THE GREAT SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR.
"Neither, while the war lasts, will Gibraltar surrender. Not though
Crillon, Nassau, Siegen, with the ablest projectors extant, are
there; and Prince Condé and Prince d'Artois have hastened to help.
Wondrous leather-roofed floating-batteries, set afloat by French-
Spanish _Pacte de famille_, give gallant summons; to which,
nevertheless, Gibraltar answers Plutonically, with mere torrents of
red-hot iron,—as if stone Calpe had become a throat of the Pit; and
utters such a Doom's-blast of a No, as all men must credit."—
CARLYLE.
THE year 1779 saw England engaged in war on both sides of the Atlantic,
with bitter and jealous enemies. Her struggle with the revolted colonies
offered a tempting opportunity to France to wipe out her losses during
the Seven Years' War,—and to Spain, to wipe out the disgrace which she
felt in the possession of Gibraltar by the English. France, accordingly,
espoused the cause of the Americans; and Spain, under pretence of the
rejection of an offer of mediation between England and France, proposed
in terms which could not be accepted, immediately declared a war, which
had been decided upon from the day of the disaster at Saratoga, and for
which preparations had been progressing for some time without any
pretence of concealment.
The Royal Artillery in this year consisted of thirty-two _service_
companies, and eight _invalid_. The augmentation referred to in the last
chapter did not take place until the end of the year. Of this number,
one-half—sixteen companies—was in America; one company in Newfoundland;
three in the West Indies; three in Minorca; and five in Gibraltar:—a
total abroad of twenty-eight service companies out of thirty-two. Nor
was it a foreign service, so weary and uneventful as it sometimes is
now: it was a time when England was fighting almost for existence, and
every company had to share the dangers. Should such a rising against
England ever occur again, the Regiment could not select as its model for
imitation anything nobler than the five companies which were in
Gibraltar during the great siege.
They were the five senior companies of the 2nd Battalion, and they still
exist, under the altered nomenclature, as,—
No. 7 Battery, 21st Brigade Intermediately in the 6th Brigade.
2 Battery 12th Brigade
7 Battery 10th Brigade
D Battery 1st Brigade
8 Battery 3rd Brigade
At the commencement of the siege, Colonel Godwin was in command of the
Artillery; but he returned to England in the following year, on
promotion to the command of the Battalion, and died in about six years.
He was succeeded by Colonel Tovey, the same officer who had been present
with his company at Belleisle; and who, having had practical experience
of Siege Artillery of the attack, was now to head a train of Artillery
of the defence, in which duty and command he died. On his death, which
happened at a most exciting period of the siege, he was succeeded by
Major Lewis, whose conspicuous gallantry and severe wounds earned for
him a well-deserved Good Service Pension.
The strength of the Artillery was wholly inadequate to the number of
guns on the Rock. It amounted to a total of 25 officers, and 460 non-
commissioned officers and men; whereas, at the termination of the siege,
the following was the serviceable and mounted armament:—
_Guns._—Seventy-seven 32-pounders; one hundred and twenty-two 24-
pounders and 26-pounders; one hundred and four 18-pounders; seventy 12-
pounders; sixteen 9-pounders; twenty-five 6-pounders; thirty-eight 4-
pounders and 3-pounders.
_Mortars._—Twenty-nine 13-inch; one 10-inch; six 8-inch; and thirty-four
of smaller natures.
_Howitzers._—Nineteen 10-inch, and nine 8-inch.
One of the first steps taken by the Governor, General Eliott, was to
attach 180 men from the infantry to the Artillery, to learn gunnery, and
assist in the duties of the latter. The regiments in garrison were the
12th, 39th, 56th, and 58th, also the (then) 72nd regiment. The (then)
73rd and 97th regiments joined during the siege. There were also 124
Engineers and artificers, and three regiments of Hanoverian troops. The
total strength of all ranks in June 1779, was 5382; but it increased
before the siege was over—by means of reinforcements from England—to
7000.
A few statistics connected with the Artillery and their duties may,
perhaps, with advantage be prefaced to the account of the siege.
The amount of ammunition expended between September 1779|and February
1783, was as follows:
Shot 57,163
Shell 129,151
Grape 12,681
Carcasses 926
Light Balls 679
In all 200,600 rounds, and 8000 barrels of powder.
