Transcriber's Note:
Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
possible, including some inconsistent hyphenation. Some minor
corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made.
Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
The Romance of Modern Sieges
[Illustration: THE SALLY FROM THE FORT AT KUMASSI
Led by Capt. Armitage, some two hundred loyal natives sallied forth. At
their head marched the native chiefs, prominent amongst whom was the
young king of Aguna. He was covered back and front with fetish charms,
and on his feet were boots, and where these ended his black legs
began.]
THE ROMANCE OF
MODERN SIEGES
DESCRIBING THE PERSONAL ADVENTURES,
RESOURCE AND DARING OF BESIEGERS
AND BESIEGED IN ALL PARTS OF
THE WORLD
BY
EDWARD GILLIAT, M.A.
SOMETIME MASTER AT HARROW SCHOOL
AUTHOR OF “FOREST OUTLAWS,” “IN LINCOLN GREEN,” _&c._, _&c._
WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
LONDON: SEELEY & CO. LIMITED
1908
PREFACE
These chapters are not histories of sieges, but narratives of such
incidents as occur in beleaguered cities, and illustrate human nature
in some of its strangest moods. That “facts are stranger than fiction”
these stories go to prove: such unexpected issues, such improbable
interpositions meet us in the pages of history. What writer of fiction
would dare to throw down battlements and walls by an earthquake, and
represent besiegers as paralysed by religious fear? These tales are
full, indeed, of all the elements of romance, from the heroism and
self-devotion of the brave and the patient suffering of the wounded, to
the generosity of mortal foes and the kindliness and humour which gleam
even on the battle-field and in the hospital. But the realities of war
have not been kept out of sight; now and then the veil has been lifted,
and the reader has been shown a glimpse of those awful scenes which
haunt the memory of even the stoutest veteran.
We cannot realize fully the life that a soldier lives unless we see
both sides of that life. We cannot feel the gratitude that we ought to
feel unless we know the strain and suspense, the agony and endurance,
that go to make up victory or defeat. In time of war we are full of
admiration for our soldiers and sailors, but in the past they have been
too often forgotten or slighted when peace has ensued. Not to keep in
memory the great deeds of our countrymen is mere ingratitude.
Hearty acknowledgments are due to the authors and publishers who have
so kindly permitted quotation from their books. Every such permission
is more particularly mentioned in its place. The writer has also had
many a talk with men who have fought in the Crimea, in India, in
France, and in South Africa, and is indebted to them for some little
personal touches such as give life and colour to a narrative.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR (1779-1782)
PAGES
The position of the Rock--State of defence--Food-supply--Rodney
brings relief--Fire-ships sent in--A convoy in a fog--Heavy
guns bombard the town--Watching the cannon-ball--Catalina gets
no gift--One against fourteen--Red-hot shot save the day--Lord
Howe to the rescue 17-27
CHAPTER II
DEFENCE OF ACRE (1799)
Jaffa stormed by Napoleon--Sir Sidney Smith hurries to
Acre--Takes a convoy--How the French procured cannon-balls--The
Turks fear the mines--A noisy sortie--Fourteen assaults--A
Damascus blade--Seventy shells explode--Napoleon nearly
killed--The siege raised--A painful retreat 28-36
CHAPTER III
THE WOUNDED CAPTAIN IN TALAVERA (1809)
Talavera between two fires--Captain Boothby wounded--Brought
into Talavera--The fear of the citizens--The surgeons’
