John Richmond, sergeant.
John Brown,[6] corporal.
Ensign William Skinner joined the company 20th May, and Ensign William
Booth 23rd June.
Footnote 6:
In Hay’s ‘Western Barbary,’ chap. x., Murray’s edit., there is a very
pleasing anecdote of the “half-Irish Sultan,” Mulai Yezeed, in which
the name of Brown of the Royal Sappers and Miners, properly
Soldier-Artificers, is introduced. To controvert a particular point to
which it refers, the anecdote in an abridged form, is subjoined.
Sidi Mahomed, soon after his elevation to the throne of Morocco, about
the middle of the last century, was desirous of completing the
defences of Fez, and knowing the superiority of the English in
engineering, he applied to the British Government for the aid of some
person skilled in the art. The request was acceded to, and an
experienced sergeant of the Sappers and Miners having been selected as
a fit person, was placed at the disposal of his Majesty. Sidi Mahomed
received him with much kindness, and allotted a suitable house for his
reception. The sergeant continued in the service of the Sultan for
some time after he had completed the works at Fez, and at length died,
leaving his wife without issue. After his interment, the widow, who
was a pretty Irishwoman, sought an interview with the Sultan, in order
to obtain a pension and the means of returning to her own country. His
Majesty was much struck by her fair and comely appearance, treated her
with condescension and benevolence, and expressed in endearing
overtures his attachment to her. Under no promises of future greatness
could she be induced to relinquish the faith of her fathers for the
creed of Islam, and to take an exalted station in the imperial harem.
Sidi Mahomed, old as he was, was too much fascinated to yield so
choice a prize on a mere question of belief, and making the fullest
sacrifices to satisfy her religious scruples, the poor, friendless,
Irish widow, became the Sultana of Morocco!
Corporal Brown, afterwards promoted to be sergeant, is the
non-commissioned officer alluded to. He was a mason by trade, and
joining the artificers on the 2nd January, 1773, he seemingly soon
acquired the reputation of being an able foreman and an indispensable
man. It was in 1776 he was sent to Fez, not in the middle of the
century as stated in the anecdote, and he died there early in 1781.
That year, or probably later, Widow Brown became the Sultana of Sidi
Mahomet, and Mulai Yezeed, the reputed son of the widow by the Sultan,
_was then 31 years old_! The age of Mulai may be _gleaned_ from Hay’s
tale, but more directly _seen_ in Dr. Lempriere’s ‘Journey through the
Barbary States.’ According to the latter author, who was at Tetuan in
1790, Mulai was the “offspring of an English renegado,” and then about
40 years of age. The Sultan died at a patriarchal age in 1790, and
Mulai Yezeed succeeded him.
-----
No sooner was the company completed to its new establishment than the
engineers proceeded with greater spirit in the erection of the King’s
Bastion, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1773 by General
Boyd.[7] This work, which was of material consequence for the safety of
the fortress, caused the General much concern, and he employed his best
efforts for its completion.[8] But, unavoidable delay in some official
arrangements at home, coupled with a little misunderstanding and the
loss of many civil mechanics, greatly retarded the work.
-----
Footnote 7:
General Boyd, attended by General Green, the chief engineer, and many
officers of the garrison, laid the foundation stone of this bastion,
with the ceremony usual on such occasions. When he had finished it, he
made this remarkable speech. “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_.”—Drinkwater’s Siege of Gibraltar,
p. 290, 1st edit. The desire of the worthy general was realized. He
not only lived to see what he wished, but materially to assist in the
operations of the siege.
Footnote 8:
To carry on the work with vigour, an opening was made in the sea-line,
which, as long as it continued so, made the fortress defenceless in
that part. Similar openings were made in the line some years before by
a storm, which, being observed by Monsieur Crillon, who commanded at
St. Roque, he proposed a scheme for an attempt on the Rock.
Remembering this, the General always kept an anxious eye upon the gap;
but he concealed his fears, lest they should fill the people with
alarm, and the French or Spaniards with notions of invasion. He would
not post any additional guards or picquets there for its protection,
but gave private directions that all the guns and howitzers that could
be brought into position in that part should be attended to. He,
however, did not conceal his uneasiness from the Secretary of State;
and in urging upon Lord Rochford the necessity for his being furnished
with the means for completing the bastion, he quaintly remarked,
“there is an idea of glory, my lord, in the thought of being killed in
defending a breach made by the enemy, but to be knocked o' th' head in
the defence of one of our own making would be a ridiculous death.”
-----
This led General Boyd in 1775 to apply for another augmentation to the
soldier-artificers, which was the more necessary as three regiments,
furnishing a number of mechanics for the fortifications, were about to
leave the Rock; and also as the foreign artificers—several of whom had
been re-engaged since the pressure of the works—were like birds of
passage, abandoning the fortress when they pleased. This the
soldier-artificers could not do. To their attention and assiduity,
therefore, the progress of the bastion and other works of the garrison
were mainly attributable; and General Boyd, in a letter to Lord
Rochford, dated 5th October, 1775, gave them full credit for their
services. “We can,” wrote the General, “depend only upon the artificer
company for constant work, and on soldiers occasionally. Had it not been
for the artificer company, we should not have made half the progress in
the King’s Bastion, as well as in the other works of the garrison.”
On the 16th January, 1776, His Majesty sanctioned an addition to the
company of one sergeant, one corporal, one drummer, and twenty privates,
all masons, who were to be reduced again when the Hanoverian troops
should leave the fortress.[9] With this increase the company consisted
of 116 non-commissioned officers and men.
