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Hermann Ehrlich Editor
Extreme
Biomimetics
Extreme Biomimetics
Hermann Ehrlich
Editor
Extreme Biomimetics
123
Editor
Hermann Ehrlich
Institute of Experimental Physics
TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Freiberg, Sachsen
Germany
vii
viii Preface
Fig. 1 Schematic view on the place of Extreme Biomimetics on the multidisciplinary crossroads
xi
xii Contents
xiii
xiv Contributors
The Arctic and Antarctic areas are the best localities to search for psychrophilic pro-
and eukaryotes. Traditionally, antarctic fauna have been investigated from the view
of evolutionary history (Ortmann 1901; LaBrecque and Barker 1981; Watling and
Thurston 1989; Clarke and Crame 1989; Clarke 1996; Clarke et al. 2004; Rogers
2007; Whittle et al. 2014), zoogeography (Murphy 1928; Lindsey 1940a, b;
Ostapoff 1966; Hedgepeth 1969; Voss 1988; Barnes and De Grave 2001; Griffiths
et al. 2009; Brandt et al. 2014; Griffiths and Waller 2016), ecology (Littlepage and
Pearse 1962; Holdgate 1967; Headland 1989; Knox 1970; White 1984; Convey
2001; Arntz and Clarke 2002; Clarke 2003; Bowden 2005; Clarke et al. 2007;
Ducklow et al. 2007; McClintock et al. 2008, 2010; Avila et al. 2009; Gutt et al.
2015; Clark et al. 2015), life history strategies (Eastman 1993), physiology, bio-
chemistry, molecular biology, genomics, survival and adaptation mechanisms
(Pearse and Giese 1966a; Dayton et al. 1974; Richardson and Hedgpeth 1977; Brey
et al. 1996; Clark et al. 2004; Peck et al. 2005; Bowden et al. 2006; Rogers 2007;
Roterman et al. 2016), community dynamics (Blake and Narayanaswamy 2004),
productivity and reproduction (Tressler 1964; Pearse et al. 1991; Aronson et al.
2009), and biodiversity (Ehrenberg 1844a, b; Hooker 1846; Pfeffer 1889; DeWitt
H. Ehrlich (&)
Institute of Experimental Physics, TU Bergakademie Freiberg,
Leipziger str. 23, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
e-mail: hermann.ehrlich@physik.tu-freiberg.de
A. Nikolaev
Institute of Earth Sciences, Department of Crystallography,
St. Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab., 7-9,
199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
e-mail: floijan@gmail.com
1965; Swithinbank et al. 1961; Holme 1964; Andriashev 1965; Arnaud et al. 1967;
Bullivant 1967; Dell 1972; Gallardo 1987; Dayton 1990; Arntz et al. 1997; Gutt
and Starmans 1998; Starmans et al. 1999; Clarke and Johnston 2003; Eastman
2005; Barnes et al. 2006; Brandt et al. 2007a, b; Griffiths 2010; Costello et al. 2010;
Waller 2013; Gutt et al. 2013; Brandt et al. 2014; WoRMS Editorial Board 2015;
Griffiths and Waller 2016). However, antarctic marine bentos also represent the
amazing source for inspiration for such scientific disciplines and directions as
bioinspired materials chemistry, materials science, biomineralogy, bionic, and
biomimetics. The total number of both vertebrates and benthic invertebrate species
described and observed from the Antarctic continental shelf range between 4000
and 17,000 species (see for review Arntz et al. 1997; Ragua-Gil et al. 2004; Gutt
et al. 2004). Many of these species are endemic (Cailleux 1961), for example,
100 % of nematodes (Andrassy 1998), 90 % of amphipods, 66 % of isopods, over
90 % of pycnogonids, 73 % of echinoderms, 58 % of bryozoans, and 95 % of fish
(Dayton et al. 1974). To obtain more information about biodiversity (Fig. 1.1) and
recently discovered species, we recommend to study following databases: EASIZ
(Ecology of the Antarctic Sea Ice Zone) supported by SCAR (the Scientific
Committee on Antarctic Research), ANDEEP (Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea
Biodiversity) as an integral project of CeDAMar (Census of the Diversity of
Abyssal Marine Life), CAML (Census of Antarctic Marine Life) and the
SCAR EBA (Evolution and Biodiversity in Antarctic), Census of Antarctic Marine
Life (CAML), and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Marine
Biodiversity Information Network (SCAR-MarBIN scientific programs (Gili et al.
