From Cadiz Sub-Lieutenant Davie and fifty men under Captain J. F. Birch of the royal engineers, were detached with Sir Thomas Graham’s force, and landed at Algeciras 22nd February. Being armed with short swords only, Sir Thomas caused them to be furnished with such spare muskets, accoutrements, and ammunition as could be collected, to defend themselves if necessary on the march. They were then placed at the head of the column to remove obstructions and facilitate the advance of the army. On the 5th March, Barrosa was fought, and the detachment of artificers was present in the battle. Here sergeant John Cameron gave a manifestation of his zeal by leading to the charge a section of seven men. They pressed where the fight was warmest; and in a few moments lost one private—John Storie—killed and two wounded. The blue uniform of the artificers was distinctly seen among the red coats of the line, and Sir Thomas Graham ordered the instant withdrawal of the party to the rear, observing that he might want it for other work. The sergeant was to have been tried by a court-martial for taking the men into action without orders; but his bravery saved him. In June a second-corporal and four military artificers of the Cadiz company under Lieutenant Harry D. Jones, were attached to Colonel Skerrett’s expedition to assist the Spaniards in sustaining the siege of Tarragona; but the fortress fell while the British troops were in the roadstead. The party of artificers landed and occupied quarters in St. George’s Barracks, near Mahon, in the island of Minorca, and returned to La Isla in July. In the following October, two artificers were sent from Cadiz for the defence of Tarifa under Captain C. F. Smith, R.E. Two also were sent there from Gibraltar by Colonel Sir Charles Holloway, the chief engineer at the fortress. Ultimately the engineers' means were increased to seventeen men of all ranks, who were employed as overseers in strengthening the defences of the place, and they carried on their duty with energy and credit. One private was wounded on the 29th December. A detachment of variable strength continued at Tarifa until April, 1813, when it returned to Cadiz. A reinforcement of twenty men under Sub-Lieutenant Stewart Calder, sailed in November on board the ‘Tartar’ transport for Cadiz, and landed before the end of the year. The artificer force there now counted 101 of all ranks.