-----
Footnote 9:
When the Hanoverian troops left Gibraltar, the company had the best
character for efficiency and utility, and its numbers therefore were
not reduced.
-----
Steadily the works advanced; soon the King’s Bastion[10] was finished,
and the fortress was now in such a state of defence as greatly to
alleviate the apprehension, which, a few years before, caused General
Boyd so much anxiety. Though not exactly all that could be desired to
oppose the onslaught of a determined and daring adversary, it was yet
capable of a long and obstinate resistance; and, from the political
phases of the period, it did not seem at all unlikely that its strength
would soon be tried, and the prowess and fortitude of the garrison
tested.
-----
Footnote 10:
At this bastion the company worked, by express orders, from gun-fire
in the morning to gun-fire in the evening, as also on Sundays. All the
work was of cut stone, and skilfully executed. A model of it,
exquisitely wrought in polished stone, is in the Rotunda at Woolwich.
It formerly belonged to George III. In 1820, George IV. presented it
to the Royal Military Repository.
-----
1779-1782.
Jealousy of Spain—Declares war with England—Strength of the garrison at
Gibraltar—Preparations for defence and employment of the company—Siege
commenced—Privations of the garrison—Grand sortie and conduct of the
company—Its subsequent exertions—Origin of the subterranean
galleries—Their extraordinary prosecution—Princess Anne’s
battery—Third augmentation—Names of non-commissioned officers.
Gibraltar, ever since its capture by the English in 1704, had been a
source of much jealousy and uneasiness to Spain, and her desire to
restore it to her dominions was manifested in the frequent attempts she
made with that view. Invariably she was repelled by the indomitable
bravery of the garrison; but a slave to her purpose, she did not desist
from her efforts, and in the absence of any real occasion for
disagreement with England, scrupled not to create one, in order that she
might attack, and if possible, regain the fortress.
A favourable opportunity for the purpose at length arrived. Soon after
the convention of Saratoga in 1777, the Americans entered into an
alliance with France, which was the cause of a rupture between the
latter nation and Great Britain. Hostilities had been carried on for six
months, when Spain insinuated herself into the dispute under pacific
pretensions. Her proposals, however, were of such a nature as rendered
it impossible for the British Government to accept them without
lessening the national honour; and being rejected, the refusal was made
the pretext for war. It was accordingly declared by Spain on the 16th
June, and her eager attention was at once turned to Gibraltar. On the
21st of the same month she took the first step of a hostile nature, by
closing the communication between Spain and the fortress.
At this time the garrison consisted of an army of 5,382 officers and men
under General Eliott. Lieut.-General Boyd was second in command. Of this
force the engineers and artificers amounted to the following numbers
under Colonel Green:—
Officers 8
Sergeants 6
Drummers 2
Rank and File 106[11]
——
Total 122
No particular demonstration on the part of the Spaniards immediately
followed the closing of the communication; but General Eliott,
anticipating an early attack upon the Rock, made arrangements to meet
it. All was activity and preparation within the fortress; and the
engineers with the artificers were constantly occupied in strengthening
the defences. For better accomplishing this paramount service, the
company was divided into three portions on the 23rd August, and directed
to instruct the line workmen in the duties required of them. To prevent
misunderstanding with regard to the _line_ non-commissioned officers—who
might under certain circumstances become litigious—the Chief Engineer
issued orders to the effect, that all such soldiers coming into the
king’s works, were to take directions from the non-commissioned officers
of the company in the execution of their professional duty.[12]
-----
Footnote 11:
The company wanted two privates to complete.
Footnote 12:
As foreseen by the Chief Engineer, disputes soon arose between the
non-commissioned officers of the company and the line, with regard to
superintendence and direction. The fact having come to the Brigadier’s
knowledge, he renewed, on the 10th July, 1781, his former order in a
more imperative tone.
-----
On the 12th September, General Eliott commenced operations by opening a
fire on the enemy, which was so unexpected, that the latter were
surprised and dispersed. On recovering from the panic, they scarcely
ventured, or indeed cared, to retaliate; for their object obviously was,
not to subject themselves to a costly expenditure of ammunition, shot,
&c., but to distress the garrison by famine, and thereby obtain an easy
surrender. In this, however, they were disappointed; for the enduring
hardihood of the garrison, and the occasional arrival of relief,
frustrated their object, and compelled the Spaniards to have recourse to
the more expensive and difficult method of besieging the place.[13]
-----
Footnote 13:
The strength of the company, including officers, when the provision
supplies arrived, under Admiral Rodney, in February, 1780, and again
under Admiral Darby, in April, 1781, was, on both occasions, stated to
be 124. See ‘An authentic and accurate Journal of the late Siege of
Gibraltar,’ pp. 22, 170.
-----
At this period the privations of the soldiers in the fortress were of so
severe a nature, that many of them were constrained to seek expedients
from unusual resources to supply their wants; and in this way, thistles,
dandelion, and other wild herbs, the produce of a barren rock, were used
to satisfy their cravings. The following enumeration of some of the
necessaries of life, with their prices affixed, will afford an idea of
the extent of the scarcity:—
_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._
Mutton or beef . 2 6 to 3 6 per lb. sometimes higher.
Salt beef or pork 1 0 to 1 3 per lb.
Biscuit crumbs 0 10 to 1 0 per lb.
Milk and water 1 3 a pint.
