Two valuable inventions were made during the siege by Artillery officers, to increase the efficacy of their fire. By means of one, a gun could be depressed to any angle not exceeding 70°—a most important invention in a fortification like Gibraltar. The other discovery—if it may be called so—was in an opposite direction. The nightly bombardment, in 1781, by the enemy's gunboats not merely caused great damage and loss of life, but also an annoyance and irritation out of proportion to the injury inflicted. Governor Eliott resolved to retaliate in similar fashion, and to bombard the Spanish camp, which it was hoped to reach by firing from the Old Mole Head. On it was placed a 13-inch sea-service mortar, fired at the usual elevation but with a charge of from twenty-eight to thirty pounds of powder; and in the sand alongside, secured by timber, and at an angle of 42°, five 32-pounders and one 18 pounder were sunk, and fired with charges of fourteen and nine pounds of powder respectively. The results were most satisfactory,—alarming and annoying the enemy, and in proportion cheering the garrison. It was impossible that a siege of such duration could continue without the importance and responsibility of Artillery officers becoming apparent. This fact produced an order from the Governor, which saved them from much interference from amateur Artillerymen in the form of Brigadiers. The officers commanding in any part of the Fort were forbidden to interfere with the officers of Artillery in the execution of their duty, nor were they to give orders for firing from any of the batteries without consulting the officer who might happen to be in charge of the Artillery. The life of the garrison during this weary siege was, as might be expected, monotonous in the extreme. The distress undergone, the want of provisions felt by all ranks, from the self denying Governor downwards;— the hoping against hope for relief;—the childish excitement at every rumour which reached the place;—the indignation at what seemed a cruel, unnecessary, and spiteful bombardment;—and the greater fury among the troops, when, among other results of the enemy's fire, came the disclosure in the damaged houses and stores of the inhabitants, of large quantities of wine and provisions, hoarded through all the time of scarcity, in the hope that with still greater famine the price they would bring would be greater too;—all these are told with the minuteness of daily observation, in the work from which all accounts of the siege are more or less drawn.