I. PART any attempt by fea, the water fhoaling near a league off, and the harbour being plentifully bounded with rocks; befides the fea is very feldom 1741. fmooth, fo that to land is at all times very difficult, THE only entrance into the harbour is near a league to the weft of the city, between two narrow peninfulas, one called the Tierra Bomba, which is nearest the city, and the other called the Barradera. This paffage called Boca Chica, or the little mouth, was defended on the Tierra Bomba, by a caftle called St Louis, which was a regular fquare, with four baftions, ftrong, well built, mounted with 82 guns and three mortars, and was capable of making a stout defence, if well garifoned, and would have been much ftronger if the glacis and counterfcarp had been finifhed; and to this were added the forts of St Philip, mounted with feven guns, the fort of St Jago mounting fifteen guns, and a fmall fort of four guns called Battery de Chamba, which ferved as redoubts to the caftle of Boca Chica. On the other fide of the mouth of the harbour, was a fafcine battery of fifteen guns, called the Barradera; and in a small bay on the back of that, another battery of four, guns; and facing the entrance of the harbour, on a fmall flat ifland, ftood fort St Jofeph of twenty-one guns: from this fort to Boca Chica castle, a boom and cables were fixed across, faftened with three large anchors at each end; and just within the boom, four men of war were moored in a line, the Galicia, aboard which was the Spanish admiral, the Africa and St Carlos, each of 66 guns, and the St Philip of 70 guns, which fpread fo far over the extent of the mouth of the harbour, that there was not room for a fhip to pafs ahead or aftern of them; fo that it was impoffible for fhipping to force an entrance into into the harbour. Beyond this paffage lies the CHAP. great lake or harbour of Carthagena, feveral VI. leagues in circumference, and land locked on all fides; about midway to the town it grows nar- 1741. rower, and within about a league of the city, two ifthmus's, or points of land, jetting out form the leffer harbour; near the northermost of these was the strong fortrefs of Caftillo Grand, about eight miles up the harbour, being a regular fquare with four bastions, ftrong and well built, and defended to the land by a wet ditch and glacis proper, and one face towards the fea, with a raveline and a double line of guns; and though there was but fifty-nine guns in the fort, there was room to mount fixty-one. Oppofite to this caftle was a horfe-fhoe battery of twelve guns, called Mancinilla: in the middle between these two forts, is a large fhoal with not above two or three foot water in it; in each of these paffages were ships funk acrofs, to prevent the British fleet from getting by. Near three miles further up the harbour, on two flat fandy islands or keys, ftands the city of Carthagena, and Himani its fuburbs, which are both irregular figures, but well fortified to the land with ftrong baftions at proper diftances, with lakes and moraffes running. round them; the city was defended with 160 guns, and the fuburbs with 140, and the water at the head of the harbour fhoal fo far off, that ships cannot approach near enough to do any materia! execution with their guns, which adds much to the ftrength of the place. South of the city, about a quarter of a mile from the gate of Himani, on an eminence about fifty or fixty foot high, ftands the caftle of St Lazare, which is a fquare of about fifty foot, with three demi baftions, two guns in each face, one in each flank, and PART and three in each curtain; the place in itself is 1. trifling, but its fituation very advantageous, which w overlooks all the town; though there is a brow 1741. of a hill about 400 yards from it that overlooks it as much, and entirely commands the fort. THE fame day as the British fleet arrived before Carthagena, Vice Admiral Vernon received intelligence, from his engineer Capt. Knowles, of the obfervations he had made pursuant to his directions, and alfo of what new works the Spaniards had been erecting near the entrance of the harbour from this advice the vice admiral collected, that the most probable, as well as the moft proper place to secure a descent in, was, in in the little bay under the command of the two forts St Philip and St Jago, where fhips could, come fafely to an anchor in good ground, within less than a mufket shot of the fhore, and might lie to batter and command those two forts, without having occafion to open the caftle of Boca Chica; in which cafe, the fire of three eighty gun fhips would be fufficient for demolishing the forts commanding the bay, and securing a safe landing for the troops under the fire of their guns, being a point of the utmost importance for promoting the fuccefs of the expedition, as it was the very fpot on which Monfieur de Pointi made his defcent when he reduced Carthagena, and begun with taking Boca Chica and as to the northward of the faid two forts on Terra Bomba, where the Spaniards had lately erected a fafcine battery of fifteen guns, there was found, to be deep water enough to approach within mufket fhot of the battery, but that the anchoring ground fo near in was foul and stoney, and would cut the cables; and to anchor in clean ground would be hardly within point-blank cannon fhot: and And it was also represented, that there was like- CHAP. THE vice admiral having informed and inftructed Sir Chaloner Ogle, according to the intelligence he had received from Capt. Knowles, and having furnished him with pilots of the best abilities and experience he could procure, and relying on the judgment and refolution of the rear admiral for the execution of his orders, directed him "To procced with his whole divifiont "of fhips of the line of battle for demolishing "the faid forts and batteries, and fcouring all "the country between them, fo as to fecure a "descent for the forces in the most convenient "parts of it between fort St Philip and Cham"ba battery, which might divide the Spaniards, "the better to make a defcent at both places "at once, and expofe them the more to the fire of the fhips; he was alfo particularly directed, "not to fuffer any imprudent or hafty firing " from the ships, and to endeavour to convince the men that fuch folly only ferves to em"bolden an enemy inftead of difcouraging VOL. I. R "them. 1 PART" them. And the rear admiral was likewife, I. "in his orders in writing, to affign to each par ~" ticular captain the poft he was to take, and 1741." the orders he was to execute; and also to "order his refpective captains, to acquaint their "refpective fhips companies, that the whole of "all booty to be made by land, was graciously "granted by his Britannic majesty to be dif "tributed among his fea and land forces, as "fhould be agreed on by a council of war of fea and land officers, which had accordingly "met and regulated the diftribution thereof, "and had allotted a double fhare to any non"commiffion or warrant officer or private man "that might happen to be wounded in the " fervice; and the rear admiral was further di"rected to affure of a further reward from the vice admiral, out of his fhare, all who fhould "eminently diftinguish them felves by any ex"traordinary actions of prudence and bravery, befides a fecured advancement proportiona"ble to their zeal and refolution exerted on fo fignal an occafion, for the honour of the crown and future profperity of their coun " try." AFTER iffuing thefe orders to Sir Chaloner Ogle, and alfo that part of them as related to the divifion of the booty to Commodore Lef tock the vice admiral affembled a general council of war, compofed of the four principal officers of the army, and of the four principal officers of the navy, who having received and carefully weighed the reports of the general officers who had been reconnoitring the town, and the Captains Knowles and Cooper, unanimously refolved, "That Sir Chaloner Oglefhould the next morning fall down with his "divific |