557 
GIBRALTAR. 
liore upon tbe works of the enemy ; but the ordnance 
in general being old, were frequently burlling, by which 
tJiey (iilFered more than iVotn the fire of the befiegers. 
I'lie Spaniards were greatly difirelfed by the fleet under 
admiral Hopfonand lirCharles Wager, who, fincethe be. 
ginning of the liege, had intercepted theii' home-bound 
Ihips, :md at the fame time greatly benefited the garri- 
i'on by bringing the prizes into the bay. Finding the 
Spaniards, however, dbflinately bent on. their enter- 
pril'e, tliey formed a defign, on the 2d of April, to bom¬ 
bard Algezira, from whence the Spaniards were fiip- 
plied with various articles of aniinunition.; but the 
fleet happening to be becalmed, the defign was after¬ 
wards unaccountably abandoned; and on the arrival of 
a reinforcement from Minorca, they failed to the weli:- 
ward. The enemy Hill continued to augment tlieir bat¬ 
teries, and eroct new ones; and, on the 3d of May, the 
governor received intelligence that a general afi’aulc was 
intended; to repel which hetookeveiy proper precau¬ 
tion. Hoililities, however, ceafed on. the mtli, wj\en 
news anived that the preliminaries of a general pacifi¬ 
cation were figned ; fmee which time to the year 1779, 
no farther attempts were made on Gibraltar. 
In tile courfe of the American war, the Spanilh mo¬ 
narch having joined his forces to th.ofe of I'rance, a 
frelh attack upon this important fortrefs was concerted; 
and on the i6th of July 1779, the port was cojiipletely 
blocked up by a I'quadron of two feventy-four-gun 
lhip.s, feveral frigates, galleys, dm. Ten days after¬ 
wards tliey began to form a camp on the plain beloiv 
St. Rocli, three miles from the fortrei’s. Tlie garrifoa 
at this time confided of 5382 men, including oflicer.s, 
with a company of engineers and artificers ; but the 
greated cxiiebtations were formed from the abilities and 
valour of general Elliot the governor. From this time 
to tile beginning of 1780, the enemy continued the 
blockade both by fea and land, but without doing any 
damage to the works or garril'on. In the mean time, 
however, the iifual I'upplies of provilioiis being cut off, 
the garrifon began to feel all the liorrors of famine. 
Ilad matters remained long in this date, it is plain that 
the fortrefs mud have fallen into the hands of the ene¬ 
my. They were, however, edeCfually relieved in con- 
fequence of the victory gained by admiral Rodney over 
the Spanifh fleet commanded by Don Juan de Langara. 
The former had been furniflied with a drong fquadron, 
in order to relieve this important fortrefs ; with which 
liaving fet i'ail, he in a few days fell in with a Spanilh 
flc.'-t of fixteen tranfports bound from Bilboa to Cadiz, 
and, laden with proviiions and naval dores, convoyed by 
a man-of-war of lixty-four guns, four frigates, and two 
armed vellels. Of thel'eonly a (ingle iranfport efcaped, 
the red being all captured on the 8th of January, 1780; 
and the lofs of them, at the lame time that it promifed 
to be very ferviceabie to the garrilbn, was equally de¬ 
trimental to the enemy, wdio were in great want both 
of provifions and amnuinition for their Ihipping. This 
advantage, however, was only a prelude to the memo¬ 
rable yet awful dedrubtion of the combined French and 
Spanilh veli'els and gun-boats in the bay of Gibraltar, 
on the 13th of September 1782, for the particular de- 
ftription of which fee the article England, vol. vi. 
p. 769. This was the lad druggie of the Spanilh mo¬ 
narch for the recovery of Gibraltar ; and which might 
ferve to fnew the futility of all further attempts to re¬ 
duce fo impregnable a fortrefs. 
