THE FLOATING BATTERIES.
The blow so suddenly and effectually levelled at the Spaniards seems for
a time to have paralyzed their energies. But about the beginning of
December they recovered themselves to some extent, and the besieged
could see a large body of their men busily engaged in making fascines,
with a view to the reconstruction of their batteries. It was also
ascertained that the allied Governments of France and Spain had
determined upon concentrating in front of Gibraltar a force which should
render resistance impossible; that several French regiments were to be
despatched to the assistance of the besieging army; and the conduct of
the operations entrusted to the Duke of Crillon, who had recently gained
a high reputation by his conquest of Minorca.
Meantime, General Elliot and his officers maintained their composure.
Every precaution was taken against surprise; and the weak points of the
fortifications, as indicated by the enemy’s fire, were assiduously
strengthened.
But before resuming our narrative of the siege, we must pause to record
an example of that generous courtesy which sometimes relieves the
horrors of war. Among the Spanish officers taken prisoner was one Baron
von Helmstadt, an ensign in the Walloon Guards. He was dangerously
wounded in the knee, and when the English surgeons informed him that
amputation was necessary, he resolutely refused to submit to it. The
operation, he said, was seldom successful in Spain; and for himself, he
was then engaged to be married to a lady, and would rather risk his life
than present himself before his betrothed in a mutilated condition.
Apprised of this dangerous effusion of a false sentiment, General Elliot
visited the baron, and used every argument to dissuade him from adhering
to so rash a determination. His lady-love, said the general, very
sensibly, would not esteem him the less for having received an
honourable wound in the service of his country. As to the operation
being fatal, he could assure him that the contrary was the case; he
knew that the English surgeons were almost always successful; and, for
his better assurance, he introduced into his chamber several “mutilated
convalescents.” The governor’s generous attention had so great an
influence on the baron, that he consented to the operation, which was
performed with great skill, and resulted most favourably. As the baron’s
lady-love would doubtless have considered a lover with one leg better
than no lover at all, we are convinced she would often have blessed
General Elliot for his chivalrous interposition, but that,
unfortunately, the baron afterwards died of some internal disease.
The New-Year’s Day of 1782, says our historian, was remarkable for an
action of gallantry which is worthy of being rescued from oblivion. An
officer of artillery at one of the batteries observing a shell whizzing
its way towards his post, got behind a traverse for protection. This he
had scarcely done before the shell fell into the traverse, and instantly
entangled him in the rubbish. A soldier named Martin, seeing his
distress, bravely risked his own life to save his officer, and ran to
extricate him. His efforts proving useless, he called for assistance;
and another soldier joining him, they succeeded in
[Illustration: MAP OF GIBRALTAR
AT THE TIME OF THE GREAT SIEGE.
(_From an Old Engraving_.)]
extricating their officer. Almost at the same moment the shell burst,
and levelled the traverse to the ground. For this courageous action,
Martin was deservedly rewarded and promoted.
* * * * *
The defenders of the Rock now watched with intense interest the
preparations of the enemy, in whose lines the greatest activity was
visible. They could note the almost daily arrival of fresh troops, until
the whole shore of the Bay, from Carteia to the heights of San Roque,
was covered with tents. Thousands of workmen, under cover of night,
pushed the approaches nearer and nearer to the beleaguered fortress.
Heavy guns bristled from every point of vantage, and hour after hour
poured out their fell contents of shot and shell. It was obvious, too,
that the huge men-of-war at Algesiras were being equipped as batteries
of a new and formidable character. The eagerness of the besiegers was
stimulated by the arrival in their camp of two French princes of the
blood, the Count of Artois and the Duke of Bourbon; the enemies of Great
Britain everywhere turned their attention towards the great fortress
which, as they confidently believed, would soon cease to be occupied by
her soldiers.
