In the little cemetery of the Coldstream Guards, about two kilometres north of the town, can be seen the tombs of the officers and men who fell in resisting this sortie. It has been visited by the late Queen and King Edward VII.
Perhaps one of the greatest feats performed by the British army at this time was the building of a bridge of boats across the Adour below Bayonne, in order that the troops and artillery might cross the river and complete the investment of the town as rapidly as possible. Sir John Hope had managed to get a detachment of about 600 guards, under the command of Major-General Stopford, ferried across on pontoons before nightfall, and they successfully resisted an attack from the citadel of 1,300 French, who were terrified by the rockets, or Congreves,[E] which were used with startling success. The English army on the south bank of the river could only assist their comrades with artillery fire.
On the next day, February 24, the flotilla of small vessels bringing material for a bridge arrived off the river-mouth, but, owing to the force of the wind, they were only able to cross the bar with the most heroic efforts. The description given by Colonel W. Hill James gives a vivid idea of the dangers that the British sailors faced:
‘The bar at the mouth of the Adour was, and is to this day, one of the most dangerous and difficult in the world. This storm-lashed coast receives all the violence of the Bay of Biscay, and on the day in question, a gale having arisen, the white line of boiling surf, extending as far as the eye could reach, seethed and raged upon the bar with appalling fury. Captain O’Reilly, R.N., was the first to try the entrance, and, with a pilot, to see if he could discover the shifting passage.
‘The French had removed all distinguishing signs that marked the safe passage, but a new signal staff was improvised by using a pocket-handkerchief tied to a sergeant’s halbert, and then the vessels made gallant attempts to cross the bar.
‘Captain O’Reilly’s boat had been toppled over like a cork by a great breaker, and he himself, stunned and insensible, cast up on the beach, whilst several of the crew were drowned, and the remainder dragged out with difficulty, whereupon they relaunched their boat, which had followed them, and materially aided in ferrying the troops over the river.
‘Many boats were wrecked and their crews drowned, but eventually some succeeded in getting safely through.
‘Thus was achieved this perilous and glorious enterprise. In addition to the lost vessels, twelve chasse-marées [coasting luggers], not caring to face the bar, had returned to St. Jean-de-Luz. Thirty-four which had entered the river still remained; these were more than sufficient to form the bridge. Headed by the gunboats, which placed themselves in advance of where the boom was to be fixed, above the bridge, as a guard, the sappers and sailors at once began to work with a will that in an incredibly short time arranged these native boats and the boom in order across the Adour.’
A model of the bridge is to be seen in the United Service Institution in Whitehall.
The old portion of Bayonne has narrow streets and high buildings, and among them are the Château Vieux, a grim pile of the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, now used as barracks, and the very interesting cathedral. It was begun in 1213, the chief portions being completed while the town belonged to the English, and on the keystones of the vaulting one can see the arms of England. The west end is the latest part of the building, the graceful crocketed spires of the two towers having only been finished in 1884. The restored cloister, dating from 1240, is of particular interest, and should not be forgotten.