delay--Operations without chloroform--The English retire--French
troops arrive--Plunder--French officers kind, and protect
Boothby--A private bent on loot beats a hasty retreat 37-52
CHAPTER IV
THE CAPTURE OF CIUDAD RODRIGO (1812)
A night march--Waiting for scaling-ladders--The assault--Ladders
break--Shells and grenades--A magazine explodes--Street
fighting--Drink brings disorder and plunder--Great spoil 53-61
CHAPTER V
THE STORMING OF BADAJOS (1812)
Rescue of wounded men--A forlorn hope--Fire-balls light up the
scene--A mine explodes--Partial failure of the English--Escalade
of the castle--Pat’s humour and heroism--Saving a
General--Wellington hears the news--The day after the storm 62-75
CHAPTER VI
A PRISONER IN ST. SEBASTIAN (1813)
The _coup de grâce_--The hospital--A cruel order--An attempt at
escape--Removed to the castle--The English at the breach--Many
are wounded--French ladies sleep in the open--A vertical
fire--English gunners shoot too well--A good sabre lightly won 76-89
CHAPTER VII
JELLALABAD (1842)
Position of the town--Sale’s brigade rebuilds the defences--A
sortie--Bad news--A queer noise--A ruse that did not
succeed--The only survivor comes in--Story of a massacre--The
earthquake--The walls are down--Are rebuilt--English
magic--Pollock comes--Fight outside--The peril of Lady Sale 90-109
CHAPTER VIII
SIEGE OF SEBASTOPOL (1854-1856)
The English land without tents--Mr. Kinglake shows off before
Lord Raglan--The Alma--Strange escapes--Looted houses--Fair
plunder--Balaklava Bay--Horses lost at sea--A derelict worth
having--Jack very helpful--The Heavy and Light
Brigades--Spies--Fraternizing 110-125
CHAPTER IX
AFTER INKERMANN (1854)
Valiant deeds--Lord Raglan under fire--Tryon the best shot--A
Prince’s button--A cold Christmas--Savage horses--The Mamelon
redoubt--Corporal Quin--Colonel Zea 126-136
CHAPTER X
THE INDIAN MUTINY--DELHI (1857-1858)
The Mutiny begins--A warning from a sepoy--A near thing--A
noble act of a native officer--In camp at Delhi with no kit--A
plan that failed--Our first check--Wilson in command--Seaton
wounded--Arrival of Nicholson--Captures guns--The assault--The
fate of the Princes--Pandy in a box 137-158
CHAPTER XI
THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW (31ST OF MAY TO 25TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1857)
Firing at close quarters--Adventures of fugitives--Death of Sir
H. Lawrence--His character--Difficulty of sending letters--Mines
and counter-mines--Fulton killed--Signs of the relief coming--A
great welcome--Story of the escape from Cawnpore 159-174
CHAPTER XII
THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW (1857)
The scene at Cawnpore--Fights before Lucknow--Nearly blown up--A
hideous nightmare--Cheering a runaway--All safe out of the
Residency--A quick march back--Who stole the biscuits?--Sir
Colin’s own regiment 175-190
CHAPTER XIII
RUNNING THE BLOCKADE (1861)
North _v._ South--A new President hates slavery--Port Sumter is
bombarded--Ladies on the house-top--Niggers don’t mind
shells--A blockade-runner comes to Oxford--The _Banshee_ strips
for the race--Wilmington--High pay--Lights out--Cast the lead--A
stern chase--The run home--Lying _perdu_--The _Night-hawk_ saved
by Irish humour--Southern need at the end of the war--Negro
dignity waxes big 191-201
CHAPTER XIV
THE FIRST IRONCLADS (1862)
Will they sink or swim?--Captain Ericsson, the Swede--The
_Merrimac_ raised and armoured--The _Monitor_ built by private
venture--_Merrimac_ surprises Fort Monroe--The _Cumberland_
attacked--The silent monster comes on--Her ram makes an
impression--Morris refuses to strike his flag--The _Cumberland_
