A breach being made on the other
side, by our land battery, large enough to admit a middle-sized
baboon, provided he could find means to climb up to it, our general
proposed to give the assault that very night, and actually ordered
a detachment on that duty. Providence stood our friend upon this
occasion, and put it into the hearts of the Spaniards to abandon
the fort, which might have been maintained by resolute men till the
day of judgment against all the force we could exert in the attack.
And while our soldiers took possession of the enemy's ramparts
without resistance, the same good luck attended a body of sailors,
who made themselves masters of Fort St. Joseph, the fascine batteries,
and one Spanish man-of-war; the other three being burnt or sunk by
the foe, that they might not fall into our hands. The taking of
these forts, in the strength of which the Spaniards chiefly confided,
made us masters of the outward harbour, and occasioned great joy
among us, as we laid our accounts at finding little or no opposition
from the town: and indeed, if a few great ships had sailed
up immediately, before they had recovered from the confusion and
despair that our unexpected success had produced among them, it
is not impossible that we might have finished the affair to our
satisfaction, without any more bloodshed; but this step our heroes
disdained as a barbarous insult over the enemy's distress, and
gave them all the respite they could desire, in order to recollect
themselves.
Pages:
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353