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THE 16th his Catholick Majesty acquainted me, That the Town and Castle of Tarragona still held out against him, but that it was block'd up by some of his good Subjects of the Country thereabouts, and desir'd they might be furnish’d with same Guns, Powder, Smallshot and Arms, to enable them to reduce it, and a Frigat or two to Countenance them. And I ordered Four Guns with Ammunition &c. on Board the RoeBuck, and Phœnix Fireship, and sent them thither, the Earl of Peterborow’s having desir'd that some Nine Pounder Guns might be Landed, which were fitter and more manageable for dismounting the Enemies Guns; I accordingly ordered Six of that Nature to the Landed, with all Materials proper for them.
THE 17th our great Battery of Thirty Guns was opened, and Fourteen of them began to Play with very great Execution upon that Part of the Wall where the Breach was design'd. The Earl of Peterborow’s came aboard, and represented to us the great Necessity he labour’d under for want of Money for Subsisting the Army, and carrying on the Siege of Barcelona, and Services in Catalonia, and in very pressing Circumstances desir'd the Assistance of the Fleet, upon which our Flag-Officers came to the following Resolution, To Lend the Earl of Peterborow’s Forty Thousand Dollars out of the Contingent and short Allowance Money of the Fleet.
THE 19th we came to the Resolution, to continue longer before Barcelona than had at first been resolv’d; to give what Assistance they could; and lay a Fireship ashore near the Arsenal with 209 Barrels of Gunpowder. And a further Demand being made for Guns for the Batteries, we Landed Fourteen more, which made up in all Seventy two Guus, whereof Thirty were Twenty four Pounders, that we Landed here with their Utensils and Ammunition. We continue to Bombard
