The experience of crossing the Guadiana in May 1811 reinforced the need to have an effective pontoon train with the army. The first of the pontoons from England did not arrive until June 1811, by which time most of the campaigning for the year was over. In October, Fletcher asked for a ‘person well acquainted with the construction of pontoons, the various articles belonging to them and the method of applying them would be extremely useful in this country as foreman of pontoon bridges’.⁵

British pontoons came in two sizes; small, approximately 16ft × 4ft (4.9m × 1.2m) and large, approximately 21ft × 5ft (6.4m × 1.5m). They were made of tin-plated iron and, with all their equipment, weighed over 1.5 tons.