A HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR, 1779-1783. WITH A DESCRIPTION AND ACCOUNT OF THAT GARRISON, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS. BY JOHN DRINKWATERBethune Captain in the late Seventy-second Regiment, or Royal Manchester Volunteers, SIR, WHEN I solicited the honour of being permitted to place under Your Majesty's protection the following Work, I was not impressed with the idea, that the excellence of the composition, but that the importance of the subject, might in some degree entitle it to that distinction. The History of an Event which reflects so much lustre on Your Majesty's Arms, could not, I apprehended, however feeble the execution, so properly appear under any other auspices. That Your Majesty may never be less faithfully served, nor less successful against the enemies of Your Crown and People, is the sincere and fervent wish of YOUR MAJESTY'S 13th September, 1785. Much obliged and most devoted Subject and Servant, JOHN DRINKWATER. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE following History (as I have presumed to call it) is compiled from observations daily noted down upon the spot, for my own satisfaction and improvement, assisted by the information and remarks of several respectable characters, who also were eye-witnesses of the transactions therein recorded. Disappointed in my expectations of seeing this subject undertaken by an abler pen, nothing less than a conviction that an accurate detail of this extraordinary Siege might be useful, both in a military and historical view, could have induced me, at this late period, to publish. In the prosecution of this design, one principal difficulty has occurred. The work is addressed to two classes of Readers: those whose principal object in the perusal of it was entertainment, I apprehended, might find the relation too minute and circumstantial; and that, from the insertion of many particulars, which those of the Military Profession would greatly blame an author for presuming to curtail or omit. With the former, it is hoped that the necessary connection of some events (which at first may appear trivial) with the great business of the History, will be some apology; and I have endeavoured to diversify the narrative, by such Anecdotes and Observations as will occasionally relieve or awaken the attention. To the latter I shall not attempt any apology. The late Siege of Gibraltar afforded many instances of very singular exertions in the Art of Attack and Defence, the minutiae of which cannot be without their utility to those Officers who make a science of their profession; and they must be sensible, that without pointed exactness, this design could not have been accomplished. In short, it must be remembered, that the History of this Siege is not that of a Month, or of a Year, but that it embraces a period of near FOUR YEARS, exhibiting a series of operations perhaps unparalleled. To Major Vallotton, the Governor's first aide-de-camp, and Lieutenant Holloway, Aide-de-Camp to the Chief Engineer, I have particular pleasure in this opportunity of returning thanks for the favour of many kind communications; also to other Officers of Rank, whose names I have not their permission to insert. I must also acknowledge having derived considerable assistance, in the two introductory chapters, from the History of the Herculean Straits. Great additions have however been introduced; and I flatter myself upon the whole, that those Chapters will not prove an unacceptable part of the Work, since they will render it as complete a GENERAL HISTORY OF GIBRALTAR as most readers will require. A HISTORY OF THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR. CHAPTER I. General History of Gibraltar, since it was first noticed-Fortified under the Saracen EmpireReduction of the Fortress by Ferdinand of Castile-Retaken by the Moors-Final.y recovered by the Christians-Taken by the English-Besieged by the Spaniards in 1705; afterwards in 1727-Succession of Governors to the present time. GIBRALTAR is situated in Andalusia, the most southern province of Spain. The Rock is seven miles in circumference, forming a promontory three miles long; and is joined to the continent by an isthmus of low sand: the southern extremity lies in 36° 2' 30" N. lat., and in 5° 15′ W. long. from the meridian of London. Historians, from very early periods, have noticed Gibraltar, or Mons Calpe, by a well-known mythological fiction, denominating it, and Mons Abyla, on the opposite coast of Africa, the Pillars of Hercules. It does not, however, appear that the hill was ever inhabited by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, or Romans, who, in the first ages of navigation, visited the bay, and built cities in its neighbourhood; or that it ever engaged the attention of those intrepid and successful barbarians who so violently subverted the Roman empire, and established a new government in Spain. The period when it began to be remarked for the natural strength of its situation, seems well ascertained to be in the beginning of the eighth century, when the Saracens (then become a powerful nation in the east, and along the coast of Africa) invaded Spain, and soon after made themselves masters of the whole country. The Gothic kingdom, which had existed in Spain for 300 years, was, previous to the invasion of the Saracens, distracted with intestine divisions: the nation in general were become effeminate, totally neglecting the military discipline of their ancestors; and their monarch Roderic, a profligate prince, not a little accelerated their ruin by ravishing the daughter of Count Julian, a nobleman of great wealth and influence, and governor of Ceuta, in Africa. Count Julian, to avenge the dishonour done to his family, combined with other discontented chiefs, who had long complained, and were ripe for a revolt. The tyrant was, however, too powerful for whatever opposition they alone could raise; the count, therefore, secretly retired with his family into Africa, and acquainting Mousa (the Saracen governor of the western provinces) with the divided state of the empire, promised, if he would attempt to dethrone Roderic, to assist him with his own interest, and that of his friends. Mousa, cautious and prudent, communicated the project to his sovereign the Caliph Al Walid Ebn Abdalmalic, who agreed to try the practicability of it; and, to inspect more accurately the state of affairs, sent over a small detachment. 100 horse, and 400 foot, were accordingly embarked in the year 711, under the command of Tarif Ebn Zarca, attended by Count Julian, B |