2001; Brandt et al. 2004; Brandt and Hilbig 2004; Griffiths 2010; Kennicutt et al.
2014).
Fig. 1.1 The biodiversity of psychrophilic biomineralyzers on the bottom of selected areas of
Antarctic seas is amazing. Reprinted from Gutt (2004a), photograph: J. Gutt ©AWI/MARUM
(Germany), published under: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
1 Psychrophiles as Sources for Bioinspiration … 3
The new term “psychrophilic biosilicification” was first proposed in 2015 (Ehrlich
2015). The research subjects in this case are psychrophilic silica-producing uni-
cellular (silicoflagellates, diatoms) and multicellular organisms like sponges (both
Demospongiae and Hexactinellida). According to Maldonado and co-workers, our
current understanding of the silicon cycle in the ocean assumes that diatoms
dominate not only the uptake of silicic acid, but also the production and recycling of
biogenic silica (Maldonado et al. 2005). Other organisms with siliceous skeletons,
including sponges, radiolarians, and silicoflagellates, are thought to play a negli-
gible role. The authors showed that the retention of Si by siliceous sponges in some
sublittoral and bathyal environments is substantial, and that sponge populations
function as Si sinks. Therefore, sponges may affect Si cycling dynamics and Si
availability for diatoms, particularly in Si-depleted environments. It was strongly
suggested (Maldonado et al. 2005) that the role of sponges in the benthopelagic
coupling of the Si cycle is significant. For example, Antarctic giant hexactinellids,
such as Rossella nuda (Fig. 1.2) and Scolymastra joubini (Fig. 1.3), which may be
up to 2 m tall, 1.4 m in diameter, and up to 600 kg wet weight, can contain up to
50 kg biogenic silica each (Maldonado et al. 2005). These sponges represent
excellent examples of scientific phenomenon known as “polar gigantism” (Chapelle
and Peck 1999). Psychrophilic biosilicification definitively occurs also in both
Arctic and Antarctic species of silicoflagellates, radiolarians, ebridians (Korhola
and Smol 2001), and diatoms. The precipitation of silica by all of these organisms
depresses dissolved silica concentrations in shallow marine waters (Nelson and
Smith 1986; Nelson et al. 1995; DeMaster 2002; Maldonado et al. 2011; Tréguer
and De La Rocha 2013).
Fig. 1.2 Antarctic glass sponge Rossella nuda. Reprinted from Gutt (2004b), photograph: J. Gutt
©AWI/MARUM (Germany), published under: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
4 H. Ehrlich and A. Nikolaev
Fig. 1.3 Antarctic glass sponge Scolymastra joubini. Reprinted from Gutt and Teixidó (2004),
photograph: J. Gutt ©AWI/MARUM (Germany), published under: Creative Commons Attribution
3.0 Unported
(Meguro et al. 1966), and in the interstitial water of the ice matrix formed of the
bottom surface of thick ice (Burkholder and Mandelli 1965) of fresh water
(Babanazarova et al. 1996) (Fig. 1.4) and sea water origin (Garrison and Buck
1985; Baldi et al. 2011). Some diatoms possess cold-adapted photosynthesis (Mock
and Valentin 2004) and can be localized in the pack ice, where they could reach
such high concentrations that their photosynthetic pigments discolor the ice
yellow-brown, or brown (Thomas and Dieckmann 2002). The psychrophilic diatom
Chaetoceros neogracile is known as major biomass producer that can thrive in
extreme cold environments (Hwang et al. 2008). It was shown experimentally
(Mock and Hoch 2005) that such polar diatoms as Fragilariopsis cylindrus could
efficiently acclimate photosynthesis over a wide range of polar temperatures given
enough time. Although the rate of biosilicification in Antarctic diatoms remains
unknown, some species, like Fragilariopsis kerguelensis, show high rate of
biosilicification and contain thick-shelled frustules. Interestingly, these diatoms
from the iron limited Antarctic Circumpolar Current sequester silicon, but com-
paratively little carbon (Assmy et al. 2013).
