Capture of Gibraltar - Battle

Battle

The fleet crossed from Tetuan on 30 July; by 1 August Rooke, flying his flag in the Second Rate Royal Katherine, stood at the entrance to the bay while Admiral George Byng’s squadron (16 English under Byng and six Dutch ships under Rear Admiral Paulus van der Dussen) anchored inside, ranging themselves within the line of defences from the Old to the New Mole. The council of war had decided that Prince George would land with 1,800 English and Dutch marines on the isthmus under cover of a naval bombardment. The marines landed at the head of the bay, and met with no resistance except for a small body of cavalry. They cut off Gibraltar from the mainland while the enemy on the nearby hills were dispersed by fire from two ships sent to the east of the rock.

Prince George summoned the governor, Don Diego de Salinas, to surrender in the name of Charles III. He refused, and the garrison pledged its allegiance to Philip V. Although the governor was determined to resist he knew he did not have the means to do so: his earlier requests for a reinforcements and military stores had always been in vain. By his own account, Don Diego had ‘no more than fifty-six men of whom there were not thirty in service’ and could count on a few hundred civilian militia ‘of such bad quality that before they arrived they began to run away.’ In addition, he had 100 cannon of various kinds but few were in a state to be fired, and fewer still had gunners to fire them.

The 2 August passed in preliminaries. Don Diego, who in Trevelyan’s words was prepared to ‘die like a gentleman’, sent back his defiant reply to the summons to surrender. Byng’s squadron warped themselves in along the sea front as close as the depth permitted and Captain Jumper brought the Lenox within actual musket range of the New Mole. These operations were carried out in a dead calm, and were not impeded by a few shots from the Spanish batteries. At midnight Captain Edward Whitaker of the Dorsetshire led a party against a French privateer anchored at the Old Mole which had been firing at the marines on the isthmus.

About 05:00 the following day, 3 August, Byng’s squadron of 22 ships fired in earnest on the crumbling walls and forts. Tens of thousands of shells were fired in the attack. The actual damage done was small in proportion to the expenditure of the shot, but in view of the possible approach of the French fleet the job had to be done quickly or not at all. Captain Whitaker acted as Byng’s aide-de-camp, carrying his instructions from ship to ship, including the final order to cease firing six hours after they had begun. As the smoke lifted Captain Jumper at the southern end of the line could discern the New Mole and the fort that commanded its abutment on the land. The defenders of the fort appeared to have fled, and Whitaker and Jumper agreed that a landing could be effected there unopposed. Rooke granted the request to attack, and a flotilla of row-boats raced for the New Mole.