PORT MAHON.
THE military importance of the capture of Minorca from the English in
1782 was not, perhaps, such as to warrant a separate chapter for its
consideration. But the defence of St. Philip's Castle by the English
against the combined forces of France and Spain was so exceptionally
gallant, their sufferings so great, and the zeal and courage of the
Artillery, especially, so conspicuous, that something more than a
passing mention is necessary in a work of this nature.
The siege lasted from the 19th August, 1781, to the 5th February, 1782.
General Murray was Governor, and Sir William Draper, Lieutenant-
Governor. The strength of the garrison at the commencement of the siege
was 2295 of all ranks; at the end of the siege, this number had been
reduced to 1227, but so many of these were in hospital, that the whole
number able to march out at the capitulation did not exceed—to use the
Governor's own words—"600 old decrepit soldiers, 200 seamen, 170 of the
Royal Artillery, 20 Corsicans, 25 Greeks, Moors, &c."
In a postscript to the official report of the capitulation the Governor
says:—"It would be unjust and ungrateful were I not to declare that from
the beginning to the last hour of the siege, the officers and men of the
Royal Regiment of Artillery distinguished themselves. I believe the
world cannot produce more expert gunners and bombardiers than those who
served in this siege." This alone would make imperative some notice of
this siege in a narrative of the services of the Corps.
In the Castle of St. Philip's, there were at the commencement of the
siege 234 guns and mortars. At the end, no less than 78 of these had
been rendered unserviceable by the enemy's fire. The batteries were
almost demolished, and the buildings a heap of ruins.
The following officers of the Royal Artillery were present:
Major WALTON.
Captains: FEAD, LAMBERT, SCHALCH, PARRY, and DIXON.
First Lieutenants: IRWIN, WOODWARD, LEMOINE, NEVILLE, and
BRADBRIDGE.
Second Lieutenants: HOPE, WULFF, and HAMILTON.
In addition to the Artillery the garrison was composed of two Regiments
of British, and two of Hanoverian troops.
The commandant of the enemy's forces was the Duke de Crillon, the same
officer who after the capitulation of St. Philip's proceeded to command
at the Siege of Gibraltar. He drew upon himself a well-merited rebuke
from General Murray, whom he had endeavoured to bribe, with a view to
the immediate surrender of the Castle; a rebuke which he felt, and
answered with great respect and admiration.
There is in the Royal Artillery Record Office a journal kept during the
siege by Captain F. M. Dixon, R.A., from which the following details are
taken, many of which would lose their force if given except in the
writer's own words. The siege commenced on the 20th August, when there
was nothing but confusion and disorder within St. Philip's, to which the
troops had retired; but the enemy did not commence firing on the Castle
until the 15th September. The English had not been so quiet; they
commenced firing at a great range on the 27th August, and with great
success. At the request of the Duke de Crillon, all the English families
had been sent out, in humane anticipation of the intended bombardment.
Desertion from the enemy was frequent at first; and as the siege
progressed it was occasional from the British troops. When a deserter
was captured, he received no mercy.
The most deadly enemy of the garrison was scurvy. Hence an order on the
7th November, 1781, for an officer and six men per company to be told
off daily to gather pot-herbs on the glacis. Anything of a vegetable
nature brought a fabulous price; tea was sold at thirty shillings a
pound; the number of sick increased every day, the men concealing their
illness to the last rather than go to hospital, and very frequently
dying on duty from sheer exhaustion:—"Our people," says the diary, "do
more than can be expected, considering their strength; the scurvy is
inveterate.... 108 men fell sick in two days with the scurvy.... I am
sorry our men are so very sickly; our people fall down surprisingly, we
have not a relief.... The Hanoverians die very fast: there is no
fighting against God.... Our troops increase vastly in their sickness;"
and so on. Among those who fell a victim during the siege was Captain
Lambert, of the Artillery.
So heavy were the duties that even the General's orderly sergeants were
given up to diminish the burden; and when the capitulation was resolved
upon, it was found that while the necessary guards required 415 men,
there were only 660 able to carry arms, leaving, as the Governor said,
no men for piquet, and a deficiency of 170 men to relieve the guard.
Against this small force, entrenched in what was now a mere heap of
rubbish, there was an enemy, whose lowest number was estimated at
15,000, and was more likely 20,000.
Some of the enemy's batteries were armed with 13-inch mortars. When the
British ammunition ran short, the shells of the enemy which had not
burst were returned to them, and in default of these, stone projectiles
were used with much effect.
On the 12th December, 1781, the following batteries had been opened
against the Castle:—
Hangman's Battery, containing 8 guns and 4 mortars.
Beneside Battery, containing 15 guns.
Dragoon Battery, containing 15 guns.
Burgos's Battery, containing 28 guns.
Swiss Battery, containing 14 to 16 guns.
America Battery, containing 14 to 16 guns.
Murcia Battery, containing 14 to 16 guns.
A small Battery, containing 6 mortars.
Assessor's Battery, containing 6 guns.
Cove Battery, containing 6 guns and 3 mortars.
George Town Battery, containing 6 guns and 4 mortars.
French Battery, containing 12 guns.