The preponderance of the number of shell over shot was caused by the
use, during the siege, of shell from _guns_, with reduced charges—as
well as from mortars and howitzers; suggested by Captain Mercier, of the
39th Regiment, and found so successful, as almost to abolish the use of
shot during the first two years. In the year 1782, however, the value of
red-hot shot against the enemy's fleet and works was discovered; the
amount of shot expended rapidly increased; and while there was hardly a
battery without the means at hand for heating them, there was also a
constant supply, already heated, in the chief batteries.
The batteries from which the Artillery generally fired on the land side
were those known collectively as Willis's; but when the fleet, and
especially the hornet-like gunboats, commenced annoying the garrison,
the batteries towards the sea had also to be manned, and the duty became
so severe, that at times the fire had to be slackened, literally to
allow the men to snatch a few hours' sleep.
The proportion in the Royal Artillery of killed and wounded was very
great. According to the records of the 2nd Battalion, the list was even
heavier than that given by Drinkwater in his celebrated work; but even
accepting the latter version as correct, it stood as follows:—
Out of a total of 485 of all ranks, there were:—
Killed 23
Died of wounds 8
Totally disabled 13
Wounded 116
Died of sickness 36
———
Total number of casualties 196
The officers who were killed were Captain J. Reeves and Lieutenant J.
Grumley. The former commenced his career as a matross, and received his
commission at the Havannah in 1762; the latter was a volunteer, attached
in 1778 to the Artillery in Gibraltar, and commissioned in 1780; who
enjoyed his honours for a very short time, being killed in the
bombardment of the 13th of September, 1782. The officers who were
wounded were Major Lewis, Captain-Lieutenant Seward, Lieutenants Boag,
Willington, Godfrey, and Cuppage. Of these, Lieutenant Boag was twice
wounded during the siege. He, like Captain Reeves, had commenced his
service as a matross; nor was his promotion accelerated by brevet or
otherwise on account of his wounds, in the dull times of reduction and
stagnation, which followed the peace signed at Versailles in 1783. He
was at last appointed Major in 1801. Retiring two years later, after a
service of forty-five years, he died, as he had lived, plain James
Boag,—unnoticed, forgotten, as the great siege itself was, in the
boiling whirl which was circling over Europe, fevering every head and
heart.
Two valuable inventions were made during the siege by Artillery
officers, to increase the efficacy of their fire. By means of one, a gun
could be depressed to any angle not exceeding 70°—a most important
invention in a fortification like Gibraltar.
The other discovery—if it may be called so—was in an opposite direction.
The nightly bombardment, in 1781, by the enemy's gunboats not merely
caused great damage and loss of life, but also an annoyance and
irritation out of proportion to the injury inflicted. Governor Eliott
resolved to retaliate in similar fashion, and to bombard the Spanish
camp, which it was hoped to reach by firing from the Old Mole Head. On
it was placed a 13-inch sea-service mortar, fired at the usual elevation
but with a charge of from twenty-eight to thirty pounds of powder; and
in the sand alongside, secured by timber, and at an angle of 42°, five
32-pounders and one 18 pounder were sunk, and fired with charges of
fourteen and nine pounds of powder respectively. The results were most
satisfactory,—alarming and annoying the enemy, and in proportion
cheering the garrison.
It was impossible that a siege of such duration could continue without
the importance and responsibility of Artillery officers becoming
apparent. This fact produced an order from the Governor, which saved
them from much interference from amateur Artillerymen in the form of
Brigadiers. The officers commanding in any part of the Fort were
forbidden to interfere with the officers of Artillery in the execution
of their duty, nor were they to give orders for firing from any of the
batteries without consulting the officer who might happen to be in
charge of the Artillery.
The life of the garrison during this weary siege was, as might be
expected, monotonous in the extreme. The distress undergone, the want of
provisions felt by all ranks, from the self denying Governor downwards;—
the hoping against hope for relief;—the childish excitement at every
rumour which reached the place;—the indignation at what seemed a cruel,
unnecessary, and spiteful bombardment;—and the greater fury among the
troops, when, among other results of the enemy's fire, came the
disclosure in the damaged houses and stores of the inhabitants, of large
quantities of wine and provisions, hoarded through all the time of
scarcity, in the hope that with still greater famine the price they
would bring would be greater too;—all these are told with the minuteness
of daily observation, in the work from which all accounts of the siege
are more or less drawn.
