the year 1704 was the year of blenheim, that wonderful victory of marlborough’s which dissipated lewis the fourteenth’s dreams of universal empire. as stars are extinguished in the light of dawn, so in the lustre of this great triumph england’s minor successes by sea and land were forgotten. and to this day, while most men remember when blenheim was won, few are mindful of the year in which gibraltar was taken. yet it may well be doubted whether the latter, though the less famous, was not, so far as british interests are concerned, the more important success. it is{10} difficult, perhaps, to determine any direct advantage which england gained by the battle of blenheim; but by the possession of gibraltar she secured the command of the mediterranean and of the highway to india.
gibraltar was captured in the same year in which the battle of blenheim was won.
while the duke of marlborough was leading his troops to the rhine, the archduke charles, who had assumed the title of king of spain, had landed at lisbon, with the view of taking the command of an army collected on the western frontier of the kingdom to which he laid claim. this army was composed of contingents furnished by england, the netherlands, and portugal; but it was prevented from making any progress by the military genius of the duke of berwick, natural son of james ii., who was at the head of the spanish forces. at the opposite extremity of the peninsula, an effort was made to provoke a rising of the catalans on behalf of king charles. for this purpose, a division of five or six thousand men was placed under the command of the prince of hesse-darmstadt, who embarked at lisbon in may, in an english fleet of which sir george rooke was the admiral.{11}
the expedition landed at barcelona, but found the people indisposed to welcome or support it. it was, therefore, re-embarked; and rooke, sailing down the mediterranean, passed through the strait, and effected a junction with the fleet under sir cloudesley shovel. the two admirals were unwilling that so powerful a force should return to england without accomplishing something; and a council of war was held on the 17th of july, at which several schemes were proposed and discussed—among others, an attack upon cadiz. this, however, was deemed imprudent with so small a body of troops; and at length it was decided to strike a swift and vigorous blow at gibraltar. the strength of the fortress was well known; but it was equally well known that the garrison was weak, and that the spaniards relied too confidently on the assistance supplied by nature.
on the 21st of july, the fleet crossed from tetuan, and anchored in gibraltar bay. the marines, english and dutch, numbering one thousand eight hundred, were then landed, under the orders of the prince of hesse-darmstadt, to the northward, on the isthmus, now called the neutral ground, which connects the rock with the mainland. by this movement, the garrison was prevented from obtain{12}ing provisions or reinforcements from the interior. a summons was sent to the governor to surrender the stronghold for the service of charles iii., king of spain; but the governor replied that he and his veterans were true and loyal subjects of their natural lord, philip v., and would sacrifice their lives in defence of the place. sir george rooke immediately gave directions for the attack to commence; and rear-admiral byng, with one 80-gun and fourteen 70-gun ships, together with rear-admiral vanderdussen, and six dutch men-of-war, and some vessels, under captain hicks, destined for the attack of the south mole, took up their positions before daylight on the 23rd.
a heavy cannonade was now hurled against the fortifications. in five or six hours no fewer than fifteen thousand shot were expended; and the enemy, though they showed the most admirable intrepidity, were driven from their guns. captain whitaker, with the armed boats, was then ordered to carry the mole head; a position from which the town would be at the mercy of the attacking force. the landing was effected with the utmost alacrity; but captain hicks and jumper, who lay next the mole, got ahead with their pinnaces, and dashed headlong
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rock of gibraltar from the neutral ground.
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against the works. the spaniards had prepared for the assault, and before abandoning their post sprung a mine, which blew up the fortifications, killed two lieutenants and forty men, and wounded sixty. the survivors, however, would not surrender the ground so hardly gained; and captain whitaker coming up, they warily pushed forward, and carried a small redoubt half-way between the mole and the town. a second summons being addressed to the governor, the marquis de salines, the garrison capitulated; and thus, on the 24th, this famous fortress fell into the hands of the assailants.
the attack was exceedingly brilliant, and the seamen fought with equal cheerfulness and resolution. it is a proof of the strength of the fortifications, which mounted one hundred guns, that though the garrison consisted of only one hundred and fifty men, the loss of the attacking force was severe. two lieutenants, one master, and fifty-seven men were killed; one captain, seven lieutenants, a boatswain, and two hundred and sixteen men wounded. the marquis was allowed to march out with all the honours of war; and those inhabitants who chose to remain were guaranteed the same rights and privileges which they had enjoyed under charles ii.{14}
having appointed the prince of darmstadt governor, and left as many men to garrison the rock as could be spared from the fleet, sir george rooke sailed for tetuan to take in wood and water. he then went in search of a french fleet which had been equipped at toulon, and was under the orders of the high-admiral of france, the comte de thoulouse, who had been joined by some spanish vessels. rooke came up with the enemy off malaga on the 13th of august. the superiority of force lay with the french, who counted fifty line-of-battle ships, carrying 3543 guns and 24,155 men; eight frigates, mounting 149 guns, with 1025 men; nine fire-ships; and a couple of transports. sir george rooke had under his command forty-one english and twelve dutch sail of the line, carrying 3700 guns and 23,200 men, with six frigates, and seven fire-ships. the french vessels, however, were better built than the english, and better armed. they included three ships of 104 guns, and four of 92 and 90 guns, all the rest being from 88 to 52 guns. on the other hand, the combined fleet contained only three of 96 guns and two of 90 guns, the remainder being from 80 to 50.
