[[B]] This Success was obtained by the Loss only of six Men aboard the Norfolk and Russell, but the Shrewsbury's Cable being shot (before her other Anchor could be veered aground) she met with worse Luck: She drove so far as to open the whole Fire of the Castle of Boccachica, four of the Enemy's Ships of sixty and seventy Guns, that were moored athwart the Harbour's Mouth, the Battery of St. Joseph, and two Fascine Batteries, that were on the Barradera Side; all this Fire she lay singly exposed to till dark, when she took the Benefit of the Land-Wind, and ran off, being greatly shattered in her Hull, Masts, and Rigging, and a great many Men killed and wounded.
[[C]] It was a Body of eight hundred Grenadiers that first landed, who, during the Time that more Troops were sent for (which was upwards of two Hours before they came) were kept in the Boats, within twenty Yards of the Shore, and so closely crouded, scarce one Man could have used his Arms, that had they had any Enemy to have dealt with, but dastardly Spaniards, they must and would have been cut all to pieces.
[[D]] During the first three Days the Troops were ashore, they were employed in no one Thing, no not so much as to clear the Ground for their Encampment, but kept under Arms Night and Day (where, by the Heat of the Sun, on a white burning Sand, they were scorched to Death, and by the Inclemency of the Dews in the Night, they got Colds, so that many of them fell sick) whereas had they been instantly employed to have encamped and opened Ground in the Woods for that Purpose, they would have been shaded by the Trees, freed from the burning Heat of the Sand, and many of them preserved from the Enemy's Shot, that missed our Battery.
[[E]] In the first Place it must be observed, that there never was Application made what particular Ordnance, Stores, &c. to land, or any Scheme formed what Sort of Cannon might be necessary, or what Quantity of Stores wanting, but the whole was landed, and a considerable Part lost by being washed off the Beach by the Sea, and several Carriages broke to pieces by the Enemy's Shot, and the rest left in Heaps in the utmost Confusion; notwithstanding there were near five hundred Seamen appointed for this Purpose; but those Officers, whose Business it was to have formed an Artillery Park (though God knows they called this so) and disposed of the Stores in a regular Manner and Order, were——
[[F]] Such was the Knowledge of the Sub-Engineers, that not one of them knew where to chuse out a Spot of Ground for raising a Battery, neither had they prepared Fascines, Pickets, or any Materials, till their Principal arrived (and after he had pitched on a Place, he made a Demand of thirty thousand Fascines of twelve Foot long, twenty thousand of nine Foot long, and forty thousand Pickets, whereas one thousand five hundred Fascines built the Battery) who, Vauban like, would not begin to work, till all his Materials were on the Spot; and then, with five hundred Seamen, two or three hundred Blacks, and as many Soldiers as the General could spare for Pioneers, he was ten Days erecting a Battery; and when it was done, it was parallel to neither Face nor Curtain of the Fortification, and the Breach was made in the angular Point of the Bastion, neither was there any safe Communication with it, for no Trench was ever cut, or proposed, only a Path through the Woods, and that almost in a strait Line; so that every Shot enfiladed it, and killed twenty times the Number of Men going to and from the Battery, that were killed every where else during the Siege; nor would the Engineer be prevailed on (any more than the General) to cut off the Communication from the Town to Boccachica (by which they might have prevented the Enemy from receiving any Succours by Land, seen all their Motions in the Harbour, and hindered any Incursions from the Castle) notwithstanding the Admiral frequently solicited the General and wrote to him to have it done.