The marvellous contentment with which the troops bore privations, which
they saw were necessary; the good-humour and discipline they always
displayed, save on the occasion just mentioned, when anger drove them
into marauding, and intoxication produced its usual effect on troops;
the extraordinary coolness and courage they displayed during even the
worst part of the bombardment, a courage which was even foolhardy, and
had to be restrained; all these make this siege one of the noblest
chapters in England's military history.
Although the blockade commenced in 1779, it was April, 1781, before the
bombardment from the Spanish lines, which drove the miserable
townspeople from their houses for shelter to the south of the Rock, can
be said to have regularly commenced. When it did commence, it did so in
earnest; shells filled with an inflammable matter were used, which set
the buildings on fire; and a graphic description of a bombarded town may
be found in Drinkwater's pages. "About noon, Lieutenant Budworth, of the
72nd Regiment, and Surgeon Chisholme, of the 56th, were wounded by a
splinter of a shell, at the door of a northern casemate in the King's
Bastion. The former was dangerously scalped, and the latter had one foot
taken off, and the other leg broken, besides a wound in the knee....
Many casks of flour were brought into the King's Bastion, and piled as
temporary traverses before the doors of the southern casemates, in which
several persons had been killed and wounded in bed.... In the course of
the day, a shell fell through the roof of the galley-house, where part
of the 39th and some of the 12th Regiments were quartered; it killed
two, and wounded four privates.... In the course of the 20th April,
1781, the Victualling Office was on fire for a short time; and at night,
the town was on fire in four different places.... On the 21st, the
enemy's cannonade continued very brisk; forty-two rounds were counted in
two minutes. The Garrison Flag-staff, on the Grand Battery, was so much
injured by their fire, that the upper part was obliged to be cut off,
and the colours, or rather their glorious remains, were _nailed_ to the
stump.... On the 23rd, the wife of a soldier was killed behind the South
Barracks, and several men wounded.... On the 24th, a shell fell at the
door of a casemate in the King's Bastion, and wounded four men _within_
the bomb-proof.... The buildings at this time exhibited a most dreadful
picture of the results of so animated a bombardment. Scarce a house
north of Grand Parade was habitable; all of them were deserted. Some few
near Southport continued to be inhabited by soldiers' families; but in
general, the floors and roofs were destroyed, and only the shell left
standing.... A shell from the gunboats fell in a house in Hardy Town,
and killed Mr. Israel, a very respectable Jew, with Mrs. Tourale, a
female relation, and his clerk.... A soldier of the 72nd Regiment was
killed in his bed by a round shot, and a Jew butcher was equally
unfortunate.... The gunboats bombarded our camp about midnight, and
killed and wounded twelve or fourteen.... About ten o'clock on the
evening of 18th September, a shell from the lines fell into a house
opposite the King's Bastion, where the Town Major, Captain Burke, with
Majors Mercier and Vignoles, were sitting. The shell took off Major
Burke's thigh; afterwards fell through the floor into the cellar—there
it burst, and forced the flooring, with the unfortunate Major, to the
ceiling. When assistance came, they found poor Major Burke almost buried
among the ruins of the room. He was instantly conveyed to the Hospital,
where he died soon after.... On the 30th, a soldier of the 72nd lost
both his legs by a shot from Fort Barbara.... In the afternoon of the
7th October, a shell fell into a house in town, where Ensign Stephens of
the 39th was sitting. Imagining himself not safe where he was, he
quitted the room to get to a more secure place; but just as he passed
the door, the shell burst, and a splinter mortally wounded him in the
reins, and another took off his leg. He was conveyed to the Hospital,
and had suffered amputation before the surgeons discovered the mortal
wound in the body. He died about seven o'clock.... In the course of the
25th March, 1782, a shot came through one of the capped embrasures on
Princess Amelia's Battery, took off the legs of two men belonging to the
72nd and 73rd Regiments, one leg of another soldier of the 73rd, and
wounded another man in both legs; thus four men had seven legs taken off
and wounded by one shot."