Eggs 0 6 each.
A small cabbage 1 6
A small bunch of outward leaves 0 6
Thus curtailed in their provisions, the wonder is, that the men were at
all capable of supporting life, and keeping their opponents in check.
But notwithstanding this embarrassing privation, their energy and
courage were by no means weakened, nor their spirit and ardour
depressed.
In November, 1781, the Spaniards were very zealous in completing their
defences; so much so that towards the latter part of the month their
batteries presented an appearance at once stupendous and formidable.
This proud bulwark naturally arrested the Governor’s attention, and as
naturally engendered the determination to assault and destroy it. On the
26th November, he desired a selection to be made from the troops for
this purpose. To each of the right and centre columns a detachment of
the company—in all twelve non-commissioned officers as overseers, and
forty privates—was attached, under Lieutenants Skinner and Johnson of
the Engineers; and 160 working men from the line were directed to assist
them. To the left column a hundred sailors were told off to do the duty
of pioneers. The soldier-artificers were supplied with hammers, axes,
crow-bars, fire-faggots, and other burning materials. Upon the setting
of the moon at three o’clock on the morning of the 27th November the
sortie was made. The moment Lieut.-Colonel Hugo, who had charge of the
right column, took possession of the parallel, Lieutenant Johnson with
the artificers and pioneers commenced with great promptitude and
dexterity to dismantle the works. Similar daring efforts succeeded the
rush of Lieutenant Skinner’s artificers and workmen into the St. Carlo’s
Battery with the column of Lieut.-Colonel Dachenhausen; but the number
of the soldier-artificers attached to the sortie, whose ardour and
labours were everywhere apparent, being both inconsiderable and
insufficient to effect the demolition with the expedition required, the
Governor sent back to the garrison for the remainder of the company to
come and assist in the operation.[14] Hurrying to the spot to share in
the struggle, they were soon distributed through the batteries; and the
efficiency of their exertions was sensibly seen, in the rapidity with
which the works were razed and in flames. Only one of the company was
wounded.[15]
-----
Footnote 14:
Captain Luttrell, in some remarks in the House of Commons in 1788,
relative to the expediency of raising a corps of military artificers,
stated, “that at Gibraltar, where a similar body had been kept up
during the siege, they had been of infinite service. When our troops
had, in a sortie, possessed themselves of some of the enemy’s works,
they could not destroy them until they had sent back to the garrison
for the corps of artificers, who soon demolished them.”—Gent. Mag. 58,
part 2, 1788.
Footnote 15:
London Gazette, 12,256. 25 to 29 December, 1781.
-----
General Eliott in his despatch on this sortie, observes, “The pioneers,”
meaning artificers, “and artillerists, made wonderful exertions, and
spread their fire with such amazing rapidity, that in half an hour, two
mortar batteries of ten 13-inch mortars, and three batteries of six guns
each, with all the lines of approach, communication, traverses, &c. were
in flames and reduced to ashes. Their mortars and cannon were spiked,
and their beds, carriages, and platforms destroyed. Their magazines blew
up one after another, as the fire approached them.”[16]
-----
Footnote 16:
London Gazette, 12,256. 25 to 29 December, 1781.
-----
Shortly after the sortie the repairs to the defences at the north front
and other works of the fortress, found full employment for the company.
Leisure could not be permitted, and the necessary intervals of rest were
frequently interrupted by demands for their assistance, particularly in
caissonning the batteries at Willis’s.[17] Sickness also set in about
this time; nearly 700 of the garrison were in hospital; the working
parties were curtailed; and officers' servants and others, unused to
hard labour and unskilled in the use of tools, were sent to the works to
lessen the fatigue to which their less-favoured comrades were constantly
subjected. Much extra duty and exertion were thus necessarily thrown
upon the company, and though frequently exposed to imminent danger, they
worked, both by night and day, with cheerfulness and zeal. In the
sickness that prevailed, they did not share so much as might be supposed
from the laborious nature of their duties, sixteen only being returned
sick, leaving eighty-one available for the service of the works.
-----
Footnote 17:
To narrate the different services performed by the company during the
siege, would not only be tedious, but necessarily incomplete, from no
_detailed_ record of them being preserved. A reference, however, to
‘Drinkwater’s History,’ though particularization is not even there
attempted, will afford a tolerable idea of their labours.
-----
On a fine day in May 1782, the Governor, attended by the Chief Engineer
and staff, made an inspection of the batteries at the north front. Great
havoc had been made in some of them by the enemy’s fire; and for the
present they were abandoned whilst the artificers were restoring them.
Meditating for a few moments over the ruins, he said aloud, “I will give
a thousand dollars to any one who can suggest how I am to get a flanking
fire upon the enemy’s works.” A pause followed the exciting exclamation,
when sergeant-major Ince of the company, who was in attendance upon the
Chief Engineer, stepped forward and suggested the idea of forming
galleries in the rock to effect the desired object. The General at once
saw the propriety of the scheme, and directed it to be carried into
execution.[18]
-----
Footnote 18:
Whether the sergeant-major obtained the thousand dollars as a douceur
from the General is a question never likely to be satisfactorily
answered. The probability is, that he did not receive the reward for
his suggestion in this form, but some daily allowance commensurate
with his skill and the importance of the duty. I was informed by the
late Quarter-master-sergeant Britton Francis, who possessed a
remarkable memory, and whose father was in the company before him,
that Ince contracted for the work, and—such was the story current in
his day—received for all the excavations, one guinea per running foot!
