In February, fresh activity was manifested among the besiegers. Vast numbers of mules were seen, bringing fascines to their works. At the end of March the Vernon store ship arrived and, a few hours later, four transports with the 97th Regiment, under the convoy of two frigates, came in.
A singular series of casualties was caused by a single shot, which entered an embrasure in Willis's Battery, took both legs off two men, one leg off another, and wounded another man in both legs; thus four men had seven legs taken off, or wounded, by one shot. These casualties were caused by the inattention of the men to the warning of a boy who was looking out for shot. There were two boys in the garrison whose eyesight was so keen that they could see the enemy's shot coming, and both were employed in the batteries especially exposed to the enemy's fire, to warn the men to withdraw themselves into shelter, when shot were coming.
This quickness of eyesight was altogether exceptional. Standing behind a gun--and knowing, therefore, the exact course the shot will take--it is comparatively easy for a quick-sighted man to follow it; but there are few, indeed, who can see a shot coming towards them. In this respect, the ear is a far better index than the eye. A person possessed of a fair amount of nerve can judge, to within a few yards, the line that a shot coming towards him will take. When first heard, the sound is as a faint murmur; increasing, as it approaches, to a sound resembling the blowing off of steam by an express engine, as it rushes through a station. At first, the keenest ear could not tell the direction in which the shot is travelling but, as it approaches, the difference in the angle becomes perceptible to the ear, and a calm listener will distinguish whether it will pass within twenty or thirty yards, to the right or left. It would require an extraordinary acute ear to determine more closely than this, the angle of flight being so very small, until the shot approaches almost within striking distance.
The garrison had been trying experiments with carcasses and red-hot shot. A carcass is a hollow shot, or shell, pierced with holes; but instead of being charged with powder, to explode it either by means of a fuse or by percussion, it is filled with a fierce-burning composition so that, upon falling, it will set on fire anything inflammable near it. Red-hot shot are fired by putting a wet wad in over the dry wad, next to the powder. The red-hot shot is then run into the gun, and rammed against the wet wad; and the gun fired in the usual way. The carcasses several times set fire to the enemy's works, but the use of the red-hot shot was reserved for a pressing emergency. A number of furnaces were constructed, in the various batteries, for heating the shot; which necessarily required a considerable amount of time, to bring them to a white heat.
News came, in April, that great preparations were making, at Cadiz and other Mediterranean ports, for a fresh and vigorous attack on Gibraltar; and that the Duc de Crillon--who had lately captured Minorca--would bring twenty thousand French and Spanish troops, in addition to those at present engaged in the siege; that a large fleet would also be present, and that the principal attack would be made by means of ships turned into floating batteries, and protected by an immense thickness of cork, or other wood.
On the 9th of May, the ships began to arrive. Among them were seven large vessels, which appeared to be old men-of-war. A large number of workmen immediately went on board them, and began to lower the topmasts. This confirmed the news in respect to the floating batteries.
About this time, three store ships fortunately arrived from England, with powder, shell, and other stores. As there could be no longer any doubt that the attack was, this time, to be delivered on the sea face; strong working parties were employed in strengthening the water batteries, in erecting lines of palisades, to prevent a landing from boats, and in building furnaces for the heating of shot in these batteries, also. At this time the Engineers began to drive a gallery through the Rock, facing the neutral ground, in order to place guns there. This work was carried on to the end of the siege, and the batteries thus erected are now among the strongest of the defences of Gibraltar.
At the end of the month a great fleet, consisting of upwards of a hundred sail, entered the bay and anchored off Algeciras. Some nine or ten thousand troops were landed and, from that time, scarce a day passed without fresh vessels, laden with stores and materials for the siege, arriving in the bay.
Early in May twelve gunboats, that had been sent out in pieces from England, were completed and launched. Each carried one gun, and was manned by twenty-one men. Six of these drew their crews from the Brilliant, five from the Porcupine, and one from the Speedwell, cutter. These craft had been specially designed for the purpose of engaging the enemy's gunboats, and for convoying ships into the port.
On the 11th of June a shell from the enemy burst, just at the door of one of the magazines of Willis's Battery. This instantly blew up, and the explosion was so violent that it seemed to shake the whole Rock. Fourteen men were killed, and fifteen wounded, and a great deal of injury done to the battery; but strong parties at once set to work to repair it. A few days later a French convoy of sixty sail and three frigates anchored in the bay and, from these, another five thousand French troops landed.