And so on, _ad infinitum_. The daily life was like this; for although
even worse was to come at the final attack, this wearying, cruel
bombardment went on literally every day. On the 5th May, 1782, the
bombardment ceased for twenty-four hours, for the first time during
thirteen months.
As in the time of great pestilence, after the first alarm has subsided,
there is a callous indifference, which creeps over those who have
escaped, and among whom the familiarity with Death seems almost to have
bred contempt, so—during this long siege—after the novelty and
excitement of the first few days' bombardment had worn off, the men
became so indifferent to the danger, that, when a shell fell near them,
the officer in charge would often have to compel them to take the
commonest precautions. The fire of the enemy became a subject of wit
even, and laughter, among the men; and probably the unaccustomed silence
of that 5th of May, when the bombardment was suspended, was quite
irksome to these creatures of habit, whose favourite theme of
conversation was thus removed.
Among the incidents of the bombardment, there was one which demands
insertion in this work, as the victim—a matross—belonged to the Royal
Artillery. Shortly before the bombardment commenced, he had broken his
thigh; and being a hearty, active fellow, he found the confinement in
hospital very irksome. He managed to get out of the ward before he was
cured, and his spirits proving too much for him, he forgot his broken
leg, and falling again, he was taken up as bad as ever. While lying in
the ward for the second time under treatment, a shell from one of the
gunboats entered, and rebounding, lodged on his body as he lay, the
shell spent, but the fuze burning. The other sick men in the room
summoned strength to crawl out of the ward before the shell burst; but
this poor fellow was kept down in his bed by the weight of the shell,
and the shock of the blow, and when it burst, it took off both his legs,
and scorched him frightfully. Wonderful to say, he survived a short
time, and remained sensible to the last. Before he died he expressed his
regret that he had not been killed in the batteries. Heroic, noble wish!
While men like these are to be found in the ranks of our armies, let no
man despair. Heroism such as this, in an educated man, may be inspired
by mixed motives—personal courage, hope of being remembered with honour,
pride in what will be said at home, and, perhaps, a touch of theatrical
effect,—but, in a man like this brave matross, whose courage has failed
even to rescue his name from oblivion, although his story remains—the
heroism is pure and simple—unalloyed, and the mere expression of
devotion to duty, for duty's sake. And this heroism is god-like!
This was but one of many heroic actions performed by men of the Royal
Artillery. Another deserves mention, in which the greatest coolness and
presence of mind were displayed. A gunner, named Hartley, was employed
in the laboratory, filling shells with carcass composition and fixing
fuzes. During the operation a fuze ignited, and "Although he was
surrounded by unfixed fuzes, loaded shells, composition, &c., with the
most astonishing coolness he carried out the lighted shell, and threw it
where it could do little or no harm. Two seconds had scarcely elapsed,
before it exploded. If the shell had burst in the laboratory, it is
almost certain the whole would have been blown up—when the loss in fixed
ammunition, fuzes, &c., would have been irreparable—exclusive of the
damage which the fortifications would have suffered from the explosion,
and the lives that might have been lost."[27]
Yet again. On New Year's Day, 1782, an officer of Artillery in Willis's
Batteries, observing a shell about to fall near where he was standing,
got behind a traverse for shelter. The shell struck this very traverse,
and _before_ bursting, half buried him with the earth loosened by the
impact. One of the guard—named Martin—observing his officer's position,
hurried, in spite of the risk to his own life when the shell should
burst, and endeavoured to extricate him from the rubbish. Unable to do
it by himself, he called for assistance, and another of the guard,
equally regardless of personal danger, ran to him, and they had hardly
succeeded in extricating their officer, when the shell burst and
levelled the traverse with the ground.
This great siege of Calpe, the fourteenth to which the Rock had been
subjected, divides itself into three epochs. First, the monotonous
blockade, commencing in July, 1779; second, the bombardment which
commenced in April, 1781; and third, the grand attack, on the 13th
September, 1782.
