Conspicuous as the bravery of the troops had been in the expedition against Cadiz, still the failure of the attempt naturally caused painful feelings to arise among the British soldiers, who were disappointed of reaping the well-earned fame of a successful enterprise, when victory appeared almost within their grasp. The receipt of information of the arrival of a Spanish fleet from the West Indies, under a French convoy, at the harbour of Vigo, speedily dissipated these feelings, and gave renewed hopes to the troops. The allied fleet immediately bent its course thither, and arrived before Vigo on the 22nd of October, 1702. The French admiral Count de Chateaurenaud had placed his shipping and the galleons within a narrow passage, the entrance to which was defended by a castle on one side, and by platforms mounted with cannon on both sides of the inlet; a strong boom was thrown across the harbour. To facilitate the attack on this formidable barrier, the Duke of Ormond landed a portion of his army six miles from Vigo on the 23rd of October, and took, by assault, a battery of forty pieces of cannon, situated at the entrance of the bay. A British flag, hoisted on this fort, was the signal for a general attack. The fleet in full sail approached, broke the boom at the first shock, and became closely engaged with the enemy’s ships, while the British troops that had landed, stormed and captured the batteries. After a vigorous defence, the French and Spaniards, finding they could not escape, set fire to some of their vessels, and cast their cargoes into the sea; but the British exerted themselves nobly in extinguishing the flames, and succeeded in saving six galleons and seven ships of war. Two thousand of the enemy are stated to have perished, and the Spaniards sustained a loss in goods and treasure exceeding eight million dollars, more than one-half of which fell to the captors, whose loss in this victory was inconsiderable. Queen Anne, attended by the Lords and Commons, went in state to St. Paul’s Cathedral to return thanks for this success, and each of the regiments of infantry received 561_l._ 10_s._ prize-money. Villiers’s Marines (THIRTY-FIRST regiment) did not land at Vigo, but served on board the fleet in this gallant enterprise. The troops under the Duke of Ormond subsequently returned to England, and on their arrival in November, 1702, were stationed as follows, namely:-- Lloyd’s 3rd Dragoons (detachment) Portsmouth. Foot Guards, 1st and Coldstream Gravesend and Chatham. Sir H. Bellasis’s 2nd Foot Portsmouth. Churchill’s 3rd ” Chatham. Seymour’s 4th ” Plymouth. Columbine’s 6th ” Portsmouth. Royal Fusiliers 7th ” Tilbury. VILLIERS’S (Marines) THIRTY-FIRST PLYMOUTH. Fox’s Marines 32nd Foot Plymouth. Viscount Shannon’s Marines Chatham. [Sidenote: 1703]