approach near enough to produce much effect. As if it had been hoped at once to confound and overwhelm the garrifon, by the multitudinous forms and variety of attack, and the enormous quantity of fire poured upon them, the gun and mortar boats were now added to all the other inftruments of vengeance, and renewed with great fierceness their affaults both by day and by night upon the works. Indeed the numerous volunteers and fpectators had now an unufual opportunity of grati. fying their curiofity, in beholding the operations of war diverfified nearly into all the forms which it is capable of exhibiting, whether by land or by fea, in the attack or defence of a fortrefs. It feems fcarcely less than aftonifhing, that thefe numerous attacks, accompanied by fo prodigious a weight of fire, in all its moft deftructive modes of action, fhould have produced very little effect, either with refpect to the lofs of men in the garrifon, or to the damage done to the works. But the arduous day was now 'faft approaching, when courage, fkill, and ingenuity, were to undergo their fevereft trial; and when all the united powers of gun-powder and artillery, in their highest state of discovery and improvement, were to be called into action. heavy brafs cannon; and they carried fomething lefs than half that number to be used as exchanges. The Paftora, the admiral's flip,had twenty-four guns mounted, and ten in referve; the Prince of Naffau's fhip, the Paula, was about the fame force, and held a fimilar proportion. Thirty-fix artillery men, and volunteers from the two armies, were allotted to the service of each gun; and thefe being exclufive of the officers, and of the feamen who navigated the veffels, the whole number on board was eftimated at between fix and feven thoufand men. The gun and mor tar boats, with the floating battery and the bomb-ketches, were to carry on their attacks in every poffible direction, while the fire of the battering fhips was directed a gainft their deftined objects. By this means, and by the fire of near 300 cannon, mortars, and howitzers from the ifthmus, it was intended, that, every part of the works being attacked at the fame inftant, and every quarter prefenting a fimilar face of danger, the garrifon fhould be thrown into irretrievable confternation and difmay, or at least, that their attention being called away to fo many fervices, the refiftance must become generally ineffective, and totally unequal to the accumulated weight and force of the grand attack. The combined fleets, of twentyfeven Spanish and twelve French fhips of the line, were now arrived at Algeziras from Cadiz, and with thofe already on the fpot,amounted either to forty-eight or forty-nine fail of the line, befides two or three fifties. The battering fhips were likewife in readinefs. Their battefies were coveredwith 154 picces of About feven o'clock, on the morning of the 13th of September, 1782, the ten battering fhips of the enemy, lying at the Puenta Maillova, near the head of the bay of Gibraltar, and under the conduct of Admiral Don B. Moreno, were observed to be in motion; and foon after getting un der der fail, to proceed to their fta- the day, was estimated in their own accounts at not lefs than four thousand. Nor were the mortarbatteries in the fortrefs worse fupported; and while the battering hips appeared to be the principal objects of vengeance, as they were of apprehenfion to the garrifon, the whole extent of the peninfula feemed at the fame time to be overwhelmed in the torrents of fire which were inceffantly poured upon it. tions for the attack of that fortrefs. Between nine and ten o'clock they came to an anchor, being moored in a line, at moderate distances, from the Old to the New Mole, lying parallel to the rock, and at about 900 yards diftance. The greateft fpirit was difplayed through the whole of this evolution; and it is acknowleged on our fide, that nothing could be more masterly than the performance. The admiral's fhip was ftationed oppofite the King's baftion; and the others took their appointed places, fucceflively and with great regularity, to the right and left of the admiral. The furrounding hills were by this time covered with people; and it feemed as if all Spain had affembled to behold the fpectacle. The cannonade and bombardment, on all fides and in all directions, from the ifthmus, the fea, and the various works of the fortrefs, was not only tremendous, but beyond example. The prodigious flowers of red-hot balls, of bombs, and of carcaffes, which filled the air, and were without intermiffion thrown to every point of the various attacks, both by fea and land from the garrifon,aftonished the commanders of the allied forces, who could not conceive the poffibility that General Elliot, ftraitened as he was within the narrow limits of a garrifon, fhould have been by any means able to conftruct or to manage fuch a multitude of furnaces as they deemed neceffary to the heating of the infinite quantity of hot then thrown. The number of red-hot talls which the battering fhips only received in the courfe of As the violence of the attacks correfponded with the fury of