On the 15th, wistful eyes looking out to seaward were rejoiced by the appearance of a brig carrying the British flag, which, regardless of the enemy’s batteries, stood right into the Bay, and brought the glad intelligence that she was the forerunner of a large convoy which had sailed from England in December with ample supplies for the blockaded garrison. After the first emotions of surprise and pleasure had subsided, fresh apprehensions seized the wavering minds of the besieged. They concluded that the enemy could not fail to have obtained information of the approaching relief, and that they would be prepared to intercept it. The event proved, however, that the Spaniards had received no certain intelligence, and, concluding that the convoy would be escorted only by a small squadron, had despatched eleven men-of-war to make short work of it. But these were attacked by Admiral Sir George Rodney with a powerful fleet of twenty-one sail of the line, and driven into headlong flight. The British admiral also fell in with fifteen Spanish merchantmen, escorted by six ships of war, all of which he captured; and before the end of the month, with his prizes and transports, he dropped anchor in the Bay.
On board Sir George Rodney’s fleet was a royal midshipman, the young Duke of Clarence, afterwards William IV. He was entrusted to the charge of Admiral Digby; and when, one morning, Don Juan Langara, the Spanish admiral, visited the British commander, he was introduced to the youthful prince. During the conference between the two admirals, Prince William Henry withdrew; and when it was announced that Don Juan wished to return to his own ship, the royal midshipman appeared, touched his hat, and intimated that the admiral’s boat was ready. Whereupon, it is said, Don Juan exclaimed,—“Well does Great Britain merit the empire of the sea, when the humblest stations in her navy are supported by princes of the blood!”
For a time the garrison and inhabitants of Gibraltar enjoyed both peace and plenty. The Spanish forces seemed to have abandoned their task; and a constant interchange of courtesies was maintained between their leaders and the British officers. On the 13th of February Sir George Rodney’s fleet got under weigh, leaving behind two men-of-war and a couple of frigates, and sailed for England; and immediately afterwards the Spaniards renewed the blockade. About the middle of March, General Elliot found it necessary once more to regulate the issue of provisions, and gave directions that the garrison should be victualled monthly (bread excepted) in the following proportion:—For a soldier, each first and third week, 1 lb. of pork, 2½ lbs. of salt cod (which, by the way, proved very injurious, and caused the appearance of that terrible disorder, scurvy), 2 pints of pease, 1 lb. of flour, ¼ lb. of raisins, 1 lb. of rice, 5 oz. of butter, 1½ pint of oatmeal. Second and fourth week, 1½ lb. of beef, 2 lbs. of fish, 2 pints of pease, 1 lb. of rice, 5 oz. of butter, 1½ lb. of wheat, and 1 lb. of raisins. This, it must be owned, was but meagre fare.
In the month of June the Spaniards showed signs of prosecuting the siege with greater vigour, and made a bold attempt to destroy the vessels in the Bay with fire-ships. But the alarm being given, the Panther, a 60-gun man-of-war, and the other armed vessels, immediately opened a brisk cannonade to check their progress; and springing into their boats, the officers and seamen, with characteristic vigour, grappled the blazing ships. The flames raged fiercely, but our sailors, nothing daunted, towed them under the British guns, where they were soon destroyed.
The blockade increasing in severity, both the garrison and inhabitants felt the pressure of want, and provisions were once more selling at almost fabulous prices. Such vessels as escaped the enemy’s cruisers were chiefly loaded with “luxuries” rather than “substantials;” but a cargo of fruit which arrived in October proved of inestimable value in checking the ravages of scurvy, a disease that at one time threatened to prove much more destructive to the garrison than the enemy’s fire.
In March 1781 the want of bread was severely experienced, many families having received none for several days, and biscuit-crumbs selling for tenpence and one shilling per pound. Fresh meat and fish were equally scarce and equally dear. The dietary of the garrison was reduced to the barest necessaries; and the distress which the women and children must have undergone may be inferred from the nature of the weekly allowance to each soldier, which was—5¼ lbs. of bread, 13 oz. of salt beef and 18 oz. of pork (both almost putrid), 2½ oz. of rancid butter, 12 oz. of raisins, half a pint of pease, a pint of Spanish beans, a pint of wheat (which was ground into flour for puddings), 4 oz. of rice, and quarter of a pint of oil.
Great, therefore, was the joy of the besieged when, on the 12th of April, a convoy of nearly one hundred vessels arrived from England, escorted by a strong fleet under Admiral Darby. The historian of the siege, in describing this event, soars almost into the region of poetry. “At daybreak,” he says, “the much-expected fleet, under the command of Admiral Darby, 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, however, became more powerful, this fog gradually rose, 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 convoy, consisting of near a hundred vessels, was in a compact body, led by several men-of-war, their sails just enough filled for steerage; whilst the majority of the line-of-battle ships lay-to under the Barbary shore, having orders not to enter the Bay, lest the enemy should molest them with their fire-ships. The ecstasies of the inhabitants at this grand and exhilarating sight are not to be described. Their expressions of joy far exceeded their former exultations. 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.”
As the convoy drew near, a squadron of fifteen gun-boats advanced from Algesiras, and, assembling in regular array under the batteries at Cabrita Point, opened a smart fire on the nearest ships, supported by the gun and mortar batteries on the land; but they were soon compelled, by an English line-of-battle ship and a couple of frigates, to effect a precipitate retreat.
This second relief of the garrison stung the Spaniards into the adoption of a measure which had little value in a military sense, but inflicted a large amount of suffering on the inhabitants of the town of Gibraltar. The convoy had scarcely anchored, when they bombarded the town and fortifications with sixty-four heavy guns and fifty mortars. The unfortunate inhabitants, who were busily congratulating each other on the arrival of the fleet, exchanged their exultation for sorrow, and fled in the greatest confusion—old and young, men, women, and children—to the southward, abandoning their property to the mercy of the soldiers. Soon after noon the firing ceased, and the inhabitants hastened to secure such valuables as could be easily removed; but those bulkier articles which “the avaricious and hard-hearted hucksters” had concealed in their stores, to retail in small quantities at exorbitant prices, were all destroyed.
About five o’clock the hostile batteries reopened, and their storm of shot and shell was continued uninterruptedly; without interfering, however, with the disembarkation of the supplies. Several soldiers were killed and wounded in their quarters on the 13th. The Spaniards being accustomed to indulge themselves with a siesta in the middle of the day, the garrison and inhabitants enjoyed an interval of peace every noon; otherwise, the roar of the guns and the hiss of the rapid missiles made day and night equally hideous.