In January 1779 the first battalion of the regiment, commanded by Colonel Lord John Macleod, embarked for the East Indies. [Sidenote: 2d bat.] The second battalion, one thousand strong, embarked at Fort George in Scotland, in March 1779, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie (brother of Lord Macleod), and proceeded to Portsmouth, from thence it went on in transports to Plymouth, where the battalion landed, and was encamped upon Maker Heights until the 27th of November following. The Court of Versailles had now engaged that of Madrid to take a part in the contest, and on the 16th of June 1779 the Spanish ambassador had presented a manifesto at St. James’s, equivalent to a declaration of war, and immediately departed from London. During the summer the siege of Gibraltar was commenced by the Spaniards, the reduction of that important fortress being one of the principal objects of Spain in becoming a party to the war. [Sidenote: 1st bat.] The vessels conveying the first battalion formed part of a fleet escorted by Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, which on the passage touched at Goree, upon the coast of Africa. Goree being evacuated by the French for the purpose of fortifying Senegal, which had been captured by them early in the year, was occupied by a British force, left for that purpose by Sir Edward Hughes. After quitting Goree, the fleet proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, at that time in possession of the Dutch, and there landed the sick. The fleet was detained for three months in Table Bay, for the purpose of refreshment and recovery of the sick, after which it sailed for India. [Sidenote: 1780.] [Sidenote: 2d bat.] After the breaking up of the camp on Maker Heights, the second battalion embarked for Gibraltar in transports, under convoy of Admiral Sir George Rodney. When in the Bay of Biscay, the British encountered, on the 8th of January 1780, a valuable Spanish convoy belonging to the Caracca company, consisting of fifteen merchantmen, with a ship of sixty-four guns, and two frigates, the whole of which were captured. Sir George Rodney being compelled to employ many of the crews of the ships of war in manning the prizes, called upon Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. George Mackenzie for the services of the second battalion of the regiment as _Marines_. In a few days after the men were distributed for this purpose, the fleet defeated, on the 16th of January, off Cape St. Vincent, a squadron of eleven sail of the line, commanded by Admiral Don Juan de Langara. One Spanish ship of seventy guns blew up in the beginning of the action. The Spanish admiral’s ship of eighty guns, and three of seventy, were taken; one of seventy guns ran on shore, and another was lost on the breakers.