It may not be uninteresting if we borrow from Captain Drinkwater’s pages
a record of the operations of a few days, with the view of giving the
reader some idea of the incidents which characterize the course of a
great siege:--
The 1st of March, he says, a flag of truce went to the enemy, in answer
to one from them some days before. The Spanish officer who received the
packet informed us that Fort St. Philip, in Minorca, had surrendered on
the 5th of February. The succeeding day, a “carcass” set fire to the
enemy’s 13-gun battery, which continued blazing for two hours. On their
attempting to extinguish the fire, we plied them so briskly, that
several were killed and most of them driven from their work; but their
usual gallantry at last prevailed. This is an honourable tribute to an
enemy who fought with considerable courage and perseverance.
At night they raised a _place d’armes_ at the western extremity of their
13-gun battery; these defensive works demonstrating that they were
determined to provide as much as possible against another sortie. The
following night they repaired the damage done by the fire. The
carpenters of the navy, on the 4th, laid the keel of one of the new
gunboats. The 6th, six rows of tents, ten in each row, were pitched in
the rear of the second line of the enemy’s camp, near the horse-barrack.
A large party was also employed in making a road from the beach to the
barrack, and others were engaged in landing shells and different
ordnance. These, with other appearances, showed that the enemy were in
earnest in their prosecution of the siege.
On the other hand, General Elliot unweariedly engaged the garrison in
repairing, and putting in the best order of defence, the upper batteries
and other works which had suffered from the storm of fire directed
against them.
On the 8th, the enemy raised one face of the eastern redoubt several
fascines in height. The day following, Lieutenant Cuppage, of the Royal
Artillery, was dangerously wounded on the Royal battery, from a splinter
of a small shell, which burst immediately after being discharged from
the rock gun above and in the rear of the Royal battery; this was the
second accident of the same nature. On the 11th a frigate and xebec
passed to the west, with six topsail vessels, supposed to be part of the
late Minorca garrison. On the night of the 13th the enemy traced out a
work within the western _place d’armes_ of the St. Carlos Battery,
apparently with an intention of extending the epaulement. The firing on
both sides was now considerably increased; that from the enemy amounted
to about five hundred rounds in the twenty-four hours.
In the course of the 25th a shot drove through the embrasures of one of
the British batteries, took off the legs of two men, one leg of another,
and wounded a fourth man in both legs; so that “four men had seven legs
taken off and wounded by one shot.” The boy who was usually posted on
the works where a large party was employed, to inform the men when the
enemy were directing their guns towards them, had been chiding them for
their disregard of his warnings, and had just turned his head towards
the hostile lines, when he observed this shot on its dreadful path, and
called to them to beware. Unfortunately, his caution was too late; the
shot entered the embrasure, with the fatal result we have described. It
is strange that this boy should have been so keen-sighted as to
distinguish the enemy’s shot almost immediately after it quitted the
gun. But another boy in the garrison possessed an equal, if not a
superior sharpness of vision.
Passing on to the 11th of April, we find that on that day the garrison
obtained information as to the exact nature of the preparations which
were being made for conquering their stubborn resistance. They learned
that the Duke of Crillon was in command, with twenty thousand French and
Spanish troops, in addition to those who had previously formed the
besieging force; that the besieging operations were directed by Monsieur
d’Arçon, an eminent French engineer; and that Admiral Don Buonaventura
Moreno was prepared to support the attack with ten men-of-war, besides
gunboats, mortar boats, floating batteries, and other vessels. Next day
the enemy’s cannonade was of a peculiar character; from six in the
morning until sunset a single gun or mortar was discharged every two or
three minutes. Our British soldiers remarked that, as the day was the
anniversary of the bombardment, the Spaniards were probably keeping it
with prayer and fasting, and the minuteguns were intended to express
their sorrow at the expenditure during the past twelvemonth of so many
barrels of powder and rounds of cartridges without any result!
On the 28th of May the enemy sent in a flag of truce. Before the object
of it was known, the governor remarked to the officers near him that he
supposed the duke had arrived, and had sent to summon the garrison to
surrender. His reply, he said, would be brief, “No--no;” and he hoped
his officers would support him. The summons, however, was not made, and
the laconic answer, therefore, was not given. But it is due to the Duke
of Crillon to record his courtesy. He wrote to General Elliot to
acquaint him with the arrival of the French prince, and in their name to
express their high estimation of his courage and character. The letter
was accompanied by a present of fresh fruits and vegetables, with ice,
game, and other luxuries for the use of his staff. He knew, said the
duke, that the governor lived wholly upon vegetables, and if informed of
the description he preferred, he would furnish a daily supply. The
governor replied in suitable terms; but while accepting the Spanish
commander’s gifts, begged of him to send no more, as he made it a point
of honour to share with the meanest of his fellow-soldiers both want and
plenty.