goes down--The _Congress_ is next for attention--On fire and
forced to surrender--Blows up at midnight--The _Minnesota_
aground shows she can bite--General panic--Was it Providence?--A
light at sea--Only a cheese-box on a raft--Sunday’s fight
between two monsters--The _Merrimac_ finds she is deeply hurt,
wounded to death--The four long hours--Worden and Buchanan both
do their best--Signals for help--The fiery end of the
_Whitehall_ gunboat 202-212
CHAPTER XV
CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS (1862)
New Orleans and its forts--Farragut despises craven counsel--The
mortar-fleet in disguise--Fire-rafts rush down--A week of hot
gun-fire--A dash through the defences--The _Varuna’s_ last
shot--Oscar, aged thirteen--Ranged before the city--Anger of
mob--Summary justice--Soldiers insulted in the streets--General
Butler in command--Porter nearly blown up in
council--Fort Jackson in ruins--“The fuse is out” 213-219
CHAPTER XVI
THE SIEGE OF RICHMOND (1862 AND 1865)
Fair Oaks a drawn battle--Robert Lee succeeds Johnston--Reforms
in the army--Humours of the sentinels--Chaffing the
niggers--Their idea of liberty--The pickets chum
together--Stuart’s raid--A duel between a Texan and a
German--Effect of music on soldiers--A terrible retreat to James
River--Malvern Hill battle-scenes--Three years after--General
Grant before Richmond--Coloured troops enter the Southern
capital in triumph--Lee surrenders--Friends once more 220-230
CHAPTER XVII
THE SIEGE OF PARIS (1870-1871)
WITH THE GERMANS OUTSIDE
The Germans invest Paris--Trochu’s sortie fails--The English
ambulance welcomed--A Prince’s visit to the wounded--In the
snow--Madame Simon--A brave Lieutenant--Piano and jam--The big
guns begin--St. Denis--Old Jacob writes to the Crown Prince--A
dramatic telegram--Spy fever--Journalists mobbed 231-240
CHAPTER XVIII
THE SIEGE OF PARIS--_Continued_
WITH THE BESIEGED (1870-1871)
Moods in Paris--The Empress escapes--Taking down Imperial
flags--Playing dominoes under fire--Cowards branded--Balloon
post--Return of the wounded--French numbed by cold--The lady
and the dogs--The nurse who was mighty particular--Castor and
Pollux pronounced tough--Stories of suffering 241-250
CHAPTER XIX
METZ (1870)
Metz surrounded--Taken for a spy--Work with an ambulance--Fierce
Prussians rob an old woman--Attempt to leave Metz--Refusing
an honour--The _cantinière’s_ horse--The grey pet of the
regiment--Deserters abound--A village fired for punishment--Sad
scenes at the end 251-263
CHAPTER XX
PLEVNA (1877)
An English boy as Turkish Lieutenant--A mêlée--Wounded by a
horseman--Takes letter to Russian camp--The Czar watches the
guns--Skobeleff’s charge--The great Todleben arrives--Skobeleff
deals with cowards--Pasting labels--The last sortie--Osman
surrenders--Prisoners in the snow--Bukarest ladies very kind 264-279
CHAPTER XXI
SIEGE OF KHARTOUM (1884)
Gordon invited to the Soudan--The Mahdi--Chinese Gordon--His
religious feeling--Not supported by England--Arabs
attack--Blacks as cowards--Pashas shot--The _Abbas_ sent down
with Stewart--Her fate--Relief coming--Provisions fail--A
sick steamer--_Bordein_ sent down to Shendy--Alone on the
house-top--Sir Charles Wilson and Beresford steam up--The rapids
and sand-bank--“Do you see the flag?”--“Turn and fly”--Gordon’s
fate 280-288
CHAPTER XXII
KUMASSI (1900)
The Governor’s visit--Pageant of Kings--Evil omens--The Fetish
Grove--The fort--Loyal natives locked out--A fight--King Aguna’s
triumph--Relief at last--Their perils--Saved by a dog--Second
relief--Governor retires--Wait for Colonel Willcocks--The flag