The blockade was varied by occasional reliefs and reinforcements; and
was accompanied by an incessant fire from the guns of the fortress on
the Spanish works. The batteries most used at first were Willis's, so
called (according to an old MS. of 1705, in the Royal Artillery Record
Office), because the man who was most energetic, when these batteries
were first armed, bore that name. When the attacks from the gunboats
commenced, the batteries to the westward—the King's Bastions and others—
were also employed. The steady fire kept up by the Artillery, its
accuracy, and the improvements in it suggested by the experience of the
siege, were themes of universal admiration; and the many ingenious
devices, some of them copied by the enemy, by which, with the assistance
of the Engineers, they masked, strengthened, and repaired their
batteries, form a most interesting study for the modern Artilleryman.
The incessant Artillery duel, which went on, made the gunners' nights as
sleepless frequently as their days; for the hours of darkness had to be
devoted to repairing the damages sustained during the day. Well may the
celebrated chronicler of the siege talk of them as "our brave
Artillery,"—brave in the sense of continuous endurance, not merely
spasmodic effort.
At the siege of Belleisle, described in a former chapter, the failing
ammunition of the enemy was indicated by the use of wooden and stone
projectiles. The latter were used by the Royal Artillery at Gibraltar,
but for a different reason. To check and distract the working-parties of
the enemy, shell had been chiefly employed by the garrison; and the
proficiency they attained in the use of these projectiles can easily be
accounted for, when it is remembered how soon and how accurately every
range could be ascertained; how eager the gunners were to make every
shot tell; and how exceedingly important it was to check the continued
advance of the enemy's works. For variety's sake, it would seem, for
there was no need to economize shell at this time—in pure boyish love of
change, the Artillerymen devised stone balls, perforated so as to admit
of a small bursting-charge, and a short fuze; and it was found that the
bursting of these projectiles over the Spanish working-parties caused
them incredible annoyance.
Although the fire of the garrison during the first epoch of the siege
was the most important consideration, and its value could hardly be
overrated, as to it alone was any hope due of prolonging the defence
until help should come from England,—it was not the only distinctive
feature of this time. It was during the blockade that the garrison was
most sorely tried by the scarcity of food. And in forming our estimate
of the defence of Gibraltar, it should never be forgotten that the
defenders were always the same—unrelieved, without communication with
any back country; and with hardly any reinforcements to ease the heavy
duties. The 97th Regiment, which arrived during the siege, was long in
the garrison before it was permitted, or indeed was able, to take its
share of duty; and the hard work, as well as the hard fare, fell upon
the same individuals.
The statistics, given so curtly by Drinkwater, as to the famine in the
place, enable us to realize the daily privations of the troops. At one
time, scurvy had so reduced the effective strength of the garrison, that
a shipload of lemons which arrived was a more valuable contingent than
several regiments would have been. In reading the account of this, with
all the quiet arguments as to the value of lemon-juice, and its effect
upon the patients, one cannot but wish, that in every military operation
there were artists like Drinkwater to fill in the details of those
pictures, whose outlines may be drawn by military commanders, or by the
logic of events, but whose canvas becomes doubly inviting through the
agency of the other industrious and unobtrusive brush. Modern warlike
operations suffer from an overabundance of description; but the skeleton
supplied by official reports, and the frequent flabbiness of those
rendered by newspaper correspondents, produce a result far inferior to
the compact picture presented by a writer at once observant and
professional.
In a table, at the end of Drinkwater's work, crowded out of the book, as
if hardly worthy of mention, and yet most precious to the student now,
we find some of the prices paid for articles of food during the siege.
Fowls brought over a guinea a couple; beef as much as 4_s._ 10_d._ per
pound; a goose, 30_s._; best tea as high as 2_l._ 5_s._ 6_d._ per pound;
eggs, as much as 4_s._ 10½_d._ per dozen; cheese, 4_s._ 1_d._ per pound;
onions, 2_s._ 6_d._ per pound; a cabbage, 1_s._ 7½_d._; a live pig,
9_l._ 14_s._ 9_d._; and a sow in pig, over 29_l._
The high price, at times, of all vegetables, was an index of the
existence of that terrible scourge—scurvy.
