Note 14 — January the 10th, 1740.

In the Note, Letter (o), it is alledged, that the Admiral sent in these Ships to oblige the General; The Truth of the Fact is this; The Ground over which the Troops were to march to attack the Breach, being flank'd both from Fort St. Joseph, and from the Fascine Battery, it was, March the 22d, resolved in a Council of War, composed of Land Officers, to represent that Circumstance to the Admiral, and that they deem'd the Breach could not be attempted, without great Loss, from the Fire of Fort St. Joseph, and the Fascine Battery, if some Means could not be used by the Fleet to divert their Fire. The Day following, the Admiral signify'd to the General by Letter, "That he had formed a Plan for bringing in the Men of War to make a general Attack on the Enemy's Forts and Batteries"; to which he adds, "that nothing but the Necessity of the Case can justify us in these Resolutions, as it is against our Judgment, as Seamen." After the Opening of the great Gun Battery, the Castle Guns, which bore upon the Camp, were soon silenced; but it was apparent, even to Land-Men, that our Men of War could do little or no Damage to those of the Enemy's Shipping, which, at that time, began to be made very uneasy by the red-hot Balls from the great Gun Battery.