Judging from an expression in a letter from the Duke of Richmond to
Captain Evelegh, the Commanding Engineer at Gibraltar, dated 4th
August, 1784, this tradition is an extravagant exaggeration. His Grace
observes, “I am told that the excavation of the galleries is now
constructed for, all expenses included, at one rial per foot cube;”
and he adds, “I am very glad to find that a work which promises to add
such effectual defences to the place, can be carried on at so cheap a
rate; and I make no doubt, that great improvements will still be made
by the Governor in this system of defences and lodgment for stores and
troops under the rock.”
-----
Upon orders being issued by the Chief Engineer, twelve good miners of
the company were selected for this novel and difficult service, and
sergeant-major Ince was nominated to take the executive direction of the
work. On the 25th of May, he commenced to mine a gallery from a place
above Farringdon’s Battery (Willis'), to communicate, _through the
rock_, to the notch or projection in the scarp under the Royal Battery.
The gallery was to be six feet high and six feet wide. The successful
progress of this preliminary work was followed by a desire to extend the
excavation from the cave at the head of the King’s lines, to the cave at
the end of the Queen’s lines, of the same dimensions as the former
gallery. A body of well-instructed miners was expressly appointed for
the duty,[19] and on the 6th July, they began this new subterranean
passage. On the 15th, the first “embrasure was opened in the face of the
rock communicating with the gallery above Farringdon’s.” To effect this,
“the mine was loaded with an unusual quantity of powder, and the
explosion was so amazingly loud, that almost the whole of the enemy’s
camp turned out at the report: but what,” adds the chronicler, “must
their surprise have been, when they observed whence the smoke
issued!”[20] The gallery was now widened to admit of the placement of a
gun with sufficient room for its recoil, and when finished, a 24-pounder
was mounted in it.[21] Before the ensuing September, five heavy guns
were placed in the gallery; and in little more than twelve months from
the day it was commenced, it was pushed to the notch, where a battery,
as originally proposed, was afterwards established and distinguished, on
account of its extensive capacity, by the name of “St George’s
Hall.”[22]
-----
Footnote 19:
The Chief Engineer’s orders for the performance of this service were
as follows:—“22nd May, 1782. A gallery 6 feet high, and 6 feet wide,
through the rock, leading towards the notch nearly under the Royal
Battery, to communicate with a proposed battery to be established at
the said notch, is immediately to be undertaken and commenced upon by
12 miners, under the executive direction of sergeant-major Ince.”
Again: “5th July, 1782. A gallery of communication, 6 feet 6 inches
high, and 6 feet wide, through the intermediate rock, between the cave
at the head of the King’s lines, and the cave near the west end of the
Queen’s lines, is forthwith to be commenced upon by a body of miners
and labourers expressly appointed for that service.”—See also
‘Drinkwater’s Siege,’ Murray’s edit., 1846, pp. 112 and 117.
-----
Footnote 20:
‘Drinkwater’s Siege,’ Murray’s edit., 1846, p. 118.
-----
Footnote 21:
Drinkwater observes, page 118, that “the original intention of this
opening was to communicate air to the workmen, who, before, were
almost suffocated with the smoke which remained after blowing the
different mines; but on examining the aperture more closely, an idea
was conceived of mounting a gun to bear on all the enemy’s batteries,
excepting Fort Barbara.” To ascribe it to this accidental circumstance
is natural enough, but there is reason to suppose, the statement
excusably differs from the fact. The galleries were begun with the
express object of arming them with ordnance to play on the enemy’s
works; and the formation of the embrasure alluded to, was simply the
earnest of a settled scheme; the first hostile step in its
development.
Footnote 22:
‘Drinkwater’s Siege,’ Murray’s edit., 1846, note, p. 118.
-----
At Princess Anne’s Battery (Willis'), on the 11th June, a shell from the
enemy fell through one of the magazines, and, bursting, the powder
instantly ignited and blew up. The whole rock shook with the violence of
the explosion, which, tearing up the magazine, threw its massive
fragments to an almost incredible distance into the sea. Three merlons
on the west flank of the battery, with several men who had run behind
them for shelter, were blown into the Prince’s lines beneath, which,
with the Queen’s lower down the rock, were almost filled with the
rubbish ejected from the upper battery, as also with men dreadfully
scorched and mangled. The loss among the workmen was very severe.
Fourteen were killed and fifteen wounded.[23] Private George Brown, a
mason of the company, was amongst the former.
-----
Footnote 23:
‘Drinkwater’s Siege,’ Murray’s edit., 1846, p. 113.
