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]]
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]]
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]]
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]]
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.
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]]
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]]
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.
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.