Similar to other psychrophilic organisms, diatoms produce exopolymeric sub-
stances to protect themselves against dehydration stress and the presence of ice
crystals (for review see Palmisano et al. 1985; Raymond et al. 1994; Raymond
2000; Raymond and Knight 2003; Krembs et al. 2002). For example, non-marine
psychrophilic diatoms Berkeleya and Navicula ice-active substances can inhibit the
recrystallization of ice at concentrations of approximately 1 µg/ml (total protein
plus carbohydrate) (Raymond et al. 1994). From other side, it was shown that
6 H. Ehrlich and A. Nikolaev
skeleton is initiated outside the central capsule. It is suggested (Harper and Knoll
1975) that during evolution natural selection, mediated by the role of the diatoms in
the global silica cycle, apparently favors radiolarian morphology which uses less
silica in test construction.
Psychrophilic radiolarians which habituate in Antarctic area are known since
first reports from nineteenth century published by Ehrenberg and Haeckel (see for
review Ehrenberg 1844a, b; Haeckel 1887). Abundance, ecology, and taxonomy of
these psychrophilic protozoans are well described (Popofsky 1908; Riedel 1958;
Hays 1965; Petrushevskaya 1967, 1975, 1986; Goll and Björklund 1974; Chen
1975; Boltovskoy and Riedel 1979; Morley and Stepien 1985; Tibbs and Tibbs
1986; Gowing 1989; Lazarus 1990; Abelmann 1992b; Nishimura et al. 1997;
Lazarus et al. 2005). One of the typical Antarctic taxa of radiolarians is named
Antarctissa spp. (Petrushevskaya 1986). Radiolarians are also to be reported in
Arctic seas (Molina-Cruz and Bernal-Ramirez 1996; Bjørklund et al. 1998;
Bjørklund and Kruglikova 2003). Although some attempts to understand biomin-
eralization in radiolarians have been carried out (Enriques 1931; Cachon and
Cachon 1971; Afanasieva 2006; Suzuki et al. 2013; Ogane et al. 2009, 2010, 2014),
there is still a lack of knowledge about the underpinning mechanisms of biosili-
cification in these protists. Probably, cultivation techniques (see for details
Matsuoka 1992) will give us the opportunity to obtain enough amounts of radio-
larian biomass under low temperature conditions for bioanalytical in-depth
investigations.
Fig. 1.5 Antarctic demosponges (a, b) commonly contain no pigments. Reprinted from Gutt
(2004a), photograph: J. Gutt ©AWI/MARUM (Germany), published under: Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported
symbiotic behavior could be a special strategy that allows the diatom to survive in
darkness. It seems that psychrophilic sponges have not lost their ability to syn-
thesize a broad variety of substances which they actively use for chemical defense
under low temperatures against parasites like diatoms, and even spongivorous
animals (see for review Seldes et al. 1990a, b; Baker et al. 1995; Yang et al. 1995;
Amsler et al. 2000; Moon et al. 2000; Furrow et al. 2003; Peters et al. 2009;
Cutignano et al. 2012; Carbone et al. 2014).
1 Psychrophiles as Sources for Bioinspiration … 9
Fig. 1.6 The morphology of Antarctic demosponges (a, b) is diverse. a Reprinted from Gutt
(2004c), photograph: J. Gutt ©AWI/MARUM (Germany), published under: Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported. b Reprinted from Gutt and Starmans (2004a), ©AWI/MARUM
(Germany), published under: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
Fig. 1.7 Psychrophilic glass sponge Caulophacus arcticus (a) represents several levels (b, c,
d) of hierarchical organization
Gutt 2007; Dayton et al. 2013). We kindly recommend readers to find more infor-
mation in detail about diversity and biology of psychrophilic hexactinellids in the
chapter entitled “Cold Biosilicification in Metazoan: psychrophilic glass sponges”
prepared by Tabachnik and coauthors for this book.
The north and south polar sea ice environments are ideal habitats for studying
microbial psychrophilic communities from biochemical, ecological, and biogeo-
graphical points of view (for review see Morita 1975; Deming 2002; Thomas and
Dieckmann 2002; Ruisi et al. 2007). Some bacteria are psychrophiles that will be
additionally confirmed by their scientific names like Psychroserpens (Bowman
et al. 1997); Psychromonas antarcticus (Mountfort et al. 1998); Polaromonas,
Polaribacter, and Psychroflexus (Staley and Gosink 1999); Planococcus psy-
chrophilus (Reddy et al. 2002); Desulfotalea psychrophila (Rabus et al. 2004);
Psychrobacter cryohalolentis and Psychrobacter arcticus (Bakermans et al. 2006);
Psychromonas ingrahamii (Auman et al. 2006); Exiguobacterium sibiricum
(Rodrigues et al. 2006; Ponder et al. 2008); Flavobacterium glaciei (Zhang et al.