-----
In July the company could only muster ninety-two men of all ranks,
including the wounded and sick, having lost twenty-two men during the
siege by death, six of whom had been killed. This was the more
unfortunate, as the siege was daily assuming a more serious aspect, the
enemy collecting in greater force, and the effect of the cannonade upon
the defences more telling and ruinous. Naturally the Governor’s
attention was called to the deficiency; and as his chief dependence
rested upon the soldier-artificers for the execution and direction of
the more important works, he was not only anxious for their completion
to the authorized establishment, but convinced of the desirableness of
augmenting them. In this view he was the more confirmed, by the
representations of Major-General Green, the chief engineer, and
Lieutenant-General Boyd. As soon, therefore, as an opportunity offered,
he urgently requested the Duke of Richmond, then Master-General of the
Ordnance, to fill up the company with mechanics from England, and also
to make a liberal increase to its establishment. His Grace accordingly
submitted the recommendation to His Majesty, and a Warrant, dated 31st
August, 1782, was issued ordering the company to be increased with 118
men. Its establishment now amounted to—
1 Sergeant-major.
10 Sergeants.
10 Corporals.
209 Working-men.
4 Drummers.
——
Total 234
To carry out the wishes of General Eliott, the Duke of Richmond employed
parties in England and Scotland to enlist the required number, which for
the most part consisted of carpenters, sawyers, and smiths. With great
spirit and success the recruiting was conducted; and in less than a
month 141 mechanics—more than enough to meet both the deficiency and the
authorized increase—were embarked for the Rock on board the transports
which accompanied the relieving fleet under Lord Hood. Twenty landed on
the 15th October; a similar number next day, and the remaining 101 on
the 21st. By this increase the carpenters were 66 in number, the sawyers
31, and the smiths 57. The masons at this time were 30 strong.
The non-commissioned officers,[24] as they stood immediately after this
augmentation, were as follows:—
_Sergeant-major_—Henry Ince.
_Sergeants_:—
David Young, _carpenter_.
Edward Macdonald.[25]
Robert Blyth,[26] _mason_.
Alexander Grigor.
James Smith, _smith_.
Thomas Jackson, _smith_.
Robert Brand, _mason_.
Robert Daniel.
Joseph Makin, _mason_.
Thomas Finch,[27] _carpenter_.
_Corporals_:—
Robert Newell, _mason_.
Hugh Sirrige, _carpenter_.
Joseph Chambers,[28] _mason_.
James Carey, _carpenter_.
Joseph Woodhead,[29] _mason_.
John Morrison, _mason_.
John Harrison, _mason_.
John Fraser, _carpenter_.
Thomas Harrenden, _carpenter_.
Antonio Francia,[30] _mason_.
And the officers were, in addition to those mentioned at pp. 4 and 5,
Lieutenants William M‘Kerras, John Johnston, and Lewis Hay.
-----
Footnote 24:
It is not intended to give the names of the non-commissioned officers
entire at any future period. In this instance they have been
mentioned, not so much for the interest of the general reader, as to
preserve them. With those whose names have already been noted, these
constitute the first race of non-commissioned officers in the corps.
-----
Footnote 25:
By the Chief Engineer’s Order of 27th October, 1781, sergeant
Macdonald, an active and good non-commissioned officer, was appointed
to inspect and take care of all the drains throughout the fortress in
the room of sergeant-major Bridges, as also to keep the keys of the
gratings, and to see them locked, to prevent ingress or egress by
their means. This duty was considered a very important one, both from
the facility the drains afforded for the entrance of the enemy and for
desertions from the place, and also from the health of the garrison
being in a great measure affected by their state. Not unfrequently
during heavy rains, the gravel on the rock, washed down by the
torrent, would rush into the drains and choke them up. To clear them,
the company of artificers was invariably called upon, often at night;
and on one occasion, in April, 1813, private William Liddle, who was
foremost in one of the great drains, after unlocking the grating, was
carried down the sewer with the flood into the sea, and drowned.
-----
Footnote 26:
Blyth served fifteen years in the 2nd Foot, and joined the company
14th June, 1773. He was promoted to be sergeant on the 18th April,
1781, in succession to sergeant Brown who died at Fez, and whose widow
became the Sultana of Morocco. By his industry and frugality he
amassed considerable property, and expended about 20,000 dollars in
buildings at the fortress. He was well known as a zealous freemason,
and erected a wine-house at the corner of the Eleventh, since called
South Parade, in which the meetings or lodges of the fraternity were
held free of expense. He was much respected by the inhabitants, and
became very popular among them. On the 31st January, 1800, he was
discharged from the corps, after a service of nearly forty-two years,
and died at the Rock about 1804, Blyth had a nephew in the Tripoline
navy, of whom a few particulars may not be uninteresting. His name was
Peter Lisle. When quite a youth, Peter was wrecked at Zoara, on the
coast of Tripoli. He was one of three only who escaped. For a time he
endured great hardships, but at length succeeded in getting on board a
British merchantman. In 1792 he was at Gibraltar, on board the
‘Embden’ letter of marque, Lynch and Ross, owners. This vessel
afterwards went to Tripoli with two consuls on board; and Lisle, then
chief mate, was placed in charge of the cargo, some of which was corn.
