the operations which
eventually resulted in the planting of a battery of 18-pounder guns,
together with the necessary ammunition, upon the summit of that
precipitous rock, at a height of no less than 700 feet above the sea-
level; suffice it to briefly say that by the almost unparalleled skill
and perseverance of the officers in charge, and the equally
extraordinary exertions of the bluejackets, the feat was actually
accomplished, and by sunset on the 15th of February, 1794, everything
was ready for opening fire.

I had hoped that, as the idea might fairly be said to have originated
with me, I should be entrusted with the charge of one of the working
parties engaged in the task of establishing the battery; but, much to my
disappointment, I was left in charge of the cutter, which, during the
progress of the operations, was kept going between the fleet and the
shore literally day and night, in consequence of which Mr Robert
Summers was turned over to me as my first lieutenant. We grumbled
almost incessantly at our hard lot in not being allowed to render our
valuable assistance more directly to the work in hand, but the reward
for our enforced self-denial was nearer at hand than either of us
expected.

The morning of the 16th broke fair and clear, with scarcely a breath of
air to ruffle the surface of the water, and with the first streak of
dawn all hands were aroused by the roar of the cannonade from the Cliff
Battery, as we had named it. All day long without a moment's
intermission was the fire kept up, and on into the evening as long as
there was light enough to see. Then the fire slackened down somewhat,
the efforts of our gunners being merely directed through the night to
the prevention of all attempts on the part of the enemy to execute
repairs. On the following morning our guns again opened upon the
devoted redoubt, and shortly after midday a message was brought down to
me for conveyance to the admiral, the substance of which was that there
was every indication of a practicable breach being effected before
sunset.

There was a fresh breeze dead against us, but we crowded sail on the
cutter to such an extent, in our eagerness to get off to the fleet with
the welcome news, that it is the greatest wonder in the world we did not
carry the sticks out of her. Arrived under the lee of the "Victory,"
Bob and I jumped into our dinghy, and, rowing alongside the flag-ship,
sprang up her lofty sides, and, finding the