soon afterwards occupied by a division under Baron de Menglana. The enemy appears to have been so pressed by the appearance of the shipping, after his determination had been taken, that most of the^cannon were left serviceable, and all his provisions, calculated for some months; but it is with regret I mention, that about three P.M. we witnessed a most awful explosion, which, by a refinement in cruelty, appears to have been intended to destroy all the poor inhabitants at a blow. The magazine, containing near 200 barrels of gunpowder, and dug in the solid rock connected with the mole where the fishing-boats lay, had been prepared, and a lighted match left within it. Two casks of wine, previously broached, were also left by the wall, offering a temptation to the lower classes ot the inhabitants, but this circumstance most providentially proved their great preservation. The Spanish commandant on entering, observing the confusion likely to ensue, ordered the inhabitants from the mole into the town; and while means were taken to force the door, the explosion took place, and destroyed about 20 of the garrison and fishermen, as well as all the boats in or near the mole.
“I have the pleasure to acquaint your Lordship that the castle, town, and port of Passages, were recovered from the enemy yesterday, and its garrison of 136 men, cut off from St. Sebastian’s, were taken by a part of the Spanish brigade of Longa, under the immediate orders of Don Gaspar, attached to Sir Thomas Graham’s division. The Spaniards’ loss on this occasion was very trifling.”
During the warfare in the Pyrenees, between Lord Wellington and Marshal Soult, the siege of St. Sebastian was undertaken and prosecuted by Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham, who received the most effectual assistance from the naval force under Sir George Collier, whose official letters Furnish us with the following information:
“The breaching batteries raised on the Chofra sand-hills, were opened against the walls of St. Sebastian on the 20th at ten A.M., under most unfavourable circumstances of weather, and this evening there is a considerable breach; but a second will, I understand from General Graham, be made before the storm is attempted. A gun has been thought necessary at the light-house hill. Captain Tayler, of the Sparrow, has prepared a battery; and had the weather permitted, a 24-pounder would have been dragged up, and mounted ere this[1]. I have the pleasure to say, the good conduct of the detachment landed under Lieutenant O’Reilly, has been the admiration of the artillery officers in command of the batteries[2].”
- ↑ See Captain Joseph Needham Tayler, C.B.
- ↑ On the 25th July three breaches were effected in the walls, two of