On arriving at Tripoli, the barrels containing the corn were found to
have been plundered, and Lisle was called upon to account for the
deficiency. This he could not do; a quarrel ensued between the captain
and himself, and resigning his situation, he landed, and entered the
service of the Bashaw. Having been chief mate of an English vessel was
a strong recommendation in his favour, and he was at once appointed
gunner of the castle. Associated with a strange people, he readily
conformed to their manners and customs, embraced Mahommedan tenets—at
least in appearance—and assumed the name of Mourad Reis. About 1794 he
was nominated captain of a xebeck mounting eighteen guns; and in the
course of time, by his naval skill and abilities, became the High
Admiral of the Tripoline Fleet and Minister of Marine. He married one
of the daughters of the Bashaw, Sidi Yusuf, had a fine family, and
enjoyed an ample income. Besides a house in the city, he had a villa
and gardens in the Meshiah among the date-groves, which exhibited
evidence of great taste and care, and were enriched with many trees of
various species brought by him from different places at which he
touched in Europe. He was a prudent and sagacious counsellor, gave
excellent advice to the Bashaw, which was always based on good common
sense—a quality not superabundant in the Divan—and was of great
service to Lord Exmouth during his Algerine expedition. His appearance
was venerable, he dressed richly, commanded much respect, and when
addressing British officers—whom he always treated with great courtesy
and hospitality—spoke with a broad Scotch accent, and sometimes
entertained them with a relation of his own stirring adventures. He
was unpopular at times, as great politicians sometimes are. Blaquiere
says (1813), “Poor Peter was no longer an object of consideration with
any party.” During the stay of Captain Lyon at Tripoli in 1818, Peter
was in banishment, but the consul and chief people gave him an
excellent character. Later, however, he again rose into confidence,
for when Captain Beechey was there in 1821, Mourad Reis was much
considered by his Highness, and acted as interpreter on the occasion
of the Captain’s audience with his Highness the Bashaw. He also proved
of great service to Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N. On the fall of the
Bashaw—Yusuf Karamanli—he retreated to Sfax in Tunis, since which his
fate is uncertain. When in the zenith of his power and greatness he
paid occasional visits to Gibraltar. On entering the bay, he always
fired a salute of four guns in honour of his uncle, serjeant Blyth,
whom he treated with marked respect. This practice, however, he at
length discontinued, owing to a shot, fired by mistake from one of his
guns, having struck the wall of a ramp just above Hargrave’s Parade
whilst he was paying his relative the usual affectionate compliment.
-----
Footnote 27:
Finch joined the company on the 21st October, 1782, at the request of
the Duke of Richmond, in whose service he had been employed at
Goodwood. Anxious to secure him for the company, his Grace promised
not only to make him a sergeant at once, but to give him a written
protection to preserve to him as long as he remained, irrespective of
his conduct, the pay of that rank. Under these circumstances Finch
accepted the protective credential, enlisted, and sailed with Lord
Hood for the Rock. Holding such a charter, it was not to be wondered
at if he sometimes overstepped the line of prudence. Not by any means
particular in his appearance, nor scrupulous in his conduct or habits,
he was not unfrequently brought before his officers; but no matter how
flagrant his offence, the only punishment that could be awarded to him
was suspension for a month or two from rank, but not from pay. Captain
Evelegh, of the engineers, finding that Finch was becoming rather
troublesome, and his sentences of but little effect, endeavoured to
obtain the Duke’s warrant from its possessor, but he refused to
surrender it, observing to the captain, “If you get hold of it,
good-bye to my rank and pay.” Finch, however, was a first-rate
carpenter and foreman, and these qualifications more than
counterbalanced his occasional delinquencies. He was discharged from
the corps on the 13th April, 1802.
-----
Footnote 28:
Chambers joined the company 21st September, 1772, from the 2nd
Regiment of Foot, in which he had served two years. In 1791 he was
promoted to be sergeant-major, on the discharge of Ince. In the summer
of 1796 he was sent to Woolwich in a deranged state of mind, and on
the 1st December of that year was discharged. Soon afterwards he was
domiciled in a madhouse, where, his malady increasing, he was—it has
been reported—smothered according to the cruel practice then in vogue
with regard to incurable cases.
-----
Footnote 29:
Woodhead joined the company 16th May, 1774, from the 12th Regiment, in
which he had served seven years and a quarter. In November, 1791, he
was promoted to be sergeant, and was discharged 17th July, 1807, on a
pension of 2_s._ 7_d._ a-day, after a service of upwards of forty
years. At Gibraltar he was found to be invaluable in the construction
and repairs of the sea-line wall. He possessed a good share of
intelligence; was a strong, portly, blustering mason, and well adapted
for the heavy and laborious duties for which he was always selected.
At Woolwich he was the military foreman of masons for many years, and
was intrusted by Captain Hayter, then Commanding Royal Engineer, with
the building of the wharf wall in the Royal Arsenal—a work highly
creditable to the Engineer Department, and to Woodhead as the
executive overseer.
Footnote 30:
Afterwards anglicised to Anthony Francis, was wounded by a shell at
Willis’s. He and his brother Dominick were natives of Portugal, and
the only foreigners in the company. Antonio was a Catholic; and as it
was desired to preserve the Protestant character of the corps, a
simple but effectual plan was taken to win his adherence to the Church
of England. He asked leave to be married. The indulgence was refused
unless he became a Protestant. _La Fiancée_ was also a Catholic; but
as a great event in their lives—which promised them no end of
happiness—was likely to be indefinitely postponed by a stubborn
acquiescence to a creed for which, probably, they felt but little
interest, both renounced the belief of their fathers, and were married
as members of the national faith. Their family were baptized and
educated as Protestants, but the old man on his death-bed, returned to
Mother-Church and died a Catholic. Three of his sons, now old men,
fill comfortable appointments at Gibraltar. Their cousins, merchants
at the Rock, own the plain called the “Spanish Race-course,” above a
mile beyond the Lines. One, Mr. Francis Francia, is British Consul at
San Roque. Midway between the village of Campo and the consulate
stands his farm, which is cultivated with enlightened taste, and
enriched with rare exotics in fruits and flowers.—Kelaart’s Botany and
Topography of Gibraltar and its neighbourhood, pp. 179, 183.
-----
1782-1783.
Siege continued—Magnitude of the works—Chevaux-de-frise from Landport
Glacis across the inundation—Précis of other works—Firing red-hot
shot—Damage done to the works of the garrison, and exertions of the
company in restoring them—Grand attack, and burning of the battering
flotilla—Reluctance of the enemy to quit the contest—Kilns for heating
shot—Orange Bastion—Subterranean galleries—Discovery of the enemy
mining under the Rock—Ulterior dependence of the enemy—Peace—Conduct
of the company during the siege—Casualties.
