HISTORY OF MALTA.

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of his Catholic majesty. I will not enter into any particularsrelative to those three campaigns, which were much more ex-pensive than useful; since they only consisted in bombardingand cannonading some places on the coast of Barbary, theprincipal of which was Algiers; and plainly proved how veryinsufficient were the means employed to destroy the retreat ofthese pirates. It ought, however, to be mentioned, that in1784 the galleys left Malta on the 6th of May, and returnedon the 9th of September, after a campaign of more than fourmonths. It may perhaps appear extraordinary, that thoughthe Maltese galleys had suffered greatly before Algiers, theSpanish fleet having been so much damaged by bad weatheras to be forced to retreat into their own ports, the king ofSpain should request them still to remain at sea, to defendhis coast against the Algerines*. This, however, they didmost ably and successfully. It must not be passed over insilence, that Spain had more than a hundred ships of war atthat period, and that her naval officers were spirited men, par-ticularly anxious for an opportunity of signalising themselves.

* See Appendix, No. XI. a letter from the Spanish minister of the marine departmentto the general of the galleys.

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