British seamen and marines were to endeavour to gain possession of the mine, while the Turkish troops were to assault the French in their trenches on both sides. A surprise was intended, and the sally was made before day-light on the 7th April; but the plan was rendered abortive by the impetuosity and noise of the Turks.
The perseverance of the enemy was maintained under a most destructive fire from the garrison in front, and from the ships and boats in flank; and their desperation was clearly evident in the repeated attempts they made to mount the breach, under circumstances of such perilous difficulty -as excited pity in their British foes, to see such a vain sacrifice of energy and courage.
Nine times the enemy had attempted to storm the breach, and on each occasion had been repulsed with the most determined bravery; when, on the fifty-first day of the siege, a long expected reinforcement, under Hassan Bey, appeared in sight. The efforts of Buonaparte were now renewed with the most impetuous vigour, to do all that could be done before its junction; the resistance on the part of the besieged was proportionally vigorous. All that skill and bravery could effect was unanimously displayed; but the enemy gained ground, and got possession of the north-east tower, the upper part of which having been battered down, they ascended on the ruins, and at day-light on the following morning the French standard was displayed on the outer angle of the tower. The fire of the besieged was slackened, and the flanking fire of the Tigre and Theseus rendered ineffectual, the enemy being screened by two traverses erected in the night across the ditch, composed of sand-bags and the bodies of the dead.
Such was the critical situation of the Turkish garrison and their brave allies, when the abovementioned reinforcement arrived ; the troops were in the boats, but still distant from the, shore; “and an effort,” says Sir W. Sidney Smith, “was necessary to preserve the place for a short time till their arrival.” What this effort was, and the operations immediately subsequent, we shall give in the words of his official report to Lord Nelson:–
