ROOKE'S CAPTURE OF GIBRALTAR. 



93 



a moment of his death, he continued to give orders as if he felt no pain. When he found 

 himself ready to expire, he delivered his sword to his lieutenant, obliging him and all that 

 were with him to bind themselves by an oath either to conquer or die. The lieutenant 

 caused the same oath to be taken by the people of all the other vessels, when nothing 

 was heard but a general cry of f Victory or Death ! ' At length the Dutch were victorious ; 

 they lost only two vessels, and about two hundred and fifty men; the Spaniards lost 



MOORISH TOWER AT GIBRALTAR. 



sixteen ships, three were consumed by fire, and the others, among which was the admiral's 

 ship, ran aground. D'Avila, with thirty-five captains, fifty of his volunteers, and two 

 thousand eight hundred soldiers, lost their lives in the fight; a memorable action, which was 

 not only the source of tears and affliction to many widows and private persons, but filled 

 all Spain with horror."* 



England won Gibraltar during the War of the Succession, when she was allied with 

 Austria and Holland against Spain and France. The war had dragged on with varied results 

 till 1704, when it was determined to attack Spain at home with the aid of the Portuguese. The 

 commanders of the allied fleets and troops i.e., the Landgrave George of Hesse-Darmstadt, 

 Sir George Rooke, Admiral Byng, Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Admiral Leake, and the three 



* " Memoirs of Sully," bk. xx. 