2006); Phaeobacter arcticus (Zhang et al. 2008); Sphingopyxis alaskensis (Ting
et al. 2010); Methanolobus psychrophilus (Chen et al. 2012); and Clostridium
psychrophilum (Perfumo et al. 2014). Not only bacteria, but archaea (Cavicchioli
2006), yeast (Di Menna 1960, 1966; Margaret 1966; Goto et al. 1969; de Garcia
et al. 2007; Xin and Zhou 2007; Margesin and Fell 2008; Lee et al. 2010; Turchetti
et al. 2011; Laich et al. 2014), and fungi (Richard et al. 1997; Robinson 2001;
Hoshino et al. 2003, 2010; Held et al. 2006; Singh et al. 2006; Kochkina et al. 2007;
Leung et al. 2011; Tsuji et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2015) can proliferate at 0–10 °C,
metabolize in snow and ice at −20 °C (Junge et al. 2004), and can survive at −45 °
C (Cavicchioli 2006). Beyond the problems of cryosurvival, interest in psy-
chrophilic microorganisms has increased recently because of their antifreeze protein
activity (Kawahara 2002; Cavicchioli et al. 2002; Gilbert et al. 2004) as well as due
to biotechnological potential of so-called “cold-adapted enzymes” for industrial
uses (Brenchley 1996; Russell 2000; Smalas et al. 2000; Feller and Gerday 2003;
Siddiqui and Cavicchioli 2006; Margesin and Feller 2010; Buzzini et al. 2012;
Feller 2013; Burhan et al. 2014; Alcaıno et al. 2015).
However, also some very intriguing findings on psychrophilic calcification in
bacteria have been reported. Thus, recently described gram-positive, aerobic bac-
terial isolates from a Canadian high Arctic permafrost active layer, known as
Planococcus halocryophilus strain Or1, habituate at temperatures as low as −15 °C
and high salinity of 18 % NaCl (Mykytczuk et al. 2012, 2013; Ronholm et al.
2015). It was observed that growth at −15 °C coincides with increasing
hydrophobicity of the cells and distinct extracellular encrustations closely associ-
ated with their cell walls. Researchers showed with strong evidence that the cell
envelope of bacteria grown at −15 °C is composed of 20 % calcium carbonate,
50 % peptidoglycan, and 29 % choline (Fig. 1.8) (Mykytczuk et al. 2016). It was
suggested that carbonic anhydrase, an enzyme responsible for biocalcification,
plays an important role in this unique case of psychrophilic biomineralization.
12 H. Ehrlich and A. Nikolaev
Fig. 1.8 Scanning and transmission electron micrographs of P. halocryophilus Or1 cells grown
at 25 °C (a–d), 5 °C (e–h), and −15 °C (i–p). Scale bars = 1 µm with exception of C, O, and P,
where scale bars = 500 nm. N nodular features, S sheet-like features, M peptidoglycan/murein,
PM plasma membrane. Reprinted from Mykytczuk et al. (2016) with permission of Springer
amounts of CaCO3, potentially adding 5.94 × 109 kg ha−1 year−1 of CaCO3 to the
Ross Sea (Hancock et al. 2015).
Psychrophilic bryozoans are colonial benthic calcifying metazoans which have high
levels of Antarctic endemism (Schopf 1969; Hayward 1995; Peck et al. 1995;
Zabala et al. 1997; Rosso and Sanfilippo 2000; Barnes and Griffiths 2008).
Numerous reports have been dedicated to ecology, growth, feeding, and repro-
duction of these organisms living in cold waters (Winston 1983; Barnes and Clarke
1994; Barnes 1995, 2015; Figuerola et al. 2013). These studies are important also
from biomineralization view, as experimental results give answers to principal
questions about the rate of biocalcification at temperatures near freezing point of
water. For example, it was reported that the Antarctic bryozoan Melicerita obliqua
colonies form one segment per year, thus attaining a maximum length of about
200 mm within 50 years (Brey et al. 1998). Calcification in bryozoans appears to
be strongly genetically controlled. These invertebrates contain in their skeletal
structures calcite, aragonite, and mixtures of both (Smith 2014). Although the
principles of biomineralization in bryozoan have been recently reviewed in detail
(Taylor et al. 2015), there are gaps in our knowledge which need to be addressed
especially with respect to understanding of mechanisms of psychrophilic
calcification.
