Some Frontiersman bushcraft, circa 1910.
Back in the first decade or so of the Legion’s existence, there was a very strong focus on fieldcraft, bushcraft and “life in savage countries”.
The object was to ensure Frontiersmen on military service at the far ends of the Empire weren’t anywhere near as reliant upon military logistics and supply lines as the regular or colonial volunteer forces.
They trained and practiced to develop and maintain an encyclopaedic knowledge of bushcraft, shifts and expedients of camp life and travel, and happily for us today, this knowledge from all over the Legion was distilled into The Frontiersman’s Pocket-Book (https://www.uap.ualberta.ca/…/101-9781551952970…)
In this photo spread from a 1910 magazine (I have lost the name of the publication but I’ll update this post and cite it when I track it down again), we see a selection of four interesting fieldcraft and bushcraft techniques.
First is demonstrating boiling water in a wicker basket sealed with clay. This was England, so there was a distinct lack of palm fronds or tropical grasses around the place for basket-making, so the Frontiersman in the photo uses a commercially made wicker basket for the demonstration. As we all know, if you have a means of boiling water you can make water safe to drink, cook, etc. Some sort of boiling vessel is a must-have for your field kit, but if you’re stuck without one, you can weave yourself a basket, daub it with clay and you’re still able to purify water.
Second is a demonstration of rapidly collapsing a standard military tent, circular, 13 foot. At the first sign of enemy activity a Frontiersman runs into the tent, grabs the pole by its base and rushes it out the door, instantly collapsing the tent and presenting a much smaller target for the enemy to fire at.
Third is the use of a camp loom to make a mattress. This technique requires a simple framework made of local deadfall timber or cut saplings, some cordage and a LOT of grass. With three men operating the apparatus as per the picture, it is very quick to make a man-sized mattress and the resulting mattress is comfortable and insulative – well, more comfortable and insulative than sleeping on a bare groundsheet or on the ground.
Fourth image shows our Founder, Roger Pocock putting the finishing touches to a rope-making machine improvised in camp from a bicycle wheel. The 9-strand rope he’s making would have been a hefty lump of cordage.