from Gorizia, having obliged the Viceroy to pass the Isonzo. It was then determined to lay siege to the castle. By the 16th, in the morning, we had twelve guns in two batteries, which opened their fire and continued nearly the whole day; towards the evening the enemy was driven from the Windmill, which was taken possession of by the Austrian troops, and two howitzers advanced there. The firing was continued occasionally until noon on the 23d, by which time Captain Rowley had got a 32-pounder within two hundred yards of the Shanza, where there was a strong building with one gun, and loop holes in it, standing upon a hill, with a wall round it nearly fourteen feet high, an officer and sixty men.
“We had had some communication with the castle in the morning, and the truce was broke oiF at a very short notice by the enemy, who opened on all sides. The 32-pounder was fired upon the Shanza. The first shot the gun recoiled, and the ground giving way, it fell backward off the platform, which was six feet above the level. It was fine to see Captain Rowley and his people immediately get a triangle above the work, and the 32-pounder with its carriage, run up to its place again under a shower of grape and musketry, which occasioned a severe loss. Towards evening, the enemy in the Shanza held out the white flag, and surrendered to Captain Rowley. Having now possession of the Shanza, which commanded the castle and the Windmill hill, we set to work upon some advanced batteries within four hundred yards of the castle; but the weather was so wet, and the labour so great, that it was not until the morning of the 29th that they were complete, when the enemy acceded to our altered propositions for surrendering the castle. We were prepared to have opened with eleven 32-pounders, twelve 18-pounders, four mortars, and four howitzers.
“Every captain, officer, and person in the squadron has done his duty. Captain Rowley has been, as usual, most prominent on every occasion. I admired the example he shewed at the attack of the Shanza, with the courage and activity of Lieutenants Hotham and Moore, and Mr. Hibbert, midshipman of the Eagle. Captain Angelo, of the 21st regiment, was foremost in shewing where to place fascines to protect the men, whilst the gun was getting up.
“I beg to recommend to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, Captain Moresby, of his Majesty’s sloop Wizard. He commanded one of the batteries from the 16th until the 24th, when he was ordered to form a battery with four 32-pounders, within breaching distance: in the course of fifty-six hours, under all the disadvantages of weather, &c. he, with fifty men from the Milford, and twenty from the Wizard, completed the whole without any assistance whatever. And I must also mention the good conduct of Mr. William Watts, acting master of the said sloop, who was severely wounded. Captain Dunn, of the Mermaid, was also very assiduous on every occasion. Captain Markland commanded the marines, and I have to thank him for exerting himself in every way; particularly in the arrangements of stores and provisions. We have at times