still flying--Lady Hodgson’s adventures 289-302
CHAPTER XXIII
MAFEKING (1899-1900)
Snyman begins to fire--A flag of trace--Midnight sortie--The
dynamite trolley--Kaffirs careless--A cattle raid--Eloff nearly
takes Mafeking--Is taken himself instead--The relief dribble
in--At 2 a.m. come cannon with Mahon and Plumer 303-317
CHAPTER XXIV
THE SIEGE OF KIMBERLEY (1899-1900)
The diamond-mines--Cecil Rhodes comes in--Streets
barricaded--Colonel Kekewich sends out the armoured train--Water
got from the De Beers Company’s mines--A job lot of shells--De
Beers can make shells too--Milner’s message--Beef or
horse?--Long Cecil--Labram killed--Shelter down the mines--A
capture of dainties--Major Rodger’s adventures--General French
comes to the rescue--Outposts astonished to see Lancers and
New Zealanders 318-325
CHAPTER XXV
THE SIEGE OF LADYSMITH (1899-1900)
Ladysmith--Humours of the shell--The _Lyre_ tries to be
funny--Attack on Long Tom--A brave bugler--Practical jokes--The
black postman--A big trek--Last shots--Some one comes--Saved
at last 326-340
CHAPTER XXVI
SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR (1904)
Port Arthur--Its hotel life--Stoessel not popular--Fleet
surprised--Shelled at twelve miles--Japanese pickets make a
mistake--Wounded cannot be brought in--Polite even under the
knife--The etiquette of the bath--The unknown
death--Kondrachenko, the real hero--The white flag at last--Nogi
the modest--“Banzai!”--Effect of good news on the wounded--The
fleet sink with alacrity 341-352
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE SALLY FROM THE FORT AT KUMASSI (see p. 294) _Frontispiece_
THE LAST SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR BY FRANCE AND SPAIN _To face p._ 26
THE NIGHT ASSAULT OF CIUDAD RODRIGO " 56
THE ESCALADE OF THE CASTLE " 66
THE LAST OF AN ARMY " 96
GETTING RID OF HIS CAPTORS " 128
A DARING DEED: BLOWING UP THE CASHMERE GATE, DELHI " 154
THE LIGHTER SIDE OF WAR AT LUCKNOW " 180
SHOT DOWN BY THEIR FELLOW-CITIZENS " 216
A DUEL BETWEEN A TEXAN AND A GERMAN " 224
THE BALLOON POST USED DURING THE SIEGE OF PARIS " 244
A STRANGE WEAPON OF OFFENCE " 282
THE BOERS, TAKEN BY SURPRISE, WERE UNSTEADY AND
PANIC-STRUCK " 304
A BRITISH AMAZON AT MAFEKING " 308
A RUSSIAN TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYER ELUDING THE JAPANESE
FLEET " 344
A HUMAN LADDER " 348
THE ROMANCE OF MODERN SIEGES
CHAPTER I
SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR (1779-1782).
The position of the Rock--State of defence--Food-supply--Rodney
brings relief--Fire-ships sent in--A convoy in a fog--Heavy guns
bombard the town--Watching the cannon-ball--Catalina gets no
gift--One against fourteen--Red-hot shot save the day--Lord Howe to
the rescue.
Gibraltar! What a thrill does the very name evoke to one who knows
a little of English history and England’s heroes! But to those who
have the good fortune to steam in a P. and O. liner down the coast of
Portugal, and catch sight of the Rock on turning by Cabrita Point into
the Bay of Algeciras the thrill of admiration is intensified. For the
great Rock lies like a lion couched on the marge of the Mediterranean.
It is one of the pillars of Hercules: it commands the entrance to the
inner sea.
From 712 to the beginning of the fourteenth century Gibraltar was
in the hands of the Saracens; then it fell into the hands of the
Spaniards. In 1704, the year of Blenheim, a combined English and Dutch
fleet under Sir George Rooke captured the Rock from the Marquis de
Salines, and Gibraltar has since then remained in the possession of the
English, though several attempts have been made to wrest it from us.
