The grand attack on the
place was made on the 13th September, 1782, and all the resources of
power and science were exhausted by the assailants in the fruitless
attempt. On the side of the sea they brought to bear against the
fortress forty-six sail of the line and a countless fleet of gun and
mortar boats. But their chief hope lay in the floating batteries
planned by D'Arcon, an eminent French engineer, and built at the cost
of half a million sterling. They were so constructed as to be
impenetrable by the red hot shot which it was foreseen the garrison
would employ; and such hopes were entertained of their efficiency that
they were styled invincible. The Count D'Artois (afterward Charles X.)
hastened from Paris to witness the capture of the place. He arrived in
time to see the total destruction of the floating batteries and a
considerable portion of the combined fleet by the English fire.
Despite this disaster, however, the siege continued till brought to a
close by the general pacification, February 2, 1783. The history of
the four eventful years' siege is fully detailed in the work of
Drinkwater, who himself took part in the defense, and in the life of
its gallant defender Sir George Augustus Eliott, afterward Lord
Heathfield, whose military skill and moral courage place him among the
best soldiers and noblest men whom Europe produced during the 18th
century.
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