An Account of the expedition to Carthagena, with explanatory notes and observations

See the Plan of the City and Harbour of Carthagena , published in the LONDON MAGAZINE for April 1740; which will serve to give the Readers of this Pamphlet a clearer Idea of its Contents.
Ubi per socordiam vires, tempus, ingenium defluxere, naturæ infirmitas accusatur: suam quique culpam actores ad negotia transferunt.
Sallust.
Transcriber's Note : Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Dialect spellings, contractions and discrepancies have been retained. The footnotes are lettered from A to I, K to T and V to Z. Subsequent footnotes repeat the lettering sequence, beginning with an A.
Nothing remained now but to get the Fleet and Transports ready for Sea, and to demolish the Castles and Fortifications already taken, which last was effectually done by blowing them up, and by the 12th of May the whole Fleet and Forces had taken leave of Carthagena .
In order more fully and clearly to form a Judgment of the foregoing Expedition, it may not be improper to subjoin this Narrative of the Enemy's Situation, Strength, and Disposition at Carthagena , as the Fleet and Forces found them on their Arrival there: And in order to carry it on agreeable to the Advances that were made, begin with a Disposition of Punta Canoa Bay, where the Fleet first anchored. This Bay is about five Miles to the North West of the City of Carthagena , but not an extraordinary good anchoring Place, as the Water is shoal a great Way off the Shore, and the Coast pretty strait, that Ships are not much sheltered with the Point of Land, from the Violence of the Breezes that generally blow. In the Bottom of this Bay is an Entrance into the great Lake of Jesea , (called the Boquilla ) where the Enemy had a small Fascine Battery of four Pieces of Cannon, and kept a Guard; but upon the Fleet's Arrival, (and during the Time they continued to lie there) a considerable Number of the Enemy's Forces, both Horse and Foot, kept constantly there, expecting a Descent. The next Place of Note was the Cruizes , where the Enemy kept a Guard ordinarily of a hundred Men: This Place is about half Way from the Boquilla to the Town, and guards a narrow Creek or Pass from the Town to the Lake, called Passa de Juan D'Ingola , through which Supplies come in Canoes from the other Side of the Lake to the Town: As for the City itself, Nature has fortified that against any Attempt by Sea, the Water shoaling near a League off, and the Shore being plentifully bounded with Rocks; besides, the Sea is very seldom smooth, so that it is difficult at all Times landing. However, as the Enemy knew the Bravery of those they had to deal with, they began to wall this Side of the Town, and make a Ravelin in the Middle, there being already a strong Bastion at each End. Bocca Grande being the next Place the Enemy suspected an Attempt might be designed, had posted two of their Men of War, the Conquestodore of sixty six Guns, and the Dragon of sixty to guard it, and began two Fascine Batteries, one on each Point of the Entrance. This Passage, called Bocca Grande , was formerly the principal Entrance into the Harbour, but by Storms, and the Force of the Sea, a Bank was thrown up, which quite closed the Entrance, and then it was called Bocca Serrada ; but as strange Revolutions are frequent in these Countries, within these few Years this Passage has broke out again, and there is now nine or ten Foot Water in it. About three Miles below this, on the Island of Terra Bomba , was a small Fort of four Guns, called Battery de Chamba ; and half a Mile further, a Fascine Battery of twelve Guns, (both of these the Enemy had abandoned.) The next Places of Defence were the Forts of St. Philip and St. Jago , one of seven Guns, the other of fifteen, which served as Redoubts to the Castle of Boccachica . One of these Forts was built on the Rock Ponti landed on, and probably to prevent any one's landing there again, (especially so easily as he did.) The Castle of Boccachica was the Enemy's chief Dependance, as it guarded the Entrance into the Harbour. It is a regular Square, with four Bastions well built, and was capable of making a stout Defence if well garisoned, and would have been much stronger had the Glacis and Counterscarp been finished. There was mounted in it eighty two Guns, and three Mortars, and the Enemy had cleared three or four hundred Yards of the Woods round it, to prevent Approaches being made undiscovered, (as Ponti did in 1697.) On the other Side the Harbour's Mouth was a Fascine Battery of fifteen Guns, called the Barradera ; and in a small Bay a back of that, another Battery of four Guns; and facing the Entrance of the Harbour, on a small flat Island, stood St. Joseph 's Fort of twenty one Guns: From this Fort to Boccachica Castle a Boom and Cables were fixed across, fastened with three large Anchors at each End; and just within the Boom was moored in a Line four Men of War, the Galicia of sixty six Guns, (aboard which was the Admiral Don Blass D'Leso ,) the Africa and St. Carlos , each of sixty six Guns, and the St. Philip of seventy Guns, which spread the Width of the Harbour's Mouth, that there was not room for a Ship either to pass a head or a stern of them, so that it was impossible for shipping to force an Entrance into the Harbour; and had the Enemy here made a Defence equal to the admirable Disposition they had formed, it must have been a difficult Task for the Fleet to have got in, even after Boccachica Castle was taken. About four or five Miles from hence is a Creek, or Passage, that parts the Grand Baru from the Main called Passa Cavallos , through which there is Water enough for small Vessels: This Pass the Enemy had defended with two Fascine Batteries, one of eight Guns, the other of four, as well to protect their own Imbarkations that come this Way with Provisions from Tolu , and the River Sina , as to prevent any Attempts being made this Way. The next place of Defence was Castillo Grande , which is about eight Miles up the Harbour. This Castle is a regular Square with four Bastions, strong and well built, and defended to the Land by a wet Ditch and Glacis proper, and one Face towards the Sea has a Raveline, and a double Line of Guns. This Castle can mount sixty one Guns, though there was but fifty seven in it. Opposite to this was a Horse-shoe Battery of twelve Guns, called Mancinilla ; and in the Middle between these two Forts is a large Shoal with not above two or three Foot Water on it, which divides the Channel into two: In each of these Passages were Ships sunk across, to prevent, if possible, the Fleet's getting by; for that Part of the Harbour above these Castles is a perfect Bason, and seems rather like one Harbour within another, so that if some of the Ships could not have got past to have covered the Troops landing (where they did) they must have marched several Miles, and been greatly exposed; besides, it would have been excessively difficult transporting the Cannon, neither could the Bomb-Ketches have got near enough this Way to have diverted the Town; so that the Intent of this Disposition was exceeding good, had it been effectually executed, (but Fear made the Enemy work in too much Hurry.) Near three Miles further up the Harbour, on two flat sandy Islands, or Keys, stands the famous City of Carthagena , and Himani , called its Suburbs, which are both irregular Figures, but well fortified to the Land with strong Bastions at proper Distances, and Lakes and Morasses running round them; and the Water at the Head of the Harbour shoal so far off, that Ships cannot come near enough to do any material Execution with their Guns, which adds much to its Strength.