Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 4.djvu/217

A.D. 1704.] Rooke having landed king Charles at Lisbon, sent rear-admiral Dilkes with a squadron to cruise off Cape Spartel, and himself, by order of the queen, sailed for the relief of Nice and Villa Franca, which were supposed to be in danger from the French under the duke of Vendome. King Charles at the same time desired him to make a demonstration in his favour before Barcelona, for he was assured that a force had only to appear on that coast and the whole population would declare for him. Rooke, accordingly, taking on board the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had formerly been viceroy of Catalonia, sailed for Barcelona, and invited the governor to declare for his rightful sovereign, king Charles. The governor replied that Philip V. was his lawful sovereign. The prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, however, assured the admiral that there were five to one in the city in favour of king Charles, and Rooke allowed the prince to land with two thousand men, but there was no sign of any movement in favour of Austria. The Dutch ketches then bombarded the place with little effect, and the troops were re-embarked lest they should be fallen upon by superior numbers. On the 16th of June, Rooke being joined by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, they sailed to Nice, but found it in no danger, and they then went in quest of the French fleet, which Rooke in the preceding month had caught sight of on their way to Toulon. On the 17th of July a council of war was held in the road of Tetuan, and it was resolved to make an attempt on Gibraltar, which was represented to have only a slender garrison. On the 21st the fleet came to anchor before Gibraltar, and the marines under the command of the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt landed on the narrow, sandy isthmus which connects the celebrated rock with the mainland, and called on the governor to surrender. Though cut off from relief from the land, and with a formidable fleet in the bay, the governor stoutly replied that he would defend the place to the last extremity.

The next day Rooke gave orders for cannonading the town. On the 23rd, soon after daybreak, the cannonading commenced with terrible effect. Fifteen thousand shots were discharged in five or six hours; the South Mole head was demolished, and the Spaniards driven in every quarter from their guns. Captain Whitaker was then ordered to arm all the boats and assault that quarter. Captains Hicks and Jumper, who were nearest the mole, immediately manned their pinnaces, and entered the fortifications sword in hand. They were soon, however, treading on a mine, which the Spaniards exploded, and which killed two lieutenants, and about a hundred men were killed or wounded. But Hicks and Jumper seized a platform and kept their ground till they were supported by captain Whitaker with the rest of the seamen, who took by storm a redoubt between the town and the mole. Then the governor capitulated, and the prince of Hesse entered the place with his marines, amazed at once by the strength of the place and the ease with which it had been taken. In fact, this key of the Mediterranean, which has since defied all the united powers of Christendom, was taken in three days, one day of which was rendered almost useless by the fierceness of the wind.

Rooke left the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt and the marines to hold the fortress, and returned to Tetuan to take in wood and water, and again sailed up the Mediterranean. On the 9th of August he came in sight of the French fleet lying off Malaga, and ready to receive him. It consisted of fifty-two great ships and four-and-twenty galleys, under count de Toulouse, high admiral of France, and all clean and in the best condition; Rooke's fleet of fifty-three ships of the line, exclusive of frigates; but they were inferior to the French in number of guns and men, as well as in weight of metal, and, what was worse, they were very foul in their bottoms, and many of them very ill provided with ammunition. Nevertheless, Rooke determined to engage; and on Sunday, the 13th, at ten o'clock in the morning, the battle began and raged till two in the afternoon, when the van of the French gave way. This result must have been much earlier arrived at, but several of the English ships had soon exhausted their powder, and had to draw out of the line. During the afternoon some firing at longer distances was kept up; but at night Toulouse bore away to leeward. The next morning the wind favoured the French, but they did not avail themselves of it, but bore away for Toulon, pursued by Rooke, as well as the foulness of his ships would let him. Not a ship was lost or taken by either side in the battle, but the loss in killed and wounded was great. On the part of the English the killed and wounded amounted to three thousand; on the French it was supposed to reach four thousand, including two hundred officers killed. Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who led the van, said that he had never seen a sea-fight so furiously contested. The effect of the battle was to render the French shy of coming to any great engagement on the sea during the remainder of the war. Notwithstanding this, Louis XIV. claimed the victory, and the French academy struck a medal in honour of the occasion, which, if it tended to deceive the more ignorant French themselves, did not deceive the world.

Rooke, having chased Toulouse into Toulon, sailed to his grand conquest of Gibraltar to refit, and thence, leaving Sir John Leake with a squadron to protect the coast of Portugal, he returned to England. Towards the end of October Villadarias, who was sent by the Spaniards to retake Gibraltar, presented himself before it with an army, and began to invest it. The siege lasted four months, without making any impression. As Villadarias was unsuccessful, the marquis de Tesse was sent from France to supersede him, but with as little effect. The garrison was commanded with great spirit and ability by the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, and was supplied with provisions from Lisbon. To cut off those supplies, a fleet under admiral de Pointes was sent into the bay, but which quickly retired on the approach of Sir John Leake and admiral Vanderdussen, and the attempt to recover the place was abandoned.

The parliament of England met on the 29th of October, and the queen congratulated the two houses on the remarkable success which had attended her arms, and trusted that it would enable her to secure the great objects for which they fought—the liberty of Europe. She encouraged them to carry on their debates without contentions, and avowed her determination to be kind and indulgent to all her subjects. But nothing could prevent the animosity which raged betwixt the whig and tory factions showing itself. The lords congratulated her majesty on the glorious victories of Marlborough, without noticing at all those of Sir George