They were to land on the mole, and thence hasten as fast as possible into the great square; then form and proceed as should be found expedient.

They were not discovered till about half-past one o'clock, when, being within half gun-shot of the landing-place, Nelson directed the boats to cast off from each other, give a huzza, and push for the shore.

But the Spaniards were exceedingly well prepared; the alarm-bells answered the huzza, and a fire of thirty or forty pieces of cannon, with musketry from one end of the town to the other, opened upon the invaders.

Nothing, however, could check the intrepidity with which they advanced.

The night was exceedingly dark: most of the boats missed the mole and went on shore through a raging surf, which stove all to the left of it.