Before we follow Captain Drinkwater in some details of the great siege,
a few words must be said about the Rock and its defences as they then
were.
The Rock itself juts out like a promontory, rising to a height of 1,300
feet, and joined to the Spanish mainland by a low sandy isthmus, which
is at the foot of the Rock about 2,700 feet broad. On a narrow ledge
at the foot of the north-west slope lies the little town, huddled up
beneath the frowning precipice and bristling batteries excavated out of
the solid rock. At different heights, up to the very crest, batteries
are planted, half or wholly concealed by the galleries. All along the
sea-line were bastions, mounted with great guns and howitzers, and
supplied with casemates for 1,000 men. In all the fortifications were
armed with 663 pieces of artillery. Conspicuous among the buildings
was an old Moorish castle on the north-west side of the hill: here was
planted the Grand Battery, with the Governor’s residence at the upper
corner of the walls. Many caves and hollows are found in the hill
convenient both for powder magazines and also for hiding-places to the
apes who colonize the Rock. The climate even at mid-winter is so mild
and warm that cricket and tennis can be played on dry grass, wherever a
lawn can be found in the neighbourhood, as the writer has experienced.
But at Gibraltar itself all is stony ground and barren rock; only on
the western slope a few palmettos grow, with lavender and Spanish
broom, roses and asphodels.
In 1777 a good opportunity seemed to be offered for Spain to recover
the Rock from England. The North American colonies had seceded, and the
prestige of Britain had suffered a severe blow. The fleets of France
and Spain, sixty-six sail of the line, were opposed by Sir Charles
Hardy’s thirty-eight, but with these he prevented the enemy from
landing an invading army on the English shore. But Spain was intent
on retaking Gibraltar, and had already planted batteries across the
isthmus which connects the Rock with Spain.
General Elliot, the Governor of Gibraltar, had a garrison 5,382 strong,
428 artillerymen, and 106 engineers. Admiral Duff had brought his
ships--a sixty-gun man-of-war, three frigates, and a sloop--alongside
the New Mole. All preparations were made to resist a siege. Towards the
middle of August the enemy succeeded in establishing a strict blockade
with the object of reducing the garrison by famine. There were not
more than forty head of cattle in the place, and supplies from Africa
were intercepted by the Spanish cruisers. In November the effects of
scarcity began to be felt, though many of the inhabitants had been sent
away. Mutton was three shillings a pound, ducks fourteen shillings a
couple; even fish and bread were very scarce. General Elliot set the
example of abstemious living, and for eight days he lived on 4 ounces
of rice a day. The inhabitants had for some time been put upon a daily
ration of bread, delivered under the protection of sentries with fixed
bayonets. But even with this safeguard for the week there was a scene
of struggling daily. Many times the stronger got more than their share,
the weaker came away empty-handed, and eked out a wretched existence on
leeks and thistles. Even soldiers and their families were perilously
near starvation. So that a listless apathy fell on the majority, and
they looked seaward in vain for a help that did not arrive.
It was not until the 15th of January, 1780, that the joyful news went
round the little town of a brig in the offing which bore the British
flag.
“She cannot pass the batteries!”
“She is standing in for the Old Mole! Hurrah!”
That brig brought the tidings of approaching relief, and many a wet eye
kindled with hope.
But the look-out on Signal Point could see the Spaniards in Algeciras
Bay preparing for sea eleven men-of-war to cut off the convoy. Again
the hopes of the garrison went down. They did not know, neither did
the Spaniards, that Admiral Sir George Rodney, an old Harrow boy, was
escorting the convoy with a powerful fleet of twenty-one sail of the
line. He quickly drove the eleven Spaniards into headlong flight,
but before rounding into the bay he fell in with fifteen Spanish
merchant-men and six ships of war, which became his prize.
