UNDER GAUMtAUH

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 6, 1 March 1900, Page 35

UNDER GAUMtAUH

Hill's next scene of warfare was under the .sunny Italian skies, and in the ranks of Garibaldi's celebrated red-shirt, army. The 11 Shannon " and her crew returned from India to England at the end of IHSB, and " Rowley" joined 11. M.5. " Hannibal," a 01-gun liue-of-battlc ship, a splendid type <:f the British war vessel of forty years ago, with tremendously square yards and lofty spars. The " Hannibal " went for a cruise in the Mediterranean, and while there Hill displayed his cool pluck by jumping overboard one night when off Corfu, and saving the life of John Watts, one of his shipmates. For this act of courage he after wards received the Royal Humane Society's bronze medal. The " Hannibal " was lying at Palermo, Sicily, some time about 1860, when Garibaldi's Canipaigu was proceeding. Many

British soldiers and sailors had joined Graribaldi's ranks, and Hill could not resist the temptation of becoming a soldier of fortune. So he and three sailors from the "Hannibal" ran away from the ship and joined Graribaldi's forces, which always welcomed the trained warriors of other nations, at Palermo. "Any amount of English men-o'-wars'-men were there under Garibaldi's officers," is Hill's account. "We were rigged up with our new uniforms as soon as we joined — red

shifts, red caps, and red handkerchiefs — and we were served out with muzzle-loaders. We had some fighting as soon as we joined. There was a battle at Palermo, and we captured the town and fort. Then we crossed the Straits of Messina in boats, and landed on the coast of Italy. At the back of Naples we had a fight with the Italian army. Look here, that's what I got ! " and " Rowley " holds up his mutilated left hand, the forefinger of which is missing. " A shot or something hit my hand, took away the forefinger, and hurt some of the other fingers. Well, after the fight, me and some other

Britishers were sent back to Naples. While we were there we were made prisoners by a British picket, and four of us were sent back on board the " Hannibal " — our old ship. We reckoned we were properly in for it now, and one of the four of us jumped overboard that night, I suppose to swim ashore. We never heard anything more of him ; but the rest of us got out of it all right. It was overlooked, a good deal because of my record, I think." So ended "Rowley's" brief but pretty exciting campaign under Garibaldi.