In planning a combined attack by land and sea upon the Rock, the
besiegers felt it was necessary to guard against the destruction of the
naval force by the batteries of the fortress before it could get near
enough to render any service. But how was the fire of the English guns
to be silenced? It occurred to M. d’Arçon that what was wanted was a
number of fireproof batteries, which could take up and maintain a
position in the Bay, regardless of the cannonade delivered against them
by the garrison. In the construction of these floating castles M.
d’Arçon exhausted all his ingenuity. There were ten of them, each armed
with fifteen heavy guns, and their structure was as follows:--On the
larboard side they were six or seven feet thick, made of green timber,
bolted and cased with cork, iron, and raw hides. Inside they were lined
with a bed of wet sand, and in case they should nevertheless take fire,
currents of water were poured through them by a system of pumps and
channels, so that, should any red-hot shot pierce the vessel and open up
any one of the ducts, the water would pour forth instantly and
extinguish the flames. As an additional protection, each tower was
covered with a slanting bomb-proof roof, capable of being raised or
lowered at pleasure, by means of machinery, from which, it was
calculated, the balls would glide harmlessly into the sea. In fact, the
devices for the protection of the besiegers seem to have been more
numerous and more skilful than those for the attack of the besieged. We
must add that these ponderous floating batteries were masted and rigged,
so as to sail like frigates.
It must not be thought that General Elliot had made no provision against
the coming storm. He was a man fertile in expedients, and it would
appear that his engineer-officers were as able as they were zealous; so
that at all the exposed points new works of great strength were thrown
up, and the fortifications were everywhere repaired and put in order. A
fleet of gunboats was got ready in the Bay; a body of Corsicans, under
the leadership of a nephew of the celebrated Paoli, had arrived to offer
their services; and some vessels loaded with ammunition had run the
blockade, and refilled the magazines of the fortress. The garrison
reposed the most absolute confidence in their commander, and after so
protracted a siege had come to think of themselves as invincible. Nor
was their confidence lessened by the news which reached them of Admiral
Rodney’s great victory over a French fleet in the West Indies. For some
time the governor had looked on very calmly at the new works raised by
the Spaniards across the isthmus and along the shore, but as they had
been pushed forward to an inconvenient position, he thought the moment
had come for administering
[Illustration: LARBOARD AND STARBOARD SIDES OF A SPANISH BATTERING-SHIP.
(_From on Old Engraving._)
_Page 70._
]
a stern rebuke. He therefore opened upon them a cannonade of red-hot
shot, which in a few hours involved the greater portion in flames.
This contemptuous demonstration so annoyed the Duke of Crillon, that,
though his lines were incomplete, he ordered a general bombardment. It
began with a volley of about sixty shells from the mortar boats; then
all his artillery, numbering one hundred and seventy pieces of heavy
calibre, joined in the _feu d’enfer_; while nine line-of-battle ships
hurled their broadsides as they sailed along the sea-front. The attack
was repeated on the following day, in the hope apparently of terrifying
the garrison by revealing the formidable nature of the preparations made
for their destruction. While the air echoed with the hurtling missiles,
the astonished soldiers saw through the occasional gaps in the
smoke-clouds a vast press of sail coming up from the westward; it proved
to be the combined fleets of France and Spain. Such an accumulation of
force, by land and sea, could not fail to surprise, though it did not
alarm, Elliot and his veterans. The armada, beneath which, to use the
expression of an old poet, “the waters groaned,” consisted of 47 sail of
the line, and 10 battering-ships, regarded as impregnable and
invincible, carrying 212 guns, besides frigates, xebecs, bomb-ketches,
cutters, gun and mortar boats, and smaller craft for disembarking men.