14 H. Ehrlich and A. Nikolaev
Coral habitats span the range from tropical to polar areas including Antarctic seas.
Seventeen species of scleractinian corals occur in Antarctic waters (Fig. 1.9)
(Cairns 1982; Waller et al. 2008, 2011; Henry 2013). Despite the great interest and
numerous studies published on the calcification in corals, enormous gaps still exist
in our understanding of their psychrophilic biomineralization. The low temperature
tolerance of psychrophilic corals is well described (Fosså et al. 2002; Dodds et al.
2007; Roberts et al. 2009; Brooke et al. 2012). Some of psychrophilic scleractinians
are endemic species of the Antarctic region. For example, Flabellum impensum is a
very conspicuous species with large size and greater number of septa in comparison
to other species (Cairns 1990, 1995; Schejter and Bremec 2015). This coral is a
long-lived, slow-growing organism, with a low metabolic rate and a linear exten-
sion rate of approximately 1 mm per year, and a skeletal density that averaged
22 % more than the density of pure aragonite (Henry 2013).
Also, octocorals have been reported to habituate in Arctic (Cairns and Baco
2007) and Antarctic (Orejas et al. 2001, 2002, 2007; Taylor and Rogers 2015;
Dueñas et al. 2016) (Fig. 1.10) regions. One of the typical representatives of
psychrophilic octocorals is Primnoisis spicata that is related to family Isididae. The
axial skeleton of this species is very peculiar in that it contains both calcareous
Fig. 1.9 Heavily mineralized skeleton of Antarctic stony coral (Scleractinia, Cnidaria, Anthozoa)
1 Psychrophiles as Sources for Bioinspiration … 15
Fig. 1.10 Antarctic octocoral. Reprinted from Gutt (2004b), photograph: J. Gutt
©AWI/MARUM (Germany), published under: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
(internode) and horny (gorgonin-based node) regions (Thomas and Mathew 1986).
Understanding of the principles of psychrophilic biomineralization especially in
these corals is of crucial interest because the biomimetic potential of Isididae
octocorals as models for bioinspired design of bone implants is well established
(Ehrlich et al. 2006a, b).
Antarctic oceans (Comeau et al. 2009). The sub-Arctic bivalve Arctica islandica
can live in excess of 350 years (Schöne et al. 2005). The Antarctic cephalopod
mollusk Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni is the largest known invertebrate (Rodhouse
and Clarke 1985; Allcock et al. 2001). The gizzard plates from the Antarctic
deepwater gastropod Scaphander cylindrellus contain the calcium oxalate dihydrate
mineral, weddellite (Lowenstam 1968), and not calcium carbonate.
The diversity of psychrophilic molluscs including endemic species like Antarctic
cephalopods Pareledone sp. (Allcock et al. 1997, 2005, 2007), Antarctic pteropod
Clione antarctica (Dymowska et al. 2012), Antarctic nudibranch Austrodoris ker-
guelensis (Diyabalanage et al. 2010), and the Antarctic clam Laternula elliptica
(Peck et al. 2002; Cummings et al. 2011) is well studied (Dell 1964; Linse 2003;
Ghiglione et al. 2013; Moreau et al. 2013). Recently, psychrophilic species L.
elliptica and L. helicina have been used as key indicators of the acidification
process in polar ecosystems (Morley et al. 2012; Bednaršek et al. 2014). L. elliptica
(Fig. 1.11) represents also a highly tractable mollusk model for studying psy-
chrophilic biomineralization (Sleight et al. 2015). Most attention, however, is paid
on transcriptome investigations using such species as Antarctic brooding gastropod
Margarella antarctica (Clark and Thorne 2015), Antarctic pteropod Limacina
helicina antarctica (Johnson and Hofmann 2016), and the Antarctic soft-shelled
clam, L. elliptica (Sleight et al. 2015; Park and Ahn do 2015).
Mary Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie! How they live
with us yet, casting their spell over the centuries!
If there is one figure in the past that still acts powerfully upon the
tradition, literature, and imagination of Scotland,—in a word, upon
that which remains and is imperishable, after stone and brass are
but mouldering relics,—it is the figure and fortunes of Charles, the
Young Pretender to the throne of Great Britain. With him ended
Celtic Scotland, Scottish feudalism, and the age of Highland
romance.