The tov/n of Gibraltar is fituated at the foot of the 
rock, and is defended on tiie fide towards the bay by 
the batteries ol the line-wall, the foot of which is 
wafhed by tiie fea. Along this wall is the king’s bal- 
tion, by the fire from which the floating batteries were 
dedroyed in the memorable adtion of the 13th of Sep¬ 
tember 1782. In this baltion lieutenant-general fir Ro¬ 
bert Boyd was inteired, agreeably to his own requed, 
inn tomb eredted by himieif. At the back of tiie town 
VoL. Vlll. No. 525. 
is the Calpe or Rock of Gibraltar, wbicli is on? thou- 
land tiiree hundred feet above tiie level of the lea. Cn 
tiie fummit of tlie rock, perhaps near the foot wl’.ere 
the Herculean pillar dood, is tlie fignal-houfe, con - 
manding a very extenlive profpedl ; and a new fignal- 
houfe was eredted by governor O’! lara in tiie year 1800, 
at the Ibuthern extreiuit)’ of the rock, wb.ic h aflbrds a 
more circumfpedt view of the drait. Tiie rock toward.s 
tl'iC town and hay is of a gradual tlior.gh rugged cie- 
Icent ; but on the (ide tov/ards tiie drait it is exceliivels' 
deep ; notwitiidanding wliich, a long fligiit of deps has 
been eat in the rock, reaching quite do'.in to the fea, 
and called, from its liiuation, the .Mediterranean Stairs. 
7 he dilierent galleries and fortifications ctilled King’s, 
Queen’s, and Piince’s, Lines, St. George's Hall, &'c. 
are works ot uncommon ingenuity and extreme labour, 
and have added conliderably to liie natural drength of 
Gibraltar ; other works alib have been recently added, 
v iiich appear to render tlie fortrels truly imoregnabie. 
'File ton a is well paved, aiid contains feme very eieganr 
hoiiles. d'hcre is one principal drect leading from 
Soutfi Port to 'W’ater Port; all the others are fide Ihects, 
very Imall and narrow. Charics the Fifth’s wall com¬ 
mences at South Port, and extends to the top of tiie 
rock, near to tlie old Signal-houle, diluting in what i.s 
Called tise town, from that extremity of tlie rock which 
advance^ Into the fea, and called Ffuiopa Point. A very 
good road, Ikirfed witli trees, parallel to which runs an 
aqueduct, leaclies from South Port to this extreme part 
ot Gibraltar, which is alfo called “the South,” where 
there are good barracks, and an extenlive naval hof'pi- 
tal. Thcfe, with feveral otlier buildings, form what 
may be termed a fecond town, w here there is a drong 
lort covering the New Mole, made to facilitate the an¬ 
chorage of vedels at the moutli of the bay. 7 'he bav 
itlelt forms a very beautiful and capacious baibn, in 
breadth about five miles, and in length about nine ; 
with leveral linall rivers running into it from the Spa¬ 
nilh coad. 'File water in the middle is more than a hun¬ 
dred iathoms in depth, fo that a I'quadron may lie tliere 
in the utmod fafety. On the eadern fide of the bay the 
town and fortifications of Gibraltar are eredted ; and 
on the weftern fide the Spanidi town of Algezira, or 
Old Gibraltar ; with a fort and tower on fome fmull 
illands in front of it. 
The garrifon of Gibraltar, in war time, confids of 
fj om three to four thoufaiid men, with upwards of three 
hundred pieces of cannon. The town has three gates, 
with one Finglilh and one Spanilh church, and a fyna- 
gogue for the Jews, who find their way into every place 
w here money circulates. The number of F 2 nglifl), be- 
lides the garrilbn, is about two thoufand ; and of Spa¬ 
niards, Portuguel'e, Gendefe, and Jews, about as many. 
Moors are condantly coming in from tlie coad of Bar. 
bary with cattle, game, fifli, and fruit. Thefe people 
call the town by the ancient name of Dgebcl-Tharck. 
'I'lie rock and fortrefs of Gibraltar is joined to Spain 
by an idhnuis of low land, wh.ich widyns progredively 
as it approaches the Spanilh lines. Thole extend en¬ 
tirely acrol's the illhinus, and are flanked by two Spa¬ 
nilh forts, the principal of which is called St. Piiilip. 
7 he Spanilli line.^ are defended llkewile by a number of 
guns, planted along them, and entruded to the care of 
a garrifon, inil'erably lodged and badly ferved. 7 'he 
I'pace between the foot of the rock and thelb lines is 
known by the name of “Neutral Ground;” and is the 
only approach to Gibraltar by land. 
The town and garrifon .of Gibraltar, in war time, 
have been wholly lupplied with frefh tvater from cil'- 
terns, and an aquedudt, v/hich are filled by the rain, 
until very lately fome wells have been funk in the rock 
at immenl'e labour, to procure a more certain fupply of 
this invaluable neceliary of life. But if water be Icarce, 
wine, on tlie other hand, is in Inch abundance, and io 
cheap, tliat in no part of the world e.xids a higher temp ■ 
7 C Uti9^ 