On the land-side the batteries and works were of the most formidable
character, mounting 200 pieces of heavy ordnance, and protected by an
army of nearly 40,000 men, under the command of a general of experience
and ability, and animated by the presence of two princes of the royal
blood of France, with other eminent personages, and many of the Spanish
grandees. No such naval and military combination had been attempted in
Europe since the days of the Armada; and it was not unnatural that the
Spaniards should anticipate from it a decisive triumph. They seem,
however, to have put their faith more particularly in the
battering-ships; and so great an enthusiasm was excited, that to hint at
their possible failure was considered a mark of treason.
General Elliot was in nowise shaken from his usual calmness by this
tremendous display of force. His garrison at this time (September 1782)
numbered about 7500 men, of whom 400 were in hospital. These he
distributed so as to guard most efficiently the points at which the
enemy’s attack would probably be delivered. The fortifications were
carefully examined, and additional works erected wherever they could be
of service. Though the Spaniards poured on the garrison an incessant
storm of shot and shell, the governor, in order to husband his
resources, permitted but little firing in return, except when it was
necessary to silence or destroy some particular battery. The troops
under his command were few in number, it is true, but they were
veterans, inured to war, who had been long accustomed to the effects of
artillery, and gradually prepared to meet the supreme ordeal that now
awaited them. His subordinates were officers of approved courage,
intelligence, and discretion; eminent “for all the accomplishments of
their profession,” and enjoying the entire confidence of the men under
their orders. And the spirits of all were animated by the ease with
which former attacks had been defeated, as well as by the success
attending some recent experiments of firing red-hot shot, which, on this
occasion, would enable them, they hoped, “to bring their labours to a
period, and relieve them from the tedious cruelty of another vexatious
blockade.”
In critical circumstances, men, the sagest and coolest, are apt to be
influenced by trivial incidents, which they convert into good or evil
omens; and such is especially the case when life and liberty are the
stakes for which they are about to contend. As the British soldiers,
from the summit of their famous Rock, looked out upon the crowd of masts
which gathered in the Bay, it was generally reported among them that
their arrival was occasioned by the pressure of a British fleet in hot
pursuit. Suddenly a loud cheer was raised, and all exclaimed that the
British admiral was certainly in their rear, as a flag for a fleet in
sight was waving, they said, from the Signal-post. Hope beamed radiant
on every countenance; but a revulsion succeeded when the signal suddenly
disappeared. The guard at the signal-station afterwards informed them
that the supposed flag was really _an eagle_, which, after several
evolutions, had perched for a few minutes on the westernmost pole, and
then spread its broad wings to the eastward. Though less superstitious,
says the historian gravely, than the ancient Romans, many could not help
accepting it as a favourable omen; and the prognostication, happily, was
fully justified by the events of the succeeding day.
* * * * *
The grand attack took place on the 13th of September. Shortly after
nine in the morning, the ten battering-ships took up their several
positions in admirable order: the admiral, in a two-decker, dropping
anchor about nine hundred yards off the King’s Bastion, and the others
successively falling into their places to the right and left of the
flag-ships; the most distant being about 1100 or 1200 yards from the
garrison. General Elliot reserved his fire until the first ship
anchored, and then began a well-directed cannonade. The enemy occupied
about ten minutes in their manœuvres; after which they returned our
fire, and the stress of battle waxed fast and furious. The air was
darkened by the clouds of smoke which rose from shore and sea, while the
rattle of shot and the whirr of shells seemed to silence the very
echoes. Four hundred pieces of the heaviest artillery were discharging
their murderous missiles simultaneously, until one might have thought
that all the thunders of heaven were let loose.
After a few hours’ cannonade, our soldiers found that the
battering-ships were fully as formidable as they had been represented.
“Our heaviest shells,” says Drinkwater, “often rebounded from their
tops, whilst the 32-pound shot seemed incapable of making any visible
impression upon their hulls. Frequently we flattered ourselves they were
on fire; but no sooner did any smoke appear, than, with admirable
intrepidity, men were observed applying water, from their engines
within, to those places whence the smoke issued. These circumstances,
with the prodigious cannonade which they maintained, gave us reason to
imagine that the attack would not be so soon decided as, from our
success against their land-batteries, we had fondly expected. Even the
artillery themselves, at this period, had their doubts of the effect of
the red-hot shot, which began to be used about twelve, but were not
general till between one and two o’clock.” The ordnance portable
furnaces for heating shot being too few to supply the demands of the
artillery when the battle reached its culmination, huge fires of wood
were kindled in the corners of the nearest buildings, in which the shot
were speedily prepared for use. Our soldiers jocularly termed these
supplies “roasted potatoes.”