Then for a time the town and garrison enjoyed themselves frugally, and
life became worth living. But on the departure of Rodney the Spaniards
tried to destroy the British vessels in the bay with fire-ships.
It was on a June night that the fire spread, and the gleam shot across
the water, lighting up Algeciras and the cork forests that clothe the
mountain-side. Then the alarm was given. The _Panther_, a sixty-gun
man-of-war, and the other armed ships opened fire on the assailants;
officers and men sprang into their boats and grappled the blazing
ships, making fast hawsers, and towing them under the great guns of the
Rock, where they were promptly sunk.
Again the blight of ennui, sickness, and famine came on the little
garrison; but in October a cargo of fruit came just in time to save
them from scurvy. In March, 1781, the want of bread became serious:
biscuit crumbs were selling for a shilling a pound. “How long?” was
the anxious cry that was felt, if not expressed in words. Had England
forgotten her brave men?
On the 12th of April, to the joyful surprise of all, a great convoy
was signalled, escorted by a strong fleet. Every man, woman, and child
who could walk came out upon the ramparts and gazed seawards with
glistening eyes. At daybreak, says the historian of the siege, “Admiral
Darby’s much-expected fleet was in sight from our signal-house, but
was not discernible from below, being obscured by a thick mist in the
Gut. As the sun rose, however, the fog rose too like the curtain of
a vast theatre, discovering to the anxious garrison one of the most
beautiful and pleasing scenes it is possible to conceive. The ecstasies
of the inhabitants at this grand and exhilarating sight are not to be
described; but, alas! they little dreamed of the tremendous blow that
impended, which was to annihilate their property, and reduce many of
them to indigence and beggary.”
For this second relief of the garrison stung the Spaniards into the
adoption of a measure which inflicted a large amount of suffering on
the citizens. They at once began to bombard the town with sixty-four
heavy guns and fifty mortars. All amongst the crowds in the narrow,
winding streets, through the frail roofs and windows, came shot and
shell, so that one and all fled from their homes, seeking cover among
the rocks. This was the time for thieves to operate, and many houses
were rifled of their contents. Then it was discovered that many
hucksters and liquor-dealers had been hoarding and hiding their stocks,
and a fire having broken out in a wine-shop, the soldiers tasted and
drank to excess. Then in a few days the discipline became relaxed;
many of the garrison stole and took away to their quarters barrels of
wine, which they proceeded to stow away, to their own peril and ruin.
At length General Elliot was compelled to issue orders that any soldier
found drunk or asleep at his post should be shot.
What surprises us in our days of long-distance firing is the strange
fact that a man with sharp vision could see one of the cannon-balls
as it came towards him. One day, we are told, an officer saw a ball
coming his way, but he was so fascinated by it that he could not move
out of the way. Another day a shot fell into a house in which nearly
twenty people were gathered together: all escaped except one child.
On another occasion a shot came 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.” A boy who had been posted on
the works, on account of his keenness of vision, to warn the men when
a cannon-ball was coming their way, had only just been complaining
that they did not heed his warnings, and while he turned to the men
this shot which did all this hurt was fired by the enemy. A large
cannon-ball in those days weighed 30 pounds, others much less. The
author remembers Admiral Colomb telling the Harrow boys in a lecture
that a Captain of those days could carry two or more cannon-balls in
his coat-tail pocket; the balls of modern guns have to be moved by
hydraulic machinery. Yet it is astonishing how much damage the old
cannon-balls could inflict, lopping along like overgrown cricket-balls
as they did.
Sometimes incidents happened of an amusing character.
One day a soldier was rummaging about among the ruins of a fallen
house, and came upon a find of watches and jewels. He bethought him at
once of a very pretty Spanish girl who had coquetted with him in the
gardens of the Alameda.
“Now, let me see,” he murmured to himself, “how can I put this away
safe? Little Catalina will laugh when she sees them there jewels, I’ll
be bound! Humph! I can’t take this lot to quarters, that’s sartin!