the defence, and that the means and powers of annoyance and deftruction were prodigious on both fides, no imagination could conceive a fcene more terrible than this day and the fucceeding night exhibited. All defcription would fail, in attempting to convey adequate ideas of fuch a fcene; and the very actors in it could not be perfectly clear and diftinct in their conceptions of what was paffing, amidst the furrounding tumult and uproar. The battering fhips were found upon trial to be an enemy fcarcely lefs formidable than had been reprefented. Befides maintaining a cannonade fo prodigious through the greater part of the day, as fcarcely admitted any appearance of fuperiority on the fide of the fortrefs, their conftruction was fo admirably calculated for the purpofe of withstanding the combined powers of fire and artillery, that for feveral hours the inceffant fhowers of fhells, and the hot fhot with which they were affailed, were not capable of making any visible impreffion upon them. About two o'clock, however, fome fmoke was feen to iffue from the the upper part of the admiral's fhip; and foon after, men were obferved using fire-engines, and pouring water into the hot-holes. This fire, though kept under during the continuance of daylight, could never be thoroughly fubdued; and in fome time, the fhip commanded by the Prince of Naffau, which was next in fize and force to the admiral's, was perceived to be in the fame condition. The diforder in these two commanding fhips in the centre, affected the whole line of attack; and by the evening, the fire from the fortrefs had gained a decided fuperiority. The fire was continued from the batteries in the fortrefs with equal vigour through the night; and by one o'clock in the morning, the two firft fhips were in flames, and several more vifibly on flames, afforded the utmost precifion in its direction. This ftate of things prefented an opportunity for the exercise of the daring genius of Captain Curtis, in ufing the exertions of his gun-boats to complete the gene-ral confufion and deftruction. Thefe were twelve in number, and each carrying an eighteen or a twenty-four pounder,their low fire and fixed aim was not a little formidable. They were fpeedily manned by the marine brigade, who were equally eager to fecond the defigns of their adventrous commander, whether by land or by fea. He drew thefe up in fuch a manner as to flank the line of battering fhips, which were now equally overwhelmed, by the inceffant direct fire from the garrison, and by that juft at hand, raking the whole extent of their line, from fire. The confufion was now the gun-boats. The fcene was great and apparent; and the num- wrought up by this fierce and unber of rockets continually thrown expected attack to the highest up from each of the fhips, as fig- point of calamity. The Spanish nals to the fleet, were fufficiently boats dared no longer to approach, expreffive of their extreme dif- and were compelled to the hard trefs and danger. Thefe fignals neceflity of abandoning their fhips were immediately anfwered, and and friends to the flames, or to all means ufed by the feet to af- the mercy and humanity of a ford the ainftance which they re- heated and irritated enemy. Sequired; but it was deemed im- veral of their boats and launches poffible to remove the battering had been funk before they fubmithips; their endeavours were only ted to this neceffity; and one in directed to bringing off the men. particular with fourscore men on A great number of boats were ac- board, who were all drowned, excordingly employed, and great in- cepting an officer and twelve men, trepidity difplayed in the attempts who having the fortune to float for this purpofe; the danger from on the wreck under the walls, the burning veffels, filled as they were taken up by the garrifon. were with inftruments of deftruc- The day-light now appearing, two tion, appeared no lefs dreadfu! Spanish feluccas, which had not than the fire from the garrifon, ter- efcaped with the others, attemptrible as that was; and that the lighted to get out of the danger; but thrown out on all fides by the a thot from a gun-boat having killed killed feveral men on board one of them, they were both glad to furrender. It feemed that nothing could have exceeded the horrors of the night; but the opening of daylight difclofed a fpectacle ftill more dreadful. Numbers of men were feen in the midft of the flames, crying out for pity and help; others floating upon pieces of timber, expofed to an equal, though lefs dreadful danger, from the oppofite element. Even thofe in the thips where the fire had yet made a lefs progrefs, exprefled in their looks, geftures, and words, the deepest diftrefs and defpair; and were no lefs urgent in im ploring affiftance. The generous humanity of the victors now at leaft equalled their extraordinary preceding exertions of valour; and was to them far more glorious. Nor were the exertions of humanity by any means attended with lefs danger, nor with circumftances lefs terrible in the appearance, than thofe of active hoftility. The honour and danger, however, in this inftance, lay entirely with