At first the enemy’s cannon were too much elevated, but about noon they
obtained the range, and their firing was powerful, and skilfully
directed. The casualties then became numerous, particularly on those
batteries north of the King’s Bastion, which
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE GRAND ATTACK UPON GIBRALTAR, SEPTEMBER 13,
1782.
(_From a Drawing by Lieutenant Sandby of the 12th Regiment._)
_Page 84._
]
were exposed to a cross-fire from the Spanish land-fortifications. Our
gunners, however, disregarded this attack, and concentrated all their
efforts on the battering-ships, the steady opposition which they offered
inciting the British to a boundless resentment. The fire of the garrison
increased, if that were possible, in intensity. Every man served the
guns as if he were aiming at some personal enemy. From all quarters
rained incessant showers of hot balls, carcasses, and shells of every
description; and as the masts of several of the ships went by the board,
and the rigging of all hung in shreds and tatters, the hopes of the
garrison began to revive.
For some hours, however, it was difficult to say whether the attack or
the defence would prevail. The wonderful construction of the floating
batteries apparently defied the heaviest ordnance that the garrison
could bring to bear upon them. In the afternoon, however, a considerable
change was apparent, and the besieged observed with delight that the
flag-ship and the admiral’s second were on fire, and that on board
several of the vessels an evident confusion prevailed. Their cannonade
slackened rapidly towards the evening; and about seven or eight o’clock
it almost ceased. Various signals were thrown up from the suffering
ships, and rockets were discharged to inform their friends of their
distressed condition.
As night came on, says Botta, the flames defied the most anxious efforts
of the Spaniards to extinguish them; and the disorder which reigned on
board the burning batteries soon communicated itself to the whole line.
To the diminished fire of the enemy the garrison returned a cannonade
which seemed actually to increase in rapidity and power. It was
maintained throughout the night. At one in the morning the two ships
already named were in flames. The others speedily caught fire, either
from the effects of the red-hot balls, or, as the Spaniards pretended,
because they set them on fire, when they had lost all hope of saving
them. The light and glow of this tremendous conflagration illuminated
the entire Bay, as well as the sombre Rock, and assisted the British
gunners to point their artillery with the utmost precision. The trouble
and despair of the enemy now reached a climax. The Spaniards hastened to
send off all their boats, which surrounded the floating batteries, in
order to save their crews; an operation accomplished with much coolness
and courage, in spite of the peril attending it. For not only was it
necessary to brave the British fire, but to incur the greatest risk in
approaching the burning vessels. Never, perhaps, says a writer, did a
more horrible or deplorable spectacle present itself to the eyes of men.
The deep darkness that shrouded the distant earth and sea, vividly
contrasted with the columns of flame that rose upwards from the blazing
wrecks; and the shrieks of the victims were heard even above the roar of
the incessant cannonade.
Brigadier Curtis, who, with his brigade, was encamped at Europa, finding
that the moment had come for bringing into operation his little flotilla
of twelve gunboats, each of which carried an 18 or 24-pounder in its
bow, drew them up in such a manner as to take the floating batteries in
flank. This cross-fire compelled the relieving boats to retire. As
morning dawned, Curtis pushed forward, and captured a couple of launches
loaded with men. These boats attempted to escape, but surrendered after
a shot had killed and wounded several on board. The horror of the scene
was now almost too great to witness. The daylight showed a piteous
spectacle: in the midst of the flames appeared the unhappy Spaniards,
who with loud shrieks implored compassion, or flung themselves into the
waves. Some, on the point of drowning, clung with frenzied grasp to the
sides of the burning ships, or to any floating spar which came within
their reach, while, in the depth of their despair, they implored the
compassion and succour of the victors.