In August the siege daily wore a more significant appearance, and the
enemy was diligent in concentrating his resources—unlimited both in
means and materials—to make an extraordinary attack upon the fortress.
To cope with these preparations General Eliott was no less alert. All
was ardour and cheerfulness within the garrison, and every one waited
impatiently for an opportunity to end the strife, which had held
thousands close prisoners to their posts for more than three years.
At this time the defensive works were very extensive, and many important
alterations had yet to be made in several of the batteries, to afford
more effectual cover to the artillery. The workmen consequently were
greatly increased. Daily, nearly 2,000 men of the line were handed over
to the engineers for the service of the fortifications; and the
soldier-artificers were employed in their greatest force—two only being
in hospital—to instruct and oversee them. In the more difficult works
requiring experience, and the exercise of skill and ability, the company
always laboured themselves.
In the most vulnerable part of the fortress, from the foot of Landport
Glacis adjoining Waterport, to the sloping palisades on the causeway
across the inundation, the greater part of the carpenters of the company
were occupied in fixing a chevaux-de-frise. They completed the work
without the least interference from the enemy—a surprising instance of
his inattention or forbearance.
While the chevaux-de-frise was in course of erection, covered ways were
being constructed at the different lines on the north front, large and
lofty traverses were raised along the line wall, the flank of the
Princess Anne’s Battery was rebuilt, the subterranean passages were
pushed forward with vigour, and a covered way from the Grand Parade to
the Orange Bastion was completed. Green’s Lodge and the Royal Battery
were also caissoned with ship-timber, and considerable alterations were
made at Willis’s. Indeed nothing was omitted to render the fortress
capable of sustaining any attack to which it might be subjected from the
enemy’s immense and well-armed batteries.
These works and many others of a similar nature were in progress when
the firing of red-hot shot from the north front, under General Boyd’s
directions, commenced upon the enemy’s batteries. The effect of this
destructive expedient was astounding, and the demolition of the enemy’s
lines in great part soon followed. Panic-stricken or confused, the
besiegers returned but a tardy fire, and the injury sustained by it was
of little moment.
The bold attack of the garrison, however, aroused the Spaniards, who,
quickly repairing their works, opened, on the next day, a warm and
powerful fire upon the Rock from 170 guns of large calibre. Nine
line-of-battle ships also poured in their broadsides, in which they were
assisted by fifteen gun and mortar boats. Considerable injury was thus
done to the north front, as also to the Montague and Orange Bastions;
the obstructions at Landport were likewise in great measure demolished,
and many other works were partially razed. The engineers with the
artificers and workmen were unremitting in their exertions, both during
the night and in the day-time, to restore the defences where their
importance, from their exposed situation, rendered immediate reparation
desirable. At Landport, notwithstanding the sharp firing of the enemy,
the carpenters of the company were constantly detached to repair the
fresh-recurring breaches, which, Drinkwater states, “were kept in a
better state than might have been expected.”
This attack and retaliation, however, were as yet only preliminary to
the greater one which was to follow. The interval was filled up by
discharges of cannon, averaging 4,000 rounds in the twenty-four hours.
On the 12th September the combined fleets of France and Spain arrived
before the Rock with ten floating batteries, bearing 212 guns; while
their land batteries, strong and terrible, mounted 200 heavy guns, and
were protected by an army of 40,000 men.
In their several stations the battering flotilla were soon moored, and
the fleet anchored in less than ten minutes. The first ship having cast
her anchors, that moment the garrison artillery began to throw its
burning missiles. A tremendous rejoinder from the enemy succeeded.
Upwards of 400 pieces of the heaviest artillery were disgorging their
dreadful contents at the same instant. Of these the garrison only
employed 96. For hours the balance of the contest was equal, the
battering ships seemed invulnerable; but, at length, the red-hot shot
gave evidence of their efficacy in the sheets of resistless flame that
burst in all directions from the flotilla. By the 14th the whole of the
floating batteries were burnt: their magazines blew up one after
another; and it was a miracle, that the loss of the enemy by drowning
did not exceed the numbers saved by the merciful efforts of the
garrison.
Notwithstanding this appalling reverse the enemy were still reluctant to
quit the contest. Many proofs they had had of the unconquerable spirit
of the besieged even whilst suffering from pinching privation, and
warring against such overwhelming odds; but they still clung to the hope
of compelling the surrender of their invincible adversaries, though
their repeated defeats should have taught them a far different lesson.
This obstinacy, of course, necessarily caused other and more effectual
preparations to be made in the fortress, to meet and withstand any
future attacks. Red-hot shot was considered to be the grand specific. To
supply it in sufficient quantities, the company of artificers erected
kilns in various parts of the garrison. Each kiln was capable of heating
100 shots in little more than an hour. By this means, as Drinkwater
writes, “the artificers were enabled to supply the artillery with a
constant succession for the ordnance.”
