Edward Dodd, according to the 1st hand
accounts of him, is the sort of soldier that no NCO wants anything to do
with. Every unit has a man like Edward Dodd and the Columbia Detachment
was no different.Edward Dodd
joined the Corps of Royal Sappers
and Miners and eventually found himself in the Search for Franklin in the
Arctic, under the command of Dr. Rae.
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"One evening a fat young
fellow named Dodd, whilst toasting himself over a good fire,
express[ed] to a companion, with much feeling ,the fear he
entertained...of catching rheumatism from having got his feet or
rather the soles of his moccasins slightly wet whist standing on the
ice. To one who had been wet for days together without intermission,
the croaking of the young man was irresistibly ludicrous."
--From the journal of Dr. Rae,
during the Arctic expedition
in search of the Franklin Expedition, 1853. |
Dodd volunteers for service in British
Columbia with the Columbia Detachment, traveling with the main body of
troops on the Thames City.
| As a Sapper
Dodd's Regimental Pay per Diem would have been 1s. 2 1/2d. plus Working Pay per Diem
of 1s.
to 4s. |
One
of the Naval customs is the "Crossing the Line" ceremony. During this
activity, one of the Men, dressed as Neptune, "shaves" the men who have
not crossed the Equator before - Dodd was one of those men.
| "To the sufferers
and lookers-on, a description of the scenes that ensued would be
superfluous, but to those who may have been prevented from seeing
them, we may as well say that the "doctoring", the "shaving" and
the "ducking" were all conducted in a most correct and scientific
manner, and if they would like to form an idea of the
extraordinary grimaces of the victims they had better come up
tomorrow morning and see little Dodd in his shower bath. All who
have witnessed the latter operation must have noticed that this
little gentleman is, to begin with, in a horrible funk the whole
time, that he would give the world to open his mouth and have a
good bellow, but that, not approving of the taste of salt water,
he is obliged to keep his mouth shut and content himself with
making horrible faces, wriggling and writhing until he looks as if
he were all legs and arms. Such were the faces of Neptune's
victims who had similar objections to the taste of tar and grease,
or even a nice little pill about the size of a pickled onion, the
one great difference between them and little Dodd being that the
younger gentleman always looks clean and nice after his ducking,
while those who emerged from Neptune's bath looked equally dirty
and disagreeable, especially about the chin.
--27th November, 1858
from The Emigrant Soldier's Gazette and
Cape Horn Chronicle |
The Thames City arrives on the 12th
April, 1859 and 3 days later a number of Men get drunk in Victoria -
Dodd was one of them.
|
April 15th 1859 - Getting out
cargo and placing it on deck for the Steamer to take in. Gossett
was on board for some time. In the Afternoon I, Luard and
Seddall went on shore for a stroll. The Country was
beautiful. We had a good view of Mount baker which is 16,000
Feet High. We had 6 or 7 of our Men prisoners, several of them
for being drunk April 17th 1859 - The
Detachment went on board the steamer "Eliza Anderson" at 3
AM and got under weigh about 4:30 AM. I had some trouble with
Sapper Dodd who was still a prisoner and so had him sent off in irons.
April 19th 1859 - The Steamer
"Eliza Anderson" came alongside about 2PM. We
immediately set to work getting the cargo shifted into her. Dodd
tumbled down the Hatchery. I took a boat manned with our own Men
and went off at once to the "Pylades" and brought off the
Surgeon. He (Dodd) was cut about the head a good deal, but not
seriously hurt.
--From the Journal of Lt. Lempriere,
RE |
The Columbia Detachment began the
process of building a Camp at Queenborough as soon as they arrived. As
it WAS a military camp, sentry posts were set up on the perimeter and
manned by the Sappers - Dodd was one of them.
|
October 25th 1859 - Found
Sapper Dodd asleep on his post when Sentry on the Main Road. I
made him a prisoner of.
--from the Journal
of Lt. Lempriere, RE |
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