Some very quaint sales took place. An English cow was sold during the
blockade for fifty guineas, reserving to the sellers a pint of milk each
day while she continued to give it; while another cow was purchased by a
Jew for sixty guineas, but in so feeble a state, that she dropped down
dead before she had been removed many hundred yards. The imagination
fails in attempting to realize the purchaser's face—a Jew, and a
Gibraltar Jew; but can readily conceive the laugh against him among the
surrounding crowd, their haggard faces looking more ghastly as they
smiled. Although Englishmen take their pleasure sadly, they also bear
their troubles lightly. An English soldier must be reduced indeed, ere
he fails to enjoy a joke at another man's expense, and this
characteristic was not wanting at Gibraltar.
The second epoch—the Bombardment—was at first hardly believed to be
possible. The fire of the garrison was directed against an assailant and
a masculine force; but a bombardment of Gibraltar meant—in the minds of
its defenders—a wanton sacrifice of women and children; a wholesale
murder of unwarlike inhabitants, who could not escape, and to whom the
claims of the conflicting Powers were immaterial. The wailing of women
over murdered children, of children over wounded parents; the smoking
ruins of recently happy homes; the distress of the flying tradespeople
and their families, seeking safety to the southward of the Rock, and
abandoning their treasures to bombardment and pillage; all these told
with irritating effect upon the troops of a country whose sons are
chivalrous without being demonstrative. In days coming on—in terrible
days which many who read these pages may have lived in and seen, English
troops shall clench their hands, and set their teeth with cruel
hardness, as they come upon little female relics—articles of jewellery
or dress—perhaps even locks of hair, scattered in hideous abandonment
near that well at Cawnpore, whose horrors have often been imagined—never
told. To those who have seen this picture, the feelings of the
beleaguered garrison in Gibraltar will be easily intelligible, as they
stumbled in the town over a corpse—and that corpse a woman's. No wonder
that when the great sally took place, historical as much for its
boldness as its success, there was an angry desperation among the
troops, which it would have taken tremendous obstacles to resist. It was
a brave morning, that 27th of November, 1781, when "the moon's nightly
course was "nearly run,"[28] and ere the sun had risen, a little over
2000 men sallied forth to destroy the advanced works of the enemy—an
enemy 14,000 strong—and works, three-quarters of a mile from the
garrison, and "within a few hundred yards of the enemy's lines, which
mounted 135 pieces of heavy artillery."[28] The officers and men of the
Royal Artillery who took part in the sortie, numbered 114; and were
divided into detachments to accompany the three columns of the sallying
force, to spike the enemy's guns, destroy their magazines and
ammunition, and set fire to their works. It was the last order issued in
Colonel Tovey's name to the brave men whom he had commanded since the
promotion of Colonel Godwin. For Abraham Tovey was sick unto death; and
as his men were parading for the sortie, and the moon was running her
nightly course—his was running fast too. Before his men returned, he was
dead. For nearly half a century he had served in the Royal Artillery—
beginning his career as a matross in 1734, and ending it as a
Lieutenant-Colonel in 1781. He died in harness—died in the command of a
force of Garrison Artillery which has never been surpassed nor equalled,
save by the great and famous siege-train in the Crimea.
The troops for the sortie paraded at midnight, on the Red Sands, under
Brigadier-General Ross. They consisted of the 12th Regiment, and
Hardenberg's—two which had fought side by side at Minden—and the
Grenadiers and light infantry of the other regiments. There were also,
in addition to the Artillery, 100 sailors, 3 Engineers, with 7 officers
and 12 non-commissioned officers, overseers, 40 artificers, and 160 men
from the line as a working party. A reserve of the 39th and 58th
Regiments was also in readiness, if required.
On reaching the works, "The ardour of the assailants was irresistible.
