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LIST OF MAPS
Here: Location of Gibraltar within western Europe and north Africa
Here: Main place-names within the British Isles
Here: Southern England and the English Channel
Here: Andalusia, Gibraltar and the Strait of Gibraltar (from Cape Trafalgar to Gibraltar)
Here: Main locations within the Bay of Gibraltar
Here: Main locations within Gibraltar and the isthmus
Here: Main locations within Gibraltar town (in ruins), the northern part of the Rock, the Spanish Lines and the advance works across the isthmus by September 1782. Willis’s comprised several batteries, including Princess Amelia’s, Princess Anne’s and Princess Caroline’s
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BLACK-AND-WHITE PLATES
Here: The capsizing of the Royal George at Spithead on 29 August 1782 (J. Sleight 1844 A Narrative of the Loss of the Royal George (Portsea))
Here: Typical Mediterranean vessels – a tartan, settee and xebec (after Spilsbury 1908)
Here: The Pastora floating battery (‘junk ship’); Spanish gunboats and a mortar boat; Royal Navy prames and a gunboat; a Moorish galley; and a smaller floating battery (two views) (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: George Augustus Eliott, Governor of Gibraltar, from a painting by G.F. Koehler of the Royal Artillery (Authors’ collection)
Here: Captain John Drinkwater, depicted with writing materials and plans and holding his published book on the siege (J. Drinkwater 1905 A History of the Siege of Gibraltar 1779–1783 (London))
Here: Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney (G.B. Mundy 1830 The Life and Correspondence of the Late Admiral Lord Rodney vol. 2 (London))
Here: Admiral Lord Richard Howe (J. Allen 1852 Battles of the British Navy vol.
1 (London))
Here: Port Mahon and Fort St Philip, Minorca (after Carnet de la Sabretache (1907))
Here: Comte de Crillon (Carnet de la Sabretache (1907))
Here: The British surrendering to the combined French and Spanish forces at Fort St Philip, Minorca (Illustrated History of England vol. 5 (c. 1860))
Here: The quadrangular naval hospital, surrounded by a wall, with Parson’s Lodge battery behind (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: Koehler’s depressing gun carriage (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: Gun carriage elevated at 45 degrees, developed by Lieutenant-Colonel Williams of the Royal Artillery (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: Tunnel cut through rock between the King’s and Queen’s Lines (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: An encampment of huts, probably part of Hardy’s Town, looking across the Straits to Africa (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: A house below the Moorish Castle, before and after the initial Spanish bombardment in April 1781 (Spilsbury 1908)
Here: Eliott (on horseback) on the defences, pointing to Captain Curtis stood in a gunboat (bottom left) rescuing survivors from the floating batteries. On Eliott’s right is Lieutenant-Governor Boyd, with Major-General La Motte between them. On Eliott’s left is William Green, then Lieutenant-Colonel Dachenhausen and Colonel William Picton. Captain John Drinkwater is shown top right, and in front of him is the engineer Charles Holloway. At the bottom right is Captain Colin Lindsay of the 73rd Highlanders. From a painting by J.S. Copley (Authors’ collection)
Here: Cross-section through a floating battery (after Carnet de la Sabretache (1907))
Here: Captain Roger Curtis and his gunboat crew rescuing French and Spaniards from the floating batteries in the early hours of 14 September 1782 (G.F. Raymond 1790 New, Universal, and Impartial History of England (London))
Here: Massive explosion of a floating battery (Spilsbury 1908)
COLOUR PLATES
Here: A 1738 map of Gibraltar showing the isthmus fortifications from the 1727 siege, the inundation, the Old Mole, Gibraltar town and a schematic, but effective, view of the Rock itself (Authors’ collection)
Here: The west side of Gibraltar viewed from the bay. The isthmus is beyond the picture (far left). Behind the red tanker is Camp Bay and the Windmill Hill plateau, and on the far right is the Europa plateau (Authors’ collection)
Here: Looking to Gibraltar from close to Fort St Philip, with the Old Mole projecting into the Bay of Gibraltar, the Barbary coast in the distance and Cabrita Point on the far right. On the isthmus is the old tower around which St Carlos battery was built. Illustration by Captain John Drinkwater (Authors’ collection)
Here: The Strait of Gibraltar viewed from the Line Wall. Much of the coastline is that of Barbary, and on the far right is Cabrita Point. Illustration by Captain John Drinkwater (Authors’ collection)
Here: Gibraltar viewed from across part of the isthmus, with the typical cloud caused by easterly winds, shrouding the site of the Rock Gun (Authors’ collection)
Here: The ruins of the Spanish Fort St Barbara, looking south towards the eastern and northern sides of Gibraltar (Authors’ collection)
Here: Looking from the hills above Algeciras to Gibraltar in a print of 1840. The town of Algeciras is just beyond the aqueduct and the Green Island lies to the right (Authors’ collection)
Here: San Roque viewed from the Governor’s Palace. In the distance, on the left, is Gibraltar and on the right is the Spanish coast with Cabrita Point and Algeciras. Ape’s Hill in Barbary rises above the layer of mist. The chimneys of an oil refinery (right) mark the site of the Carteia Roman ruins (Authors’ collection)
Here: The Governor’s Palace at San Roque, the headquarters of the Spanish military campaign during the siege (Authors’ collection)
Here: A view northwards to Spain from Signal Hill towards Middle Hill and the site of the Rock Gun. On the right is the sheer eastern side and the Mediterranean (Authors’ collection)
