The inner enclosure of the fort was spacious, and buildings consisting of governor's house, chapel, guardroom and barracks surrounded a barrack square. These buildings had ramparts from which extensive views were afforded over sea and land in all directions. Easy access was provided by shallow steps with only a three-inch rise, so that laden mules and guns could be taken up. But what appeared above ground was only half the fort. The whole garrison could be housed underground. Here were living quarters, stores and arsenal all interconnected by underground passages, thus providing complete safety. Even guards going on and off duty could do so under cover. From the sea the fort was seen only as four large bastions surrounded by a deep ditch.
The Duc consequently made slower progress than he had hoped, and he and his aristocratic generals did not make a determined attack on the fort until after the arrival of Admiral Byng a month later. (It is said that it was during this period that a Mahon innkeeper invented a sauce for the Duc from eggs and oil, which he later introduced to France and the world as mayonnaise.)
When Byng reached Minorca's southern coast on 19 May, and hove to off the Isle of Aire, his loyal friend Augustus Hervey was not on the besieged island, but waiting for him at sea off Majorca, where he was being blockaded by two French ships. Their reunion was restrained but cordial. A first priority was to establish communications with the beleaguered garrison at Fort St Philip, where the Union flag - it was observed - still flew.
This proved difficult as they were exposed to enemy fire from La Mola opposite the fort, and sailing ships were at the mercy of the wind. Hervey offered to deliver a message from Byng to General Blakeney, and set off at dawn in the Phoenix, round the Isle of Aire, but the wind fell, and calm prevented a nearer approach. As he was probably just offshore from the modern resort of S'Algar, he was too far away from the fort to be observed.  Contact had failed.
But in fact Robert Boyd, storekeeper in the fort for the previous sixteen years, had spotted the Phoenix, and begged Colonel Jeffries to allow him to row out immediately; but Blakeney unaccountably delayed his going till late afternoon. As a civilian Boyd.may seem a curious person to have sent on such an important task, but Boyd was no ordinary man. In an age when - as was later said -officers were noblemen, and soldiers rogues, Boyd's subsequent career was unusual. Two years later he received a commission as lieutenant-colonel for his services to Minorca, and a distinguished military career followed, ending with the governorship of Gibraltar.
Boyd at last got away in a six-oared boat manned by ten sailors, but soon lost distance from Byng's fleet, owing to the direction of the wind. They had to return as dusk was falling, and their boat was fired on twice, although no one was injured.
To co-ordinate action contact was vital, but also to put ashore Lord Effingham, Lord Robert Bertie and his regiment, General Stuart and Colonel Cornwallis - all senior officers who would have been invaluable to Blakeney; but no further attempt at communication was made by either Byng or Blakeney.
 
 

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