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John Drinkwater (1762–1844) was stationed at Gibraltar with the Royal Manchester Volunteers from June 1779 to February 1783 while it was besieged by a Franco-Spanish force. He kept a careful record of events during the longest siege endured by British forces. Returning to England a captain, in 1785 he published his account of the unsuccessful siege, which went through four editions in five years. The siege by both land and naval forces put the garrison under great pressure, as food and fuel became scarce. Two successful naval expeditions in 1780 and 1781 evaded the blockade to bring provisions and extra troops, and to evacuate civilians. The siege was lifted, and Gibraltar remained a key British naval base in the Mediterranean. As well as giving his own eyewitness account, Drinkwater got assistance from other officers and men, and also provides illustrations of Gibraltar and plans of the siege.

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By J.F. DRINKWATER. .. and Roman discord has opened the approach to barbarian war. Claudian, Gothic War 287 * I am extremely grateful to my colleagues, Wolf Liebeschuetz and Thomas Wiedemann, for their perceptive criticisms of earlier versions of this paper. I owe particular thanks to my pupil and friend, Werner Liltkenhaus, for permission to publish ideas contained in and arising out of discussion of his current doctoral dissertation on Constantius III, and for his comments on the penultimate draft of this article. The first version was written at the Fondation Hardt, Geneva. I am indebted to the British Academy, the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique and all the staff at the Fondation for supporting my stay there. 1 So Esmonde Cleary 1989, 138: 'If one must have a single date for the end of Roman rule in Britain then 411 is it'. Chrysos 1991, 274: 'Man kann die Tragweite der Ereignisse der Jahre um 410 fur die Insel kaum ilberschatzen'; and Burns 1994, 208: 'The precise sequence of events at the end of 406 and the spring of 407 is critical to the interpretation of the collapse of Stilicho's regime, and ultimately the fragmentation of the Western Empire'.