Them sergeants, as feel one all round on return from duty, will grab
the lot.”
So he walked on, musing and pondering over his weighty affair.
As he was passing the King’s Bastion a happy thought struck him.
“By George, sir!” he said to himself, “it’s just the very thing. Who
would think of looking for a watch inside a gun?” and he chuckled to
himself.
It was high noon; the sentinel seemed half asleep. The soldier tied up
his prize in his handkerchief, took out the wad of the gun, and slipped
his treasure-trove into the bore of the cannon, replacing the wad
carefully. That evening he met Catalina, and managed to inform her that
he had a pleasant surprise for her, if she could come to the King’s
Bastion.
Her dark eyes glanced mischievously.
“No, not in the evening, I thank you, Jacko. I will come to-morrow, an
hour ofter sunrise.”
“Very well, Catalina; I see you do not trust me. To-morrow, then, you
shall come with me to the King’s Bastion, and see with your own eyes
how rich I can make you.”
Catalina understood enough English to laugh heartily at her lover’s
grave and mysterious words.
“He has stolen a loaf and a bottle of wine,” she thought in her
simplicity.
However, Catalina did not disappoint Jack, and together they paced
towards the semi-circular platform of the King’s Bastion.
Jack was a very proud man as he tried to explain to his lady-love what
a surprise was in store for her: he touched her wrists to show how the
bracelets would fit, and her shapely neck to prove the existence of a
splendid necklace, and Catalina began to believe her boy.
But as they came out upon the gun platform, Jack stopped suddenly, and
uttered a fearful oath.
“O dios!” cried the maid, “what is there to hurt, Jacko?”
“Don’t you see? Oh, Catalina, the game is up! That devil of a gunner is
wiping out the bore of his gun!”
Jack ran up, and, seizing the man by the arm, said: “I say, mate, if
you have found a parcel in that gun, it’s mine! I put it in last night.
I tell you it’s mine, mate! Don’t you try to make believe you have not
seen it, ’cos I know you has.”
The gunner stared in open-mouthed astonishment at the speaker. At last
he said, with a touch of sarcasm:
“What for do you think I am wiping out her mouth, you silly! You must
have slept pretty sound not to know that them gun-boats crept up again
last night.”
“The devil take them! Then, where’s that gold watch of mine and them
jewels? I put ’em for safety in that fool of a gun.”
“Oh, then, you may depend upon it, my lad, that the watch-glass has got
broke, for we fired a many rounds in the night.”
“What for you look so to cry?” asked little Catalina in wonder.
“Oh, come away, sweetheart. You’ll get no rich present this year; them
Spaniards have collared ’em all. O Lord! O Lord!”
On the 7th of July the Spaniards at Cabrita Point were seen to be
signalling the approach of an enemy. As the mists melted away, the
garrison could see a ship becalmed out in the bay. Fourteen gunboats
from Algeciras had put out to cut her off; on this, Captain Curtis, of
the _Brilliant_, ordered three barges to row alongside, and receive
any dispatches she might have on board. This was done just before the
leading Spanish gunboat got within range; then came a hideous storm of
round and grape shot as the fourteen gunboats circled round the _Helma_.
But Captain Roberts, though he had only fourteen small guns, returned
their fire gallantly. The English sloop was lying becalmed about a
league from the Rock, and the garrison in Gibraltar could do nothing to
help her. They looked every minute to see the _Helma_ sink, but still
she battled on against their 26-pounders.
Then, when hope seemed desperate, a westerly breeze sprang up; the
waters darkened and rippled round the _Helma_, her canvas slowly filled
out, and she came away with torn sails and rigging to the shelter of
the Mole.
