noon
The preparations for relieving the town had been so well concealed that the Spaniards had believed that the British men-of-war were destined for the West Indies , and had thought that the merchantmen would have fallen easy prizes to their squadron , which consisted of eleven men-of-war . Chapter 13 : Oranges And Lemons . There was great anxiety in Gibraltar that night , for the wind was very light and from the wrong direction and , in the morning , it was seen that the greater portion of the convoy had drifted far away to the east . Soon after noon , however , the Edgar managed to get in with the Spanish admiral 's flagship -- the Phoenix , of eighty guns -- and in the evening the Prince George , with eleven or twelve ships , worked in round Europa Point ; but Admiral Rodney , with the main body of the fleet and the prizes , was forced to anchor off Marbella -- a Spanish town -- fifteen leagues east of Gibraltar . It was not until seven or eight days later that the whole of the fleet and convoy arrived in the port . On the 29th a transport came in with the 2nd battalion of the 73rd Regiment , with 944 rank and file . A large number of heavy cannon , from the prizes , were landed ; and several hundreds of barrels of powder , in addition to those brought out with the convoy .