making no resistance. On the 20th, I took possession of the heights commanding the castle, and, by the great exertions of the officers and soldiers, got a 4-pounder mounted at the back of the town. At 1 p.m. we opened a well-directed fire from it, and musketry in all positions. The enemy kept up a heavy fire of shot and shells. On the 21st, finding we made but little impression on the castle, and not being provided with ladders for scaling the two high walls surrounding the town, I employed Mr. Charles Gamage, with a party of men, to undermine them, and at daybreak on the 22nd, he had succeeded in making a breach in the outer one, which we entered with 100 men. It taking time to make a breach in the inner wall, I was not able to enter the town till 3 p.m., when we took possession of it without resistance, the troops all retiring to the castle. I immediately pushed for it with all the force I could collect, not exceeding 100 men; and the enemy, finding us determined to storm, proposed terms of capitulation, which, with some little alteration, I agreed to, as nearly the whole of my ammunition was expended. At 6 p.m. they marched out, and I took possession. The castle is defended by a moat, and has three strong gates: its garrison consisted of 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 4 gunners, 8 gens d’armes, and 40 soldiers, under the command of Mons. Bellair. I have the honor to be, &c.
When General Baron Gauthier was informed, that Captain Harper intended to get a heavy gun up Mount Theodore, he laughed at the idea, and sent an officer to say, he believed him to be an active fellow, but he would give him six months at least to accomplish his object: the arduous undertaking was commenced on the 29th Nov., and, after three weeks of great exertion, fatigue, and privation, an 18-pounder was safely lodged on the summit, so determined were the Saracen’s crew to shew the enemy what English sailors could perform. During the whole of that period the rain fell in torrents, and it frequently happened that the gun was lower down the mountain at the setting of the sun than it had been at its rising, sometimes occasioned by the rock giving way that the end of the cable used as a jack-stay was fastened to, and at others by the breaking of the purchase falls, block straps, &c. A road was subsequently made for nearly a mile, along a narrow ridge of pinnacled rocks, by breaking them with mauls and hammers; a work not only difficult, but ex-
- ↑ Lieutenant Holmes obtained the rank of commander, Aug. 19, 1815; and perished in the Arab sloop, on the N.W. coast of Ireland, Dec. 12, 1823.
