Page 482 - INDIANNAVYV1

450 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NA\"Y. — ;

Burmese soldiers entrenched themselves, and the signal gal-
lantry with which the 13th Light Infantry and 18th Madras
Native Infantry, under that fine soldier. Major Robert Sale,
drove them out of their cover and destroyed their arms and
entrenching tools. Major Snodgrass continues :
" During the day repeated attacks on Kemmendine had been
made and repulsed, but it was not until darkness set in that the
last desperate effort of the day was made to gain possession of
that post. Already the wearied soldiers had lain down to rest,
^vhen suddenly the heavens and the whole surrounding country
became brilliantly illuminated by the flames of several tre-
mendous fire-rafts floating down the river tow^ards Rangoon
and scarcely had the blaze appeared, when incessant rolls of
musketry and peals of cannon w^re heard from Kemmendine.
The enemy had launched their fire-rafts into the stream with
the first of the ebb tide, in the hope of driving the vessels from
their stations off the place ; and they were followed up by war-
boats ready to take advantage of the confusion which might
ensue should any of them be set on fire. The skill and in-
trepidity of British seamen, however, proved more than a
match for the numbers and devices of the enemy ; entering
their boats they grappled the flaming rafts, and conducted them
past the shipping, or ran them ashore upon the bank. On the
land side the enemy were equally unsuccessful, being again
repulsed with heavy loss, in the most resolute attempt they had
yet made to reach the interior of the fort. The fire-rafts were,
upon examination, found to be ingeniously contrived, and
formidably constructed, made wholly of bamboos firmly
wrought together, between every two or three rows of which
a line of earthen jars of considerable size, filled with petroleum
or earth-oil and cotton, was secured ; other inflammable in-
gredients were also distributed in different parts of the raft,
and the almost unextinguishable fierceness of the flames pro-
ceeding from them can scarcely be imagined. Many of them
Avere considerably upwards of 100 feet in length, and were
divided into many pieces attached to each other by means of
long hinges, so arranged, that when they caught upon the cable
or bow of any ship, the force of the current would carry the
ends of the raft completely round her and envelope her in
flames from the deck to her main top-masthead, with scarcely a
possibility of extricating herself from the devouring element.
With possession of Kemmendine, the enemy could have
launched these rafts into the stream, from a point where they
must have reached our shipping in the crowded harbour; but
while we retained that post, they were obliged to despatch
them from above it, and the setting of the current carried them,
after passing the vessels at the station, upon a projecting
point of land, where they almost invariably grounded ; and