Moved by a sight so painful, the English, says Botta, listened to
humanity alone, and ceasing their fire, occupied themselves solely with
the rescue of their enemies; a proceeding the more generous on their
part, as it exposed them to the most imminent hazard. Curtis, in
particular, covered himself with glory, and freely risked his own life
to save that of his fellow-creatures. He led his boats up to the
burning, smoking hulks, to assist the poor wretches on the point of
falling victims to the fire or the waves. Climbing on board the
battering-ships, with his own hands he helped down the Spaniards, who
loaded him with words of gratitude. While he and his men were thus
generously engaged, the flames reached the magazine of one of the
battering-ships to the northward, and about five o’clock it blew up,
with a crash which seemed to shake the very Rock. A quarter of an hour
later, another, in the centre of the line, met with a similar fate. The
burning wreck of the latter was hurled in every direction, and involved
the British gunboats in serious danger; one was sunk, but happily the
crew were saved. A hole was forced through the bottom of the brigadier’s
boat, his coxswain killed, the strokesman wounded, and for some time the
crew were enveloped in a cloud of smoke. After this incident the
brigadier deemed it prudent to retire under cover of the Rock, to avoid
the peril arising from further explosions. On his return, however, he
approached two more of the ships, and finally landed nine officers, two
priests, and three hundred and thirty-four private soldiers and seamen,
all Spaniards,--who, with one officer and eleven Frenchmen who had
“floated in” the preceding evening, brought up the total number saved to
three hundred and fifty-seven. Many of these, who were severely, and
some even dreadfully wounded, were immediately removed to the hospital,
and attended with the utmost carefulness.
Notwithstanding all the heroic efforts of Curtis and his men, on board
the burning ships many victims were left to perish. “The scene at this
time was as affecting as during the previous hostilities it had been
terrible and tremendous. Men crying from amidst the flames for pity and
assistance; others, on board those ships where the fire had made little
progress, imploring relief with the most expressive gestures and signs
of despair; whilst several, equally exposed to the dangers of the
opposite element, trusted themselves, on various parts of the wreck, to
the chance of paddling ashore.”
A Spanish felucca, probably with the view of taking on board these
unfortunates, approached from the shore; but the garrison suspecting her
of a design to set on fire one of the comparatively uninjured
battering-ships, by a brisk cannonade compelled her to retreat. Of the
six ships still in flames, three blew up before eleven o’clock; the
other three burned down to the water’s edge, the magazines having been
wetted by the enemy before they abandoned them. On one of the latter
waved the admiral’s flag; it perished with the ship. The besieged hoped
to secure the remaining two batteries as trophies of their victory; but
one of them suddenly burst out into flames, and blew up with a
tremendous crash; and as it was found impracticable to preserve the
other, it was destroyed in the afternoon. Such was the fate of the
“floating castles” which had been constructed with so much labour, and
from which so different a result had been anticipated.
It is interesting to remember that during the heat of the struggle
General Elliot’s post was the King’s Bastion; and it is a curious
circumstance, not unworthy of record, that when General Boyd, some years
previously, had laid the first stone, with the usual ceremonies, he
observed,--“This is the first stone of a work which I name the ‘King’s
Bastion.’ May it be as gallantly defended as I know it will be ably
executed; and may I live to see it resist the united efforts of France
and Spain.”
Of the courage, patience, and perseverance displayed by the garrison
during this arduous struggle, as of the skill and energy of the
artillerists, it is impossible to speak in terms of too high praise; and
the name of “Gibraltar” is rightly blazoned as a title to honour on the
flags of the regiments who served in the famous siege.
* * * * *
The enemy’s principal objects of attack are recorded to have been the
King’s Bastion, and the line of fortifications extending to the north of
the Orange Bastion. To silence the former important post, they employed
their largest ships, while the others endeavoured to effect a breach in
the curtain extending to Montague’s Bastion. Had they succeeded in this
attempt, their grenadiers, it is said, were to have stormed the garrison
under cover of the combined fleets. The prisoners inveighed against
their officers for having described the floating batteries as
invulnerable, and promised that ten sail of the line should support
them, as well as all the gun and mortar boats. They had been led to
believe that the garrison would not be able to discharge many rounds of
hot balls; their astonishment, therefore, was very great, when they
found them discharged with as much ease and regularity as cold shot. The
loss sustained by the Spaniards was never officially made known; but a
moderate estimate puts it at 2000 killed, wounded, and taken prisoners.