the marine brigade, and with their intrepid commander. The firing, both from the garrifon and gun-boats, inftantly ceased, upon the first appearance of the difmal fpectacle prefented by the morning light; and every danger was encountered in the endeavours to refcue the diftreffed enemy from furrounding destruction. In these efforts, the boats were equally expofed to the peril arifing from the blowing up of the fhips as the fire reached their magazines, and to the continual difcharge, on all fides, of the artillery, as the guns became to a certain degree heated. It was inte deed a noble exertion! and a more ftriking inftance of the ardour and boldnefs with which it was fup ported, needs not to be given, than that of an officer and twentynine private men, all feverely, and fome moft dreadfully wounded, who were dragged out from among the flain in the holds of the burning fhips, and moft of whom recovered in the hofpital at Gibraltar. In thefe extraordinary efforts to fave an enemy from perishing, though the most aftonishing intrepidity was fhown by all the offcers and men, yet their gallant commander was peculiarly diftinguifhed; and his life was repeatedly in the most imminent danger. Befides his being the firft to rufit on board the burning veffels, and to set the example of dragging with his own hands the terrified victims from the midft of the flames, his pinnace being clofe to one of the largest fhips when fhe blew up, the wreck was fpread all round to a vast extent, and every object being for a confiderable time buried in a thick cloud of smoke, General Elliot and the garriton fuffered the most poignant anguifh and diftrefs, confidering the fate of their brave and generous friends, and of his bold companions, as inevitable. Indeed, their efcape was little lefs than miraculous, though not quite complete; for the cockfwain and fome of the crew were killed, others wounded; and a large hole ftruck, by the falling timber, through the bottom of the pin. nace; which was only faved for the inftant from going to the bottom, by the feamen ftuffing the hole with their jackets, and by that that means keeping her above water until other boats arrived to her affiftance. Another gun-boat was funk at the fame inftant, and a third fo much damaged as to be with difficulty faved. Something near or about 400 men were faved by these exertions, from inevitable deftruction; and it may be truly faid (and highly to the honour of our national character) that the exercife of humanity to an enemy, under fuch circumftances of immediate action and impending peril, was never yet difplayed with greater luftre than upon this occafion. It was highly fortunate that much the greater part of the troops and feamen on board the fhips had been removed, before the effective and admirably directed at tack made by Capt. Curtis with the gun-boats, could have been attempted. Numbers, however, perished; and it is fuppofed, at a very moderate eftimate, that the enemy could not have loft lefs than 1500 men, including the prifoners and wounded, in the attack by fea. Admiral Don Moreno left his flag flying when he abandoned his fhip; in which ftate it continued, until it was confumed or blown up with the veffel. Eight more of the fhips blew up fucceffively, with dreadful explofions, in the course of the day. The tenth was burnt by the English, when they found fhe could not be brought off. It does not appear that the Spanifh gun and mortar-boats took any great fhare in this attack, They were intended to flank the English batteries, while they were attacked directly in front by the fhips, and to throw their fire in fuch directions, as it was thought, befides increafing the general confufion and diforder, would render it impoffible for the men to stand to their guns. It feems probable that their fpirit of adventure funk, under the dreadful fire from the garrifon. The Spanish accounts only mention, that the rifing of the wind, and a fwell of the fea, prevented their producing the expected effect. Only two of the bomb-ketches came forward; but thefe continued to throw fhells without intermiffion into the fortrefs, during the whole day and night of the attack. Nor did the fleet perform the fervices which were expected or threatened, by making attacks on all practicable parts of the fortrefs, and thereby chufing, at leaft, a diverfion in favour of the battering fhips. This failure has been attributed to an unfavourable wind. The lofs fuftained by the enemy, under the aftonishing fire which the garrifon continued to throw upon the isthmus during the whole time of attack, cannot be afcertained; their own various and contradictory accounts being fo evidently calculated to depreciate their lofs both by fea and land, that the lifts of killed and wounded officers, and of prisoners, which could not be concealed, feemed almoft neceffary to their acknowledging that any was fuftained. A letter from a French officer, dated on the evening of the 8th, giving an account of the attack upon the works on that day by the garrifon, which was published in the foreign gazettes, contains the following pathetic paffage, which may af ford |