This led General Boyd in 1775 to apply for another augmentation to the soldier-artificers, which was the more necessary as three regiments, furnishing a number of mechanics for the fortifications, were about to leave the Rock; and also as the foreign artificers—several of whom had been re-engaged since the pressure of the works—were like birds of passage, abandoning the fortress when they pleased. This the soldier-artificers could not do. To their attention and assiduity, therefore, the progress of the bastion and other works of the garrison were mainly attributable; and General Boyd, in a letter to Lord Rochford, dated 5th October, 1775, gave them full credit for their services. “We can,” wrote the General, “depend only upon the artificer company for constant work, and on soldiers occasionally. Had it not been for the artificer company, we should not have made half the progress in the King’s Bastion, as well as in the other works of the garrison.” On the 16th January, 1776, His Majesty sanctioned an addition to the company of one sergeant, one corporal, one drummer, and twenty privates, all masons, who were to be reduced again when the Hanoverian troops should leave the fortress.[9] With this increase the company consisted of 116 non-commissioned officers and men. ----- Footnote 9: When the Hanoverian troops left Gibraltar, the company had the best character for efficiency and utility, and its numbers therefore were not reduced. ----- Steadily the works advanced; soon the King’s Bastion[10] was finished, and the fortress was now in such a state of defence as greatly to alleviate the apprehension, which, a few years before, caused General Boyd so much anxiety. Though not exactly all that could be desired to oppose the onslaught of a determined and daring adversary, it was yet capable of a long and obstinate resistance; and, from the political phases of the period, it did not seem at all unlikely that its strength would soon be tried, and the prowess and fortitude of the garrison tested. ----- Footnote 10: At this bastion the company worked, by express orders, from gun-fire in the morning to gun-fire in the evening, as also on Sundays. All the work was of cut stone, and skilfully executed. A model of it, exquisitely wrought in polished stone, is in the Rotunda at Woolwich. It formerly belonged to George III. In 1820, George IV. presented it to the Royal Military Repository. ----- 1779-1782. Jealousy of Spain—Declares war with England—Strength of the garrison at Gibraltar—Preparations for defence and employment of the company—Siege commenced—Privations of the garrison—Grand sortie and conduct of the company—Its subsequent exertions—Origin of the subterranean galleries—Their extraordinary prosecution—Princess Anne’s battery—Third augmentation—Names of non-commissioned officers.