, for the old gunboats to ascend
the Cataract; fourthly, for the new gunboats to be launched on the clear
waterway; and, fifthly, for the accumulation of supplies. With all of these
matters the Sirdar now busied himself.
The reconstruction of the railway to Akasha and its extension beyond
this place towards Kosheh was pressed forward. By the 26th of June Akasha
was reached. Thenceforward the engineers no longer followed an existing
track, but were obliged to survey, and to make the formation for
themselves. Strong fatigue parties from the Egyptian and Soudanese
battalions were, however, employed on the embankments, and the line grew
daily longer. On the 24th of July the first train ran across the
battlefield of Firket; and on the 4th of August the railway was working
to Kosheh.
Kosheh is six miles south of Firket, and consists, like most places in the
'Military Soudan,' of little more than a name and a few ruined mud-huts
which were once a village. On the 5th of July the whole camp was moved
thither from the scene of the action. The reasons were clear and apparent.
Kosheh is a point on the river above the Dal Cataract whence a clear
waterway runs at high Nile to beyond Dongola. The camp at Firket had become
foul and insanitary. The bodies of the dead, swelling and decaying in their
shallow graves, assailed, as if in revenge, the bodies of the living.
The dysentery which had broken out was probably due to the 'green' water of
the Nile; for during the early period of the flood what is known as
'the false rise' washes the filth and sewage off the foreshore all along
the river, and brings down the green and rotting vegetation from the spongy
swamps of Equatoria. The water is then dangerous and impure. There was
nothing else for the army to drink; but it was undesirable to aggravate
the evil by keeping the troops in a dirty camp.
The earliest freight which the railway carried to Kosheh was the first of
the new stern-wheel gunboats. Train after train arrived with its load of
steel and iron, or with the cumbrous sections of the hull, and a warship
in pieces - engines, armaments, fittings and stores - soon lay stacked by
the side of the river. An improvised dockyard, equipped with powerful
twenty-ton shears and other appliances, was established, and the work -
complicated as a Chinese puzzle - of fitting and riveting together the
hundreds of various parts proceeded swiftly. Gradually the strange heaps
of parts began to evolve a mighty engine of war. The new gunboats were in
every way remarkable. The old vessels had been 90 feet long. These were
140 feet. Their breadth was 24 feet. They steamed twelve miles an hour.
They had a command of 30 feet. Their decks were all protected by steel
plates, and prepared by loopholed shields for musketry. Their armament was
formidable. Each carried one twelve-pounder quick-firing gun forward,
two six-pounder quick-firing guns in the central battery, and four Maxim
guns. Every modern improvement - such as ammunition hoists, telegraphs,
search-lights, and steam-winches - was added. Yet with all this they drew
only thirty-nine inches of water.
The contract specified that these vessels should be delivered at Alexandria
by the 5th of September, but, by exertions, the first boat, the Zafir,
reached Egypt on the 23rd of July, having been made in eight weeks, and in
time to have assisted in the advance on Dongola. The vessels and machinery
had been constructed and erected in the works in London; they were then
marked, numbered, and taken to pieces, and after being shipped to
Alexandria and transported to the front were finally put together at
Kosheh. Although in a journey of 4,000 miles they were seven times
transhipped, not a single important piece was lost.
The convenience of Kosheh on the clear waterway, and the dirty condition
of Firket, were in themselves sufficient reasons for the change of camp;
but another and graver cause lay behind. During the month of June an
epidemic of cholera began to creep up the Nile from Cairo. On the 29th
there were some cases at Assuan. On the 30th it reached Wady Halfa.
In consequence of this the North Staffordshire Regiment marched into camp
at Gemai. Their three months' occupation of the town had not improved
their health or their spirits. During the sixteen-mile march along the
railway track to Gemai the first fatal case occurred, and thereafter the
sickness clung to the regiment until the middle of August, causing
continual deaths.
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