The enemy on every side gave way, abandoning in an instant, and with the
utmost precipitation, those works which had cost them so much expense,
and employed so many months to perfect.... The exertions of the workmen,
and the Artillery, were wonderful. The batteries were soon in a state
for the fire faggots to operate; and the flames spread with astonishing
rapidity into every part. The column of fire and smoke which rolled from
the works, beautifully illuminated the troops and neighbouring objects,
forming altogether a _coup d'œil_ not possible to be described. In an
hour, the object of the sortie was fully effected."[29]
The third epoch, culminating in the grand attack on the 13th September,
1782, is deeply interesting. The fate of Minorca had released a number
of Spanish troops, to act against Gibraltar; and large French
reinforcements had arrived. On the land side, there were now "Most
stupendous and strong batteries and works, mounting two hundred pieces
of heavy ordnance, and protected by an army of near 40,000 men,
commanded by a victorious and active general, the Duke de Crillon; and
animated by the immediate presence of two Princes of the Royal Blood of
France." From the sea, the Fort was menaced by forty-seven sail of the
line:—"Ten battering-ships, deemed perfect in design, and esteemed
invincible, carrying 212 guns; besides innumerable frigates, xebeques,
bomb-ketches, cutters, gun and mortar-boats, and smaller craft for
disembarking men."[29]
It was during the bombardment immediately preceding the grand attack,
that Major Lewis was wounded, and Lieutenant Boag received his second
wound, the latter in a singular manner. He was in the act of laying a
gun, when a shell fell in the Battery. He immediately threw himself into
an embrasure for safety when the shell should explode; but when the
shell burst, it _fired the gun under whose muzzle he lay_. Besides other
injury, the report deprived him of hearing, and it was very long ere he
recovered. Another officer of the Artillery, Major Martin, had a narrow
escape at the same time, a 26-pounder shot carrying away the cock of his
hat, near the crown.
The 26-pounder was a very common gun, both in the Rock and in the
enemy's land-batteries; but as it was not used on board their ships, and
to prevent them returning the shot of the garrison against themselves,
all the 26-pounders were moved to the seaward batteries, and fired
against the ships, guns of other calibres being employed against the
land forces.
The battering ships, with their supposed impregnable shields, were the
mainstay of the enemy's hopes; but the use of red-hot shot by the
garrison made them after a time perfectly useless.
When the cannonade was at its highest pitch, on the day of the grand
attack, "the showers of shot and shell which were directed from the
enemy's land-batteries, the battering-ships, and, on the other hand,
from the various works of the garrison, exhibited a scene of which,
perhaps, neither the pen nor pencil can furnish a competent idea. It is
sufficient to say that four hundred pieces of the heaviest Artillery
were playing at the same moment: an instance which has scarcely occurred
in any siege since the invention of those wonderful engines of
destruction."[30]
At first the battering-ships seemed to deserve their reputation. "Our
heaviest shells often rebounded from their tops, whilst the 32-pound
shot seemed incapable of making any visible impression upon their
hulls.... Even the Artillery themselves at this period had their doubts
of the effect of the red-hot shot.... Though so vexatiously annoyed from
the Isthmus, our Artillery totally disregarded their opponents in that
quarter, directing their sole attention to the battering-ships, the
furious and spirited opposition of which served to excite our people to
more animated exertions. A fire, more tremendous, if possible, than ever
was therefore directed from the garrison. Incessant showers of hot
balls, carcasses, and shells of every species flew from all quarters;
and as the masts of several of the ships were shot away, and the rigging
of all in great confusion, our hopes of a speedy and favourable decision
began to revive."[31]
Towards evening, signs of great distress and confusion were visible on
board the ships, and the Admiral's ship was seen to be on fire. But not
until next morning did the garrison realize how great was their
advantage. In the meantime the fire was continued, though less rapidly;
and "as the Artillery, from such a hard-fought day, exposed to the
intense heat of a warm sun, in addition to the harassing duties of the
preceding night, were much fatigued; and as it was impossible to foresee
what new objects might demand their service the following day; the
Governor about six in the evening, when the enemy's fire abated,
permitted the majority of the officers and men to be relieved by a
piquet of a hundred men from the Marine Brigade; and officers and non-
commissioned officers of the Artillery were stationed on the different
batteries, to direct the sailors in the mode of firing the hot
shot."[31]
During the night, several of the battering-ships took fire, and the
scenes on board were terrible. Next day "three more blew up, and three
were burnt to the water's edge;" and of the only two remaining, one
"unexpectedly burst out into flames, and in a short time blew up, with a
terrible report," and the other was burnt in the afternoon by an officer
of the English navy.