About the “Young Chevalier”—the image on the Scottish mind is
that of the fair youth in the full splendor of manhood; not the
wretched dregs of the human form that many years afterwards was
cast out of memory like an abominable branch. It is of the bonnie
young fellow that such songs as “Wae’s me for Prince Charlie,”
“Charlie is my darling,” “Come o’er the stream, Charlie,” and “The
White Cockade,” were written and are still sung. His full name was
Charles Edward Louis Philippe Casimir Stuart.
This young man, of extraordinary beauty and fascinating
manners, against the advice of his friends and most loyal supporters,
landed in Scotland, and summoning the Highland chiefs, who, by
affinities of blood, politics, and religion, were most attached to the
Stuart dynasty, asked for their support. One and all, they declared
against the uprising, but they, nevertheless, agreed to follow their
liege lord.
Born at Rome, on December 31, 1720, grandson of King James
II of England, and eldest son of James, the Old Pretender, who
called himself James III, Charles was nominated by his family the
Prince of Wales. Educated under brilliant tutors, he travelled through
Italy. He was able to speak English, French, and Italian, but could
never write well in English. Despite the previous failure, in 1715, of
his father, and the loss at sea by storm of a French fleet, with seven
thousand men who were to assist his Highlanders, Charles landed in
Scotland when most of the British army was in the Belgic
Netherlands. On August 19, 1745, in Glen Finnan, he unfurled his
standard as “James VIII of Scotland and III of England” against
George II and the Hanoverian dynasty of Great Britain. He wore the
Highland costume and won the hearts of the women by his charming
manners and manly beauty.
After a meteoric career, including a brilliant series of marches,
victories, occupation of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, invasion of
England almost to London, and sudden retreat, he had to face with
his loyal clansmen the King’s son William, Duke of Cumberland, with
an army specially trained to the use of the bayonet. The two forces
met on Drummossie Moor, near Culloden, April 16, 1746.
Cumberland’s men were in high spirits and fine condition, while the
ill-fed followers of Charles, hungry and weary after a night march,
numbered five thousand. His attempt to surprise the Duke and settle
the issue with cold steel had failed!
Against the advice of his officers, Charles ordered the battle.
After various manœuvres the armies faced each other for the bloody
decision, on which depended the fate of the House of Stuart, the
fortunes of the Highlanders, and the continuance of Scottish
feudalism.
One dreadful surprise awaited the clansmen. Cumberland,
trusting in the bayonet, had carefully drilled each of his men to have
the nerve to neglect the man striking at him with his broadsword, but
to stab at the fellow who, in expectation of dashing aside the bayonet
of the soldier in front of him, would expose his body to the oblique
thrust of his comrade on the right, duly fore-warned.
The day was one of chilly weather, with fitful winds and flurries of
snow. Early in the afternoon, the battle was opened by discharges of
cannon from the side of the rebels. But with this kind of work, the
men from the glens never were satisfied. Indeed, all firearms and
long-range weapons were unpopular with these brave fellows, who,
like Indians and semi-barbarians, enjoyed most that action which
was, as far as possible, independent and personal.
In several of their victories over the royal troops, as at
Prestonpans, for example, they had felt little or no annoyance from
the royal cannon, and had almost lost their fear of artillery.
Cumberland had nine thousand men and eighteen well-served
guns. Here, for the first time, the Highlanders were under heavy fire
of grape and round shot, to which they could not proportionately
reply. It is thought that if Charles at Culloden had let his swordsmen
rush at once upon the enemy the issue might have been different.
For half an hour the Duke’s cannon played effectively upon the
clansmen, who saw scores of their kinsmen stretched upon the
heath. After a few moments’ cannonade from their own side, and still
under the withering fire of the enemy’s heavy guns, the Highlanders
ranged themselves in masses, and according to their clans, made
ready for the terrific onset, which they supposed would decide the
battle. This it did, but not in the way they had hoped. It was the
Mackintoshes, who, unable any longer to brook the unavenged
slaughter of their comrades, broke from the centre of the line and
rushed forward through the smoke and snow to mingle with the
enemy. Yet the order to advance, though never delivered, had
already been given by Charles, the bearer being killed by a cannon
shot.