On the other hand, the casualties of the garrison were very few, and it
is surprising that so tremendous a cannonade should have entailed so
small a loss of life. The number of the killed was sixteen only;
eighteen officers, sergeants, and rank and file were wounded. The damage
done to the fortifications was equally inconsiderable, and, by the
activity of the artillery, the whole of the sea-line, before night on
the 14th, was repaired and put in complete order.
While the garrison could bring to bear no more than 80 cannon, 7
mortars, and 9 howitzers, the enemy employed no fewer than 328 pieces of
heavy ordnance. The English gunners expended upwards of 8300 rounds,
more than half of which were hot shot, and 716 barrels of powder. Of the
quantity of ammunition wasted by the enemy, we possess no particulars.
The following is given by Drinkwater as a correct list of those
unfortunate battering-ships which so fatally belied the hopes of their
inventors:[3]--
The _Pastora:_ 21 guns in use, 10 in reserve, 760
men,--Rear-Admiral Buonaventura Moreno.
The _Tailla Piedra:_ 21 guns in use, 10 in reserve, 760
men,--Prince of Nassau-Sieghen.
The _Paula Prima:_ 21 guns in use, 10 in reserve, 760 men,--Don
Gayetana Langara.
_El Rosario:_ 19 guns in use, 10 in reserve, 700 men,--Don
Francisco Xavier Munos.
The _San Christoval:_ 18 guns in use, 10 in reserve 650 men,--Don
Frederico Gravino.
The _Principe Carlos:_ 11 guns in use, 4 in reserve, 400 men,--Don
Antonio Basurta.
The _San Juan:_ 9 guns in use, 4 in reserve, 340 men,--Don Joseph
Angeler.
The _Paula Secunda:_ 9 guns in use, 4 in reserve, 340 men,--Don
Pablo de Cosa.
The _Santa Anna:_ 7 guns in use, 4 in reserve, 300 men,--Don Joseph
Goicocchea.
_Los Dolores:_ 6 guns in use, 4 in reserve, 250 men,--Don Pedro
Sanchez.
In all, ten ships (five two-deckers, and five one-decker), with 142 guns
in use, 70 in reserve, and 5260 men.
A movement took place among the enemy, on the afternoon of the 14th,
which gave rise to apprehensions that the attack was to be renewed. The
batteries, therefore, were kept fully manned, and the shot-heating
furnaces ready lighted, in case that an attempt should be made to storm
the fortress. It afterwards transpired that such a project had been
spoken of, but put aside by the Duke of
[Illustration: THE KING’S BASTION, AND OLD MOORISH CASTLE.
_Page 93._
]
Crillon, who was of opinion that it could end only in the destruction of
both the army and the fleet.
They contented themselves, therefore, with maintaining a vigorous
cannonade from the land-works, and during the remainder of the month
they expended daily from 1000 to 2000 rounds. General Elliot, meanwhile,
having had convincing proof of the efficacy of red-hot shot, caused
kilns for heating them to be erected at various convenient points. They
were large enough to heat about one hundred balls in an hour and a
quarter; and were a great improvement on the furnaces and grates used
for the same purpose on the memorable 13th of September.
During the following days a westerly wind prevailed, and numerous dead
bodies were thrown ashore, as also many articles of more or less value
which had floated about the Bay after the destruction of the
battering-ships. Among these were large wax tapers, such as are used on
the Roman Catholic altars; cases of salt provisions; and ammunition
boxes, each containing ten rounds of powder in linen cartridges. From
the captured wrecks which did not blow up were obtained considerable
pieces of cedar and mahogany; and “the governor,” it is recorded, “had a
handsome set of tables made for the Convent (the holes in the cedar,
where the fire had penetrated, being filled up with sound wood, cut in
various figures, forming a beautiful contrast with the burned part),
which will serve as a standing monument of the transactions of that
glorious day.”