"The exertions and activity of the brave Artillery," says Drinkwater,
"in this well-fought contest, deserve the highest commendations.... The
ordnance and carriages in the Fort were much damaged; but by the
activity of the Artillery, the whole sea-line before night was in
serviceable order.... During this action the enemy had more than three
hundred pieces of heavy ordnance in play; whilst the garrison had only
eighty cannon, seven mortars, and nine howitzers in opposition. Upwards
of 8300|rounds, more than half of which were hot-shot, and 716 barrels
of powder, were expended by our Artillery.... The distance of the
battering-ships from the garrison was exactly such as our Artillery
could have wished. It required so small an elevation that almost every
shot took effect."
On the 13th, the day of the attack, Captain Reeves and five men of the
Royal Artillery were killed: Captains Groves and Seward, and Lieutenant
Godfrey, with twenty-one men, were wounded.
It was, indeed, as Carlyle says, a "Doom's-blast of a No," which the
Artillery of Gibraltar answered to the summons of this grand attack.
After the failure of the attack, the enemy did not discontinue their old
bombardment, nor did the gunboats fail to make their nightly appearance,
and molest the inhabitants longing for rest. The Governor accordingly
directed the Artillery to resume the retaliation from the Old Mole Head
with the highly-elevated guns against the enemy's camp. The command of
the Royal Artillery now lay with Colonel Williams, an officer who joined
the service as a cadet-gunner in 1744, and died at Woolwich in 1790.
The work of the Artillery in the interval between the grand attack and
the declaration of peace was incessant, day and night.
On the 2nd February, 1783, exchange of shots ceased; and letters were
sent by the Spanish to the Governor announcing that the preliminaries of
peace were signed at Paris. From this date, courtesies were constantly
exchanged. It was on the occasion of a friendly visit of the Duke de
Crillon to the Fort, that on the officers of Artillery being presented
to him he said, "Gentlemen! I would rather see you here as friends, than
on your batteries as enemies, where you never spared me."
The siege had lasted in all three years, seven months, and twelve days;
and during this time the troops had well earned the expressions used
with regard to them by General Eliott, when he paraded them to receive
the thanks of the Houses of Parliament,—"Your cheerful submission to the
greatest hardships, your matchless spirit and exertions, and on all
occasions your heroic contempt of every danger."
To the Artillery, for their share in this matchless defence, there came
also the commendation of their own chief, the Master-General of the
Ordnance, then the Duke of Richmond. The old records of the Regiment
seem to sparkle and shine as one comes on such a sentence as this:—"His
Majesty has seen with great satisfaction such effectual proofs of the
bravery, zeal, and skill by which you and the Royal Regiment of
Artillery under your command at Gibraltar have so eminently
distinguished yourselves during the siege; and particularly in setting
fire to, and destroying all the floating batteries of the combined
forces of France and Spain on the 13th September last."
There was so much in the Peace of 1783 that was painful to England, not
so much in a military as in a political point of view, but undoubtedly
in the former also, that one hesitates to leave this bright spot in the
history of the time, and to turn back to that weary seven years'
catalogue in America, of blunders, dissensions, and loss. It was one and
the same Peace which celebrated the salvation of Gibraltar, and the loss
of our American Colonies. A strong arm saved the one: a foolish
statesmanship lost the other. But be statesmen wise or foolish, armies
have to march where they order; and the history of a foolish war has to
be written as well as that of a wise one.
It was October, 1783, ere the companies of the Royal Artillery which had
been present at the Great Siege returned to Woolwich on relief. The next
active service they saw was in Egypt in 1801, when three of them, Nos.
1, 2, and 4 Companies of the Second Battalion, were present with
Abercromby's force at the Battle of Alexandria, and during the
subsequent operations.
To serve in one of these companies is to serve in one whose antecedents
as Garrison Artillery are unsurpassed. Their story is one which should
be handed down among the officers and men belonging to them: for they
have a reputation to maintain, which no altered nomenclature can justify
them in allowing to become tarnished.
There is no fear of courage being wanting; but the standard from which
there should be no falling away is that of conduct and proficiency,
worthy of the old proficiency maintained under such harsh circumstances,
and of the old conduct which shone so brightly in the "cheerful
submission to the greatest hardships."
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Footnote 27:
Drinkwater.
Footnote 28:
Drinkwater.
Footnote 29:
Drinkwater.
Footnote 30:
Drinkwater.
Footnote 31:
Drinkwater.