Cumberland’s troops, seeing the dark masses moving up the
slope, as in a great wave, stood in steady line. As the Highlanders
came to shock, the oblique thrust of the bayonets was a dreadful
surprise, for it prevented hundreds of clansmen from wielding their
favorite weapon, as most of them were thrust through before they
could swing their broadswords, or make the terrible double-handed
sweep with their claymores, on which they had counted. Soon the
moor of Drummossie had proved itself to be the valley of decision for
the hopes of the House of Stuart.
Within two minutes the charge was general along the whole line.
Yet it was as if advancing into semi-darkness of whirling snow and
powder smoke. One survivor of the battle, a Highlander, said that
after rushing forward the first glimpse he received of the Duke’s
troops was, when the cloud of smoke and snow lifted, he saw the
white gaiters of the soldiers. The Duke’s cannon, now loaded with
grapeshot, and the musketry of his solid columns swept the field as
with a hailstorm. The three ranks in the front line of English Hessians
delivered simultaneous volleys, while the regiments of Wolfe—of
whom we Americans have heard in his later career at Quebec—
poured in a flank fire. Nevertheless, the right wing and centre of the
Highlanders fought with even more than usual gallantry and
resolution.
Notwithstanding the fact that they were outflanked, enfiladed,
and met by a heavy musketry fire in front of them, the right wing of
the Highlanders broke Barrel’s regimental front and passed the guns;
but their attack was checked by the bayonets of the second line.
Of the Highlanders who first rushed forward the majority were
hardly able to see their enemy for the smoke, until involved
inextricably among their weapons. Tn their onset, nearly all in the
front ranks fell before either bullets or the piercing weapons used
obliquely, as directed by the Duke, almost every bayonet being bent
or bloody with the strife. Nevertheless, the Highlanders, despite their
impending annihilation, kept on, line after line pushing forward, even
though only a few of those charging last reached the front files of the
royal troops. In parts of the plain, the dead lay three and four deep.
During all this time the Macdonalds, who, because their
ancestors at Bannockburn had fought on the right wing, had ever
afterwards, except on this occasion, occupied this position, would
not fight. They made no onset, and even received the fire of the
English regiments without flinching. They were dissatisfied because
they had been put on the left wing. At last, when the moment of
decision and defeat had come, there being no hope, they also fled
with the other clans.
Charles had yet in reserve his foreign troops, and these, after
the mountaineers had been ruined, he hoped, as he looked on from
the mound at some distance off, would redeem the day. But though
there were instances of bravery among these men, yet, demoralized
by the wreck of the clans coming as fugitives among them, and
seeing the Duke’s army getting ready to charge with the cold steel,
they fled in a body. Thus the rout was complete. Charles, who had
made his last cast for a crown, seemed now unable to realize what
had happened. Confounded, bewildered, and in tears, he seemed
unable to act. His attendants were obliged to turn his horse’s head
and compel him to retreat, Sullivan his friend seizing the horse’s
bridle and dragging him away.
During the uprising of 1745–46, the local clans wore a red or
yellow cross or ribbon, in order to distinguish themselves from the
Stuart Highlanders, who were all dressed in about the same way,
except as to their bonnets. The Jacobites all wore the white cockade,
like that of the Bourbons of France, friends of the Stuarts. One of the
liveliest tunes played by the Highland pipers was “The White
Cockade.” It was the same air, with different words, which the fifers
and drummers of the Continental army played when the flag of the
Revolution was raised in the War of Independence. In fact, in looking
over the American musicians’ repertoire, from 1775 to 1783, one
might almost imagine that the chief music sounded under “the
Congress flag” of thirteen stripes and, after 1777, under “Old Glory”
of later Revolutionary days, was Scottish. Even the strains of
mournful music, over the graves of the slain American patriots, was
“Roslyn Castle.”
One fifth of the Highland army was lost at Culloden. Of the five
regiments which charged the English, almost all the leaders and
front rank men were slain. These numbered nearly a thousand in all.
The actual battle lasted about forty minutes, much of it in distant
firing; but the charge and the crossing of the cold steel were all over
in a quarter of an hour. The number of killed, wounded, and missing
of the royal army was three hundred and ten. The victory was mainly
attributable to the effect of the artillery and musketry of the royalists;
but in Munro’s and Barrel’s regiments, many of the soldiers put to
death one, two, or more Highlanders each, with their bayonets, and
several of the dragoons, sent in pursuit, were known to have cut
down ten or twelve fugitives each in the pursuit.
CHAPTER XVI
THE OLD HIGHLANDS AND THEIR
INHABITANTS