June 25th, 26th and 27th
As General Keppel, who commanded the siege, had consented to another battery of our four guns; the great one was not to be opened till the other was ready. -Order were given by the Admiral to prepare The Cambridge pf 80 guns, The Dragon of 74, and Marlborough of 74, to go against The Morro and The Stirling Castle of 70, to be under fail to cover the anchoring of those
ships; These were ordered to be under the directions of Captain Hervey, who had offered himself on this occasion.
Major Moneypenny who commanded some light infantry surprized about 60 or 70 of the enemy`s horses, and took them prisoners.
June 28th
The batteries employed every one`s attention. The cannon were drawing up through the woods to
wards them, and others mounting on the first -The Defiance, and Hampton-Court men of
war were cruifing to the west
ward of the
Havana to reconnoitre the coast, and took a Spanish frigate of 24 guns called The Vengeance, and a show of 18 guns called The Mars belonging to the King of Spain, that were at anchor in the port of
Mariel, which port proved a very fine one, on a furvey that the Admiral directed to be made of it.
June 29th
The enemy threw over in boats about 600 men from the
Havana with intent to furprize and burn our batteries; bur they were gallantly, with little loss on our side repulsed by our guards and working parties, leaving about 220 killed, wounded and wounded, and taken prisoners: they were mostly Mulatos and Negros, with some seaman.
June 30th
The batteries were ready to open and troops ordered to be under arms next morning at day-light. We saw The Dragon, Cambridge, Marlborough and Stirling-Castle under sail steering to
wards the Morro.
July 1st
At day-light we opened our batteries, and the enemy returned a very smart fire. As soon as the sea-breeze came in about seven in the morning, The Cambridge, Dragon and Marlborough ran down and placed themselves close to the Morro Castle.
The Stirling Castle, to our great superprize kept at a great distance, without ever endeavouring to go a-head of those
ships, or join them, the three
ships continued a very
warm fire on the enemy, and and gave our batteries an uninterupted opportunity of dismounting most of the enemy`s guns to the land, their attention being wholly taken up by the
ships, whom they appeared determined to treat as their advantage permited them; for noon The Cambridge and Dragon seemed very much torn to pieces by the fort that was too high, and the Puntal and town-batteries on the western side who kept a
warm fire upon them, and the shells endangered the
ships so much, that they were all ordered off about two o`clock in the afternoon, after near seven hours of the hotest fire on both sides I ever saw.
The Dragon having got so near the fort lay a-ground most of the time when the tide went out, The Cambridge was so shattered that had not The Dragon and Marlborough remained some time longer to cover that ship retreat, she would never have got off.
Killed and wounded in The Cambridge 95
Killed and wounded in The Dragon 53
Killed and wounded in The Marlborough 9
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Total killed and wounded 157
This great loss was much augmented by that of Captain Goostree of The Cambridge, killed the first of the action, and is a real one to his country as well as his friends, and who would otherwise have shared that honour and credit which those two gentlemen have reaped, who so fortunately and happily survived him. -Captain Hervey sent Captain Lindfey of The Trent, to command The Cambridge; and that young officer`s conduct and bravery in the continuance of the engagement fully justified the choice. We continued our fire from the batteries, and brought down their merlins very fast: but The Morro now returning to us kept up a resolute, though slower fire with that cannon they had left, having great advantage and encouragement from their garrison being constantly relieved by boats from the town and which, their situation put it out of our power to prevent.