on sunday morning, the 13th, the combined fleet{15} being to windward, the centre led by sir george rooke, the van by sir cloudesley shovel and sir john leake, and the rear by the dutch vice-admiral callunbuy, signal was made to bear down upon the enemy; and upon reaching within half gun-shot, the action began. it was long and hotly contested; the combatants fought all day; yet not a ship of the hundred vessels engaged on either side was taken, or burned, or sunk. the french had not at that time acquired that sense of the superiority of the british at sea which was forced upon them by a disastrous series of defeats in the revolutionary and napoleonic wars; and the british admirals lacked that boldness of attack and contempt of the enemy which howe, jervis, and nelson made a tradition. at all events, the battle, though it lasted all day, had no decisive result; and both fleets drew off at nightfall, having gained nothing except honour. sir cloudesley shovel describes the fight as “very sharp;” and adds, “there is hardly a ship that must not shift one mast, and some must shift all.” the french fleet suffered even more than the english, and on the following morning sailed away for toulon, with a loss in killed and wounded variously estimated at from 2000 to 3000. the loss of the english{16} was 695 killed, and 1663 wounded; that of the dutch, 400 killed and wounded. so far as the “butcher’s bill” went, both england and france had equal reason to claim a victory; and thus, while a te deum was chanted in notre dame, thanksgivings were also publicly offered at st. paul’s.
the court of madrid felt the loss of gibraltar to be a very serious blow, and, before the autumn was passed, despatched the marquis of villadaria, with 8000 men, to attempt its recovery. the earl of galway, then in command of the allied forces in portugal, sent four regiments, with supplies of provisions and ammunition, to the relief of the garrison; and sir john leake soon afterwards arrived in the bay with twenty sail of english and dutch ships. meantime, the spaniards prosecuted the siege with much vigour, and harassed the garrison with a constant and heavy fire.
sir john leake, hearing that the enemy were preparing to attack him with a very powerful fleet, withdrew to lisbon, in order to refit, and pick up some ships which he had left behind. on the 25th he again put to sea; and on the 27th suddenly made his appearance in the bay, where he surprised{17} three frigates, two english prizes, and some small vessels. he then landed the reinforcements, and six months’ supplies of stores, together with a body of five hundred sailors to assist in repairing the breaches made by the hostile guns. his arrival is described as very opportune, for the spanish general had fixed on that same night for an attack by sea and land at five several points.
baffled in this design, and conceiving that the garrison would be less on their guard while the english fleet rode in the bay, the marquis conceived the idea of attempting a coup-de-main. on the 31st of october five hundred picked volunteers pledged themselves on the holy sacrament to capture the fortress or perish. a goatherd led this daring little band to the south side of the rock, by the so-called pass of locust-trees; and under cover of the darkness they contrived to climb to st. michael’s cave, where they spent the night. on the following night they boldly scaled charles the fifth’s wall, and surprised and slew the guard stationed at the signal-house and at middle hill. they then proceeded to lower their ropes and ladders, and in this way drew up several hundreds of their supports. so far they had been favoured by fortune. but the{18} english sentinels discovering them, now gave the alarm. all was instant activity and alacrity. a strong detachment of grenadiers immediately marched up from the town; and plied their bayonets so lustily that a hundred of the assailants were killed or hurled headlong over the precipice, while the remainder, with a colonel and thirty officers, surrendered themselves prisoners.
the marquis of villadaria was not disheartened by this failure, and though the garrison was well supplied with stores by the english fleet, while his own army was ill-fed and ill-clothed, he kept up a continual fire. having received considerable reinforcements, he resolved to storm a breach which had been effected at two points of the fortifications. one of these, on the hill, was occupied at night by a captain, three subalterns, and ninety men; but at daybreak the captain, two of the subalterns, and sixty men were accustomed to retire. the other breach, in the round tower, was defended by one hundred and eighty men, under a lieutenant alone. through deserters from the garrison the marquis had ascertained these dispositions, and planned his attack accordingly. the forlorn hope detailed for the upper breach scaled the rock at night, and sheltered themselves in its{19} hollows until the captain withdrew in the morning. they then pushed forwards, and, with a discharge of grenades, cleared the works of the subaltern and his small party. simultaneously the round tower was surrounded by three hundred men, and lieutenant-colonel bain, after a gallant defence, was forced to seek shelter in the covered way. but, as before, just when the spaniards thought success within their grasp, they were doomed to discomfiture. the garrison had taken the alarm; drum and bugle summoned the regiments to their different quarters; and a body of five hundred men flung themselves on the enemy with such determined valour that they were forced to yield. the tower was retaken, and the rock cleared of spanish soldiers.
the governments of spain and france did not yet abandon all hope of recovering gibraltar. the marquis of villadaria having failed, was superseded by a veteran french general, the marshal tessé; and a powerful fleet, under admiral pointis, was ordered to blockade the port. the besieging army was reinforced; the entrenchments were repaired and mounted with new and heavier guns. the english ministry, apprised of these measures, strengthened sir john leake with some additional ships; and the{20} gallant admiral, sailing from lisbon on the 6th of march, came up with m. pointis on the 10th, and cut off five of the french ships—three of which were taken, while the others were driven ashore and burned. he then stood into the bay and landed supplies for the use of the garrison. despairing of success in any direct attack, the marshal withdrew his troops from their old positions, and entrenched himself across the isthmus, so as to prevent the english from making any forays into the interior.
no further attempt was made upon a fortress which, in the hands of english soldiers, had proved impregnable; and by the treaty of utrecht, in 1713, gibraltar was formally ceded to england.