The struggle continued for some time much less terrific than has just
been stated. From 1,000 to 2,000 rounds, however, were poured into the
garrison in the twenty-four hours, and were followed up with more or
less briskness for a few months, according to the varying caprice of the
assailants. During this cannonade, the artificers under the engineers
were constantly engaged in the diversified works of the fortress, and
they began to rebuild the whole flank of the Orange Bastion on the
sea-line, 120 feet in length. All the available masons and miners of the
company were appointed to this important work, and were greatly
strengthened on the arrival of the 141 mechanics under Lord Hood. In the
face of the enemy’s artillery, the artificers continued fearlessly to
rear the flank, and at last completed it in about three months, to the
amazement and satisfaction of the Governor and the garrison. The
erection of such a work, in solid masonry, and under such circumstances,
is perhaps unprecedented in any siege, and is alike highly honourable to
the engineers and to the company.
Nor was the subterranean gallery under Farringdon’s Battery prosecuted
with less zeal under serjeant-major Ince. Five embrasures by this time
had been opened in the front of the Rock facing the neutral ground. The
miners exerted themselves with an energy that was conspicuous and
commendable. This singular work seemed to be the Governor’s hobby; he
expected much from it, and ordered a similar Battery for two guns to be
cut in the Rock, near Croutchet’s Battery, above the Prince of Hesse’s
Bastion. Its completion, however, was not effected until after the
siege.
To the schemes of the enemy there appeared to be no end; neither did
they lack hope nor want confidence. They had failed to obtain the
submission of the garrison by famine; equally so, by a protracted
bombardment; nor was their tremendous attack by a bomb-proof flotilla,
assisted by their formidable land batteries, attended with better
success. They now attempted a fourth stratagem, to mine a cave in the
Rock by which to blow up the north front, and thus make a breach for
their easy entrance into the fortress. Chimerical as the project might
appear, it was conducted with some spirit, and occasioned the garrison
much employment. Information of the infatuated design was, in the first
instance, given by a deserter from the enemy, which, however, was
cautiously received; and as it was impracticable to perceive the miners
at work, doubts still existed whether the enemy had actually embarked in
the scheme. These doubts were at length removed by sergeant Thomas
Jackson,[31] of the artificer company, by whose enterprising efforts the
movements of the enemy were rendered indisputable. It was his duty to
reconnoitre[32] the north front, in addition to other services for which
he was held responsible. Anxious to ascertain the cause of so much
mysterious activity at the Devil’s Tower, he descended the steep and
rugged rock by means of ropes and ladders. The attempt was as bold as it
was hazardous. Stopped by an opening very near to the base of the cliff
he explored the entrance, and hearing the hum of voices and the busy
strokes of hammers and picks he was well assured of the purpose for
which the excavation was intended. Climbing the steep again, he reported
what he had discovered. A stricter watch was therefore kept upon the
Tower to prevent communication between it and the Rock. Hand-grenades
and weighty fragments of stone were frequently hurled over the precipice
to terrify the workmen below, and choke up the entrance to the gallery;
and though these means did not make the intrepid miners relinquish their
project, they yet greatly interrupted its progress. The notion of the
engineer who proposed the mine must have been the result of desperation,
for what must have been its nature to crumble in its explosion a huge
mass of compact rock, nearly 1,400 feet of perpendicular height, into a
roadway, by which to enter the fortress as through a breach?
-----
Footnote 31:
Joined the company August, 1776, from the 56th Foot, in which he had
served eleven years. Discharged about 1789.
Footnote 32:
Reconnoitering appears to have been a duty that devolved upon
sergeants of the company. On the 25th December, 1782, two soldiers
attempted to desert from Mount Misery; one “got down, though the rope
broke, which accident was the cause of the other being retaken. A few
days after a sergeant of the artificers was ordered to reconnoitre the
place where this deserter descended, and he got down far enough to
discover the unfortunate man dashed to pieces at the foot of the
precipice,”—‘Drinkwater.’ Murray’s edit., 1846, p. 100.
-----
Since the flotilla had been burnt and the fleet had disappeared, it was
evident that the enemy now depended for a triumph on their gun-boats and
land-batteries, and also the mine at the Devil’s Tower. For a time they
warmly plied the fortress with shot and shell, to which the garrison
responded with considerable animation. Intervals followed, induced by
indecision or caprice, in which the firing from the enemy was very
desultory and inefficacious; but that from the garrison was always well
sustained. The soldiers of the Rock seemed to rise in spirit and
activity as the enemy declined in these qualities. With the latter, the
barometer of their hopes fell with their energies. Still they
fruitlessly laboured on, the mine under the Rock being the principal
object of their attention, until relieved from the disgrace of another
defeat, by the arrival of news from home of the signing of preliminaries
for a general peace. The intelligence was communicated to the garrison
on the 2nd February, 1783, and on the 5th, the last shot in the conflict
was fired from the fortress. Thus terminated a siege, extending over a
period of nearly four years, which, when all the circumstances connected
with it are taken into account, can scarcely find its parallel in the
chronicles of ancient or modern warfare.
During the whole of this memorable defence, the company of artificers
proved themselves to be good and brave soldiers; and no less conspicuous
for their skill, usefulness, and zeal on the works. With their conduct
and exertions in the performance of their various professional duties,
their officers were always well pleased; and, not unfrequently, the
Governor, and General Boyd, in witnessing their services, encouraged and
flattered them with expressions of their admiration. In later days, when
the expediency of raising a _corps_ of military artificers was discussed
in the House of Commons, Captain Luttrell stated, “that during the
siege, the corps at Gibraltar had been found of infinite service.”[33]
-----
Footnote 33:
‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ 58, part 2, 1788.
-----
The following is a detail of the casualties that occurred in the company
at this siege:—
Officers. Sergeants. Rank and File. Total.