In September, 1782, a grand attack was made by the Spaniards with
ten men-of-war, gunboats, mortar-boats, and floating batteries. They
took up their position about 900 yards from the King’s Bastion. Four
hundred pieces of the heaviest artillery were crashing and thundering,
while all the air was thick with smoke. General Elliott had made his
preparations: the round shot was being heated in portable furnaces all
along the front, and as the furnaces were insufficient, huge fires were
lit in the angles between buildings on which our “roast potatoes,” as
the soldiers nicknamed the hot shot, were being baked.
But the enemy’s battering-ships seemed invulnerable. “Our heaviest
shells 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. 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.” After
some hours’ incessant firing, the masts of several Spanish ships
were seen to be toppling over; the flag-ship and the Admiral’s second
ship were on fire, and on board some others confusion was seen to be
prevailing. Their fire slackened, while ours increased. Then, as night
came on, the gleams spread across the troubled waters; the cannonade
of the garrison increased in rapidity and power. At one in the morning
two ships were blazing mast-high, and the others soon caught fire from
the red-hot shot or from the flying sparks. The light and glow of this
fearful conflagration brought out the weird features of the whole bay:
the sombre Rock, the blood-red sea, the white houses of Algeciras five
miles across, the dark cork forests, and the Spanish mountains--all
stood out in strange perspective. Amid the roar of cannon were fitfully
heard the hoarse murmurs of the crowds that lined the shore and the
screams of burning men. Sometimes a deep gloom shrouded the background
of earth and sea, while gigantic columns of curling, serpent flame shot
up from the blazing hulls.
Brigadier Curtis, who was encamped at Europa Point, now took out his
flotilla of twelve gunboats, each being armed with a 24-pounder in its
bow, and took the floating batteries in flank, compelling the Spanish
relieving boats to retire.
Daylight showed a sight never to be forgotten: the flames had paled
before the sun, but the dark forms of the Spaniards moving amongst the
fire and shrieking for help and compassion stirred all the feelings of
humanity. Some were clinging to the sides of the burning ships, others
were flinging themselves into the waves. Curtis led his boats up to the
smoking hulks in order to rescue some of the victims. He and his men
climbed on board the battering-ships at the risk of their lives, and
helped down the Spaniards, who were profuse in their expressions of
gratitude.
[Illustration: THE LAST SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR BY FRANCE AND SPAIN
A floating battery may be seen to the extreme left beyond the heeling
ship.]
But as the English thus worked for the rescue of their enemies, the
magazine of one of the Spanish ships blew up with a crash at about five
o’clock, and a quarter of an hour after another exploded in the centre
of the line. Burning splinters were hurled around in all directions,
and involved the British gunboats in grave danger. In the Brigadier’s
boat his coxswain was killed, his stroke wounded, and a hole was forced
through the bottom of the boat. After landing 357 Spaniards, the
English were compelled to retire under the cover of the Rock, leaving
the remainder to their dreadful fate. Of the six ships still on fire,
three blew up before eleven o’clock; the other three burned down to the
water’s edge.
Thus ended the attempt to take the Rock by means of floating castles.
The loss sustained by the Spaniards was about 2,000 killed, wounded,
and taken prisoners; whereas the losses in the garrison were
surprisingly small, considering how long a cannonade had been kept up
upon the forts: 16 only were killed; 18 officers, sergeants, and rank
and file were wounded. Yet the enemy had been firing more than 300
pieces of heavy ordnance, while the English garrison could bring to
bear only 80 cannon, 7 mortars, and 9 howitzers; but even for these
they expended 716 barrels of powder.
As Admiral Lord Howe was sailing with a powerful fleet to the help of
Gibraltar, he heard the news of General Elliot’s splendid defence.
On the night of the 18th of October, 1782, a great storm scattered
the French and Spanish ships; and soon after the delighted garrison
saw Lord Howe’s fleet and his convoy, containing fresh troops and
provisions, approaching in order of battle. The blockade was now
virtually at an end. The siege had lasted three years, seven months,
and twelve days. Since then no attempt has been made to capture
Gibraltar.