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44 
Chapter 6 - A Beleagured Island
45
The invasion of Minorca came on 18 April
1756, and the Duke of Newcastle and his Ministry had received warnings
of naval and military troop concentrations at Toulon as early as September
the previous year. But to these and other secret advices they paid no heed.
It was said that the Duc de Richelieu was the French commander and the
number of his force 15,000 men, but Newcastle remained convinced they were
meant for elsewhere.
Not until 9 March did the Board
of the Admiralty stir itself into action, and as dispatches took up to
six weeks to reach Minorca by sea, General Blakeney was ignorant of any
measures whatever to help him when the blow fell.
The Admiralty's action was totally
inadequate and consisted of ordering a number of ships' captains to prepare
their vessels for duty in the Mediterranean without delay, and not until
17 March was Vice-Admiral John Byng notified of his promotion to Admiral,
and that he would command a squadron of ten ships.
It also instructed
the army to recall forty-one absentee officers for return to Minorca -
including wives, children and servants but no provision was made for their
transport.
When Admiral Byng went on board
his new flagship Ramillies at Portsmouth he found that his new squadron
was deficient of 722 officers and men. His own flagship had a crew deficiency
of 222. In spite of the urgency of his task, he found he had been allotted
other duties unconnected with his preparations, and his protests to the
Admiralty were ignored.
A succession of contradictory orders
then reached him from the Admiralty, which was clearly in a state of panic.
Following a last-minute offer of 300 men from other ships, Byng was ordered
to transfer all his marines to other ships to provide space to transport
900 officers, men, servants and families of Lord Robert Bertie's Fusiliers.
Lest he should think these troops might assist him in relieving Minorca,
the next dispatch told him he must put them all ashore at Gibraltar. Would
he also provide cabins for the forty-one absentee officers from Minorca,
including their families? Confusion and muddle continued till the end.
Byng was to receive his final orders from Governor Fowkes at Gibraltar.
He was to proceed to Minorca only if the French attacked it. Perhaps the
Toulon fleet was bound for America after all, in which case he was to pursue
it.
Admiral Byng put to sea from Portsmouth
on 7 April 1756, only eleven days before the French attacked Minorca. He
had neither fireships, hospital ship or even troop transports. There had
been a few days' delay in sailing because of storms, and the Intrepid had
belied her name by returning to port, her timbers hopelessly rotten, and
leaking badly. None of his ships' complements was complete. The frustrations,
contradictions and muddle in preparations for the voyage to Minorca could
have shaken and disheartened any man. For one of Byng's gloomy temperament
the effect would have been more traumatic and permanent.
Byng arrived at Gibraltar on 2 May
after a stormy voyage that lasted thirty days; there he learned from Captain
Edgcumbe of the French attack fourteen days previously. The Duc de Richelieu
had landed a force of 20,000 troops from 200 transports under the Admiral
Galissonniere. The British garrison under command of General Blakeney numbered
only 2,800. He found the necessary naval supplies for his ships sadly lacking
at Gibraltar, where the facilities for cleaning and repairing of vessels
had fallen into decay. He reported these unpalatable facts to the Admiralty,
who were responsible for the negligence.
A Council of War was held, at which
it was decided not to embark extra personnel or war materials for Minorca,
as these would probably be speedily captured. He thus lost valuable senior
officers from regiments who were in the Fort of St Philip. When Byng's
pitiful little fleet of leaky ships at last continued on its way to Minorca,
the admiral was unaware that this was his last naval expedition. He was
later tried by court-martial for losing the Battle of Mahon, and the stage
was set for the Greek tragedy that was to cost him his life.
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