two o'clock in the morning
Several mortar vessels moved close in shore and threw shells into the town , while the batteries poured in red hot shot . This spread great alarm throughout the town . The people could be hardly induced to continue working on the defenses , and many took refuge in cellars or in the churches . Ammunition began to fail , and despair was taking possession of the defenders , when , at two o'clock in the morning of the 21st , a galley ran safely into the harbor bearing a supply of powder and encouraging messages from Lord Peterborough . Three days later he managed to throw a body of Neapolitan troops into the town , embarking them in boats at Matero , a small port a few miles to the northeast of the town . He sent them close along the shore in order to pass the enemy 's fleet , if possible , unobserved . They found , however , that a line of boats had been drawn across the harbor to blockade the entrance .