Here: Barbary macaques largely inhabited the inaccessible eastern side of Gibraltar during the siege (Authors’ collection)
Here: Looking from Willis’s battery (now with World War Two structures) towards the north front of the Rock. The protruding rock on the left is ‘the Notch’, towards which Ince was mining a tunnel in 1782 (Authors’ collection)
Here: The Landport gate and tunnel through which the soldiers passed during the sortie of November 1781. The stone bridge was demolished a few months later, and the sally port in the ditch (bottom left) was used instead (Authors’ collection)
Here: Looking through the original Southport Gate from the town (Authors’ collection)
Here: One of the larger floating batteries moving into position (Carnet de la Sabretache (1907))
Here: A brass cannon on a wooden gun carriage, made by Bowen in 1758, now in the Alameda Gardens, in front of the Wellington monument (Authors’ collection)
Here: A brass howitzer, made by the Verbruggens at Woolwich in 1778, looking at the muzzle down which gunpowder and ammunition were loaded. It now forms part of a large monument in the Alameda Gardens dedicated to Eliott (Authors’ collection)
Here: British officers, one with a telescope, watching the floating batteries burn. In the distance are white tents of the French and Spanish camp (Authors’ collection)
Here: Obverse of a halfpenny token showing the head of General Eliott (spelled Elliot here). The reverse has a fleur-de-lys with the words ‘Birmingham Halfpenny 1792’ (Authors’ collection)
Here: A Dutch medal commemorating the sinking of the Royal George, the loss of Admiral Kempenfelt and the floating batteries attacking Gibraltar (Authors’ collection)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During our research, we have been generously assisted by a range of libraries, archives and other institutions, and we are especially grateful for permission to use quotations from manuscripts. We would like to extend our appreciation to Danielle Sellers and her colleagues at the Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive; the British Library; the London Library; the National Archives at Kew; Devon Archives and Local Studies Service; the Archives and Local Studies at Manchester Central Library; Exeter University’s Library; Portsmouth History Centre and Records Office; Gibraltar’s Garrison Library, with thanks to Dr Jennifer Ballantine Perera and Chris Tavares; the Gibraltar National Archives, with thanks to Anthony Pitaluga; the King’s Chapel archives; the Gibraltar Tourist Board; the Gibraltar Museum; and Turismo San Roque.
We have benefited greatly from the professional expertise of Dr Jane Richards, who allowed us to bombard her with medical ailments. Peter N. Lockyer of Gosport generously rooted out information and documents in the Portsmouth area, all for the promise of a pint, while Simon Fowler was an invaluable asset at The National Archives. We would also like to thank Beth Torgerson, Patrick Ray and members of the Martineau Society for assistance, Dr Bonnie Huskins for sharing her research on the Royal Engineer William Booth, Scott McCracken for his expertise on military medals, Sam and Eleanor Simmons at Folklife Quarterly for constant support, Chris Mortimer of Blacksnow Web Design for his expertise in keeping us online, David Vassallo, Marguerite Galloway and many others on Gibraltar. In particular, we would like to mention the immense help given to us by Charlie Rosado, Pepe Rosado, Sam Benady and Richard Garcia. As ever, friends and family have been sorely neglected while writing this book, and we are grateful for their understanding.
We owe particular thanks to Richard Beswick at Little, Brown (UK) and to Rick Kot at Viking Penguin (US) for steering us towards this book. We are also indebted to all those at Little, Brown involved in the various publishing processes, including Zoë Gullen (for her brilliant work), John Gilkes (for his maps), Richard Collins (for the copyediting) and Steve Cox (for proofreading); while at Viking Penguin we are also indebted to Tricia Conley, Alyson D’Amato, Caitlin Noonan, Ryan Boyle, Jason Ramirez, Colin Webber, Diego Núñez and Tony Ford
e.
INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Ship names are in italics. Army units of soldiers and officers are given in brackets after their name, such as (58th) or (engineers). ‘Gibraltar’ is not specified for places and structures located on the Rock.
Abercromby, John (56th) 180
Aboab, Isaac 76
Abyla/Mons Abyla 4, 144
Adams, Abigail 295, 361
Adams, Cumberland 146
Adams, John 295, 361
advance works/siegeworks see isthmus
Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), Germany 380–2
Ajax 102
alcohol xxiii, 194–5, 196, 197–8, 199, 210, 220, 262, 335; beer 171, 175, 301, 371, 380; brandy 24, 107, 175, 312, 327; cider 2; rum xviii, xx, 166, 219, 297, 302; wine 2, 23, 24, 64, 79, 111, 116, 161, 175, 196, 327, 370, 380; see also drunkenness
Alexander 203
Algeciras, Spain 161, 272, 315; captured vessels taken to 25, 146, 157–9, 282; fireships from 136, 184; floating batteries 274–6, 282, 294–5, 307; gunboats from 142, 178, 187, 363; naval base 23, 24, 25, 80, 122, 141, 146, 278, 349; port 16, 25; reconnaissance from 142
Algeria 5, 24; Algiers 279, 282
Alvarez, Martin de Sotomayor 82–4, 130, 162, 237, 238, 267
America/American colonies 9, 13, 33, 158, 185, 198, 203, 228, 295, 361
American Club 319
American War of Independence 9–10, 33, 36, 96, 121, 149, 158, 160, 176, 185, 240–1, 356, 384–5, 387
Amherst, Lord 218
ammunition see grapeshot, red-hot shot, shells, shot
amputations 202, 233–4, 235, 236, 256, 359
amusements 2; see also books, dancing, dinners, fireworks, hunting, music, prostitutes, theatre