Before following the proceedings of the first battalion any further, it will be as well to return to the second battalion, which, as already mentioned, was embodied in September, 1778. In March of the following year, this battalion, 1,000 strong, and commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie (brother of Lord McLeod), embarked at Fort George, and was conveyed to Plymouth. There it remained encamped upon Maker Heights until the 27th November, when it embarked for Gibraltar in transports under convoy of Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney. In the Bay of Biscay the Spanish Caraccas Fleet was encountered, and captured, and the Admiral being compelled to employ a number of the men of his ships of war to man the prizes, called upon Lieut.-Colonel Mackenzie for the services of the battalion as Marines. A few days after the men had been distributed in this manner, the fleet fell in with the Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Langara, with a fleet consisting of eleven sail of the line, the whole of whose ships were either taken or dispersed. On the 18th January, 1780, the second battalion disembarked at Gibraltar, then closely blockaded by the Spaniards, landing at the New Mole and occupying the Casemates in the King’s Bastion, the marching in strength being as follows:— 30 Officers, 6 Staff ditto, 22 Drummers, 944 Rank and file, 50 Sergeants. Here it remained during the whole of the siege of that fortress by the French and Spaniards, sustaining a high character as steady and trustworthy soldiers.