_St. Geordi_ Battery, containing 6 guns and 3 mortars.
Russian Hospital, containing 26 guns.
A Battery on the road to Philipet containing 10 guns.
Cove,
But the above list does not exhaust the number which ultimately directed
their fire on the Castle. New batteries were prepared without
intermission, hemming in with a deadly circle the devoted garrison. Some
extracts from Captain Dixon's diary will give some idea of the fire to
which the place was subjected:—
January 6th, 1782. "A little before seven o'clock this morning they gave
three cheers and fired a _feu de joie_; then all their batteries fired
upon us with great fury, which was equally returned by our brave
Artillery. Our General declared he had never seen guns and mortars
better served than ours were."
January 7th, 1782. "Such a terrible fire, night and day, from both
sides, never has been seen at any siege. We knew of 86 brass guns and 40
mortars against us.... Our batteries are greatly demolished; it is with
great difficulty that we can stand to our guns."
January 9. "All last night and this day they never ceased firing, and we
as well returned it. You would have thought the elements were in a
blaze. It has been observed they fire about 750 shot and shell every
hour. Who in the name of God is able to stand it? We hear they have 200
guns in their park."
January 10. "The enemy had 36 shells in flight at the same time. God has
been with us in preserving our people: they are in high spirits, and
behave as Englishmen. Considering our small garrison, they do wonders.
Our Generals constantly visit all the works.... A great number of shells
fell within the limits of the Castle.... A shell fell in the General's
quarters, wounded Captain Fead of the Artillery, and two other
officers."
January 11. "The enemy keep up, if possible, a fiercer fire than
yesterday. A man might safely swear, for six days past, the firing was
so quick that it was like a proof at Woolwich of 200 cannon. About a
quarter past six, the enemy began to fire shells, I may say
innumerable."
January 19. "Never was Artillery better served, I may say in favour of
our own corps."
January 20. "This night shells meet shells in the air. We have a great
many sick and wounded, and those that have died of their wounds.... Our
sentries have hardly time to call out, 'A shell!' and 'Down!' before
others are at their heels."
January 24. "The Artillery have had hard duty and are greatly fatigued.
The scurvy rages among our men."
The casualties among the small garrison, between the 6th and 25th of
January, 1782, included 24 killed, 34 died, 71 wounded, and 4 deserted.
January 28, 1782. "They fire shot and shell every minute. The poor
Castle is in a tattered and rotten condition, as indeed are all the
works in general.... The Castle and every battery round it are so filled
by the excavations made by the enemy's shells, that he must be a nimble
young man who can go from one battery to another without danger. The
Castle, their grand mark, as well as the rest of the works, are in a
most shocking plight."
On the 4th February, a new and powerful battery of the enemy's, on a
very commanding situation, being ready to open fire, a white flag was
hoisted, the drums beat a parley, and an officer was sent out with the
proposed terms of capitulation; which were ultimately amended and agreed
to. By the second Article of the Treaty, "in consideration of the
constancy and valour with which General Murray and his garrison have
behaved by their brave defence, they shall be permitted to march out
with shouldered arms, drums beating, matches lighted, and colours
flying, until they get towards the centre of the Spanish troops." This
was done at noon on the following day, between two lines of the Spanish
and French troops. So pitiable and deplorable was the appearance of the
handful of men who marched out that the conquerors are said to have shed
tears as they looked at them. In the official report of General Murray,
he alludes to this, saying that the Duke de Crillon averred it to be
true. When the men laid down their arms, they declared that they
surrendered them to God alone, "having the consolation that the victors
could not plume themselves upon taking a hospital."
Captain Schalch was the senior officer of Artillery left to march out at
the head of the dwindled and crippled remnant of the three companies. Of
them, and their comrades of the other arms, the Governor said in a final
General Order, dated at Mahon, 28th February, 1782, that he had not
words to express his admiration of their brave behaviour; and that while
he lived he should be proud of calling himself the father of such
distinguished officers and soldiers as he had had the honour to command.
So ended the Train of Artillery for Port Mahon, which the reader will
remember was one of those quoted in 1716 as a reason for some permanent
force of Artillery at home. Since 1709, with a short interval in the
time of the Seven Years' War, a train had remained in Minorca; but now,
overpowered by numbers, the force of which it was a part had to evacuate
the island. It was a stirring time for the Foreign establishments, as
they were called in pre-regimental days: that in Gibraltar was earning
for itself an immortal name; those in America were within the clouds of
smoke and war which covered the whole continent; and this one had just
been compelled to die hard. Of the four, which were used as arguments
for the creation of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, only one remains at
this day—that at Gibraltar. Those at Annapolis and Placentia have
vanished before the breath of economy, and the dawn of a new colonial
system; and in this brief chapter may be learnt the end of the other,
the Train of Artillery for service at Port Mahon.
_N.B._—It is worthy of mention, that during this siege, three non-
commissioned officers, Sergeants-Major J. Swaine, J. Shand, and J.
Rostrow, were commissioned as Second Lieutenants in the Regiment, by
the Governor, for their gallantry. They were afterwards posted to
the Invalid Battalion.