communicated with the coast, after leaving Bermeo, and was informed, that the besiegers of Castro had lost, in the different attacks, at least 2500 men.”
The 24-pounders mentioned by Captain Bloye, as landed from the Sparrow, were parbuckled up an almost inaccessible rock, nearly 200 yards high; and had attached to them improved sights, recently invented by her zealous commander, combining the elevation and line of sight in one focus, and enabling him to throw shells with such precision, that two out of every three burst in the French batteries. By means of these new sights, the Sparrow also threw many shells with astonishing effect, while covering the embarkation of the Spanish garrison. The following is given as a proof of the strength of Captain Tayler’s nerves.
A considerable number of the enemy being one day seen in column, he had turned his fire upon them, and was in the act of pointing a carronade, trained with its side fronting the nearest French battery, when a 12-pound shot struck it, and made a considerable dent in the upper part of the breech: his men exclaimed “the gun will burst;” but finding that the rammer would go down its whole length, and careless of all danger, he instantly reloaded and discharged it. This gun, the carriage being split, was then lashed to a piece of rock, and constantly fired by Captain Tayler till the evacuation of the island. When subsequently landed at Plymouth, every person in the arsenal expressed the greatest surprise that it had not burst, the indentation being equal to half the diameter of the enemy’s shot.
On the 10th June, 1813, being then off Guiteria, with the Constant gun-brig, Lieutenant John Stokes, under his orders, Captain Tayler received a letter from Don Miguel Artola, commandant of a Spanish battalion, stating that he was closely pursued by a very superior force, and in want of British assistance. Prompt measures were immediately adopted for his succour; Lequitio was fixed upon as the price of embarkation; and, in the night, both brigs being pushed close in shore. Captain Tayler had the satisfaction of rescuing 1270 officers and men, the elite of the Biscayan army.
After landing Colonel Artola and his corps at St. Andero,
