The Sun.
London, England, 1815-02-02 00:00:00

WINCHESTER,—ELEVENTH D4.Y, IVEnNspitv; FEB. 1
The Court met this morning at ten o'clock as

foru:edv.

Lieut. P.YE'S Exthniuction co»tbitthd.'
As agent of transports I am acquainted with the
means of embarkation and disembarkation ; but
there were other Officers in the feet 'of greater
experience than myself, and more capable of speak=
tug on these subjects.
Q. Supposing an army of. 13,000 men; Ipo
horses, with 46 pieces of heavV ordnance, and a tit-
riety of stores, &c. could the embarkation at Tar-
Tagona have been completed in twenty-four
hours, •if the weather tVas favourable ?—A. Con--
sidering local circumstances, I am decidedly of
opinion that it was absolutely impracticable. IT._
deed I consider this more a Matter of fact than opi-
nion. I think it extremely improbable that if this
army bad begun to be embarked at twelve o'clock
on the I2th, that the embarkation could have
been completed on the 13th at day-break-; but
,w 1; en I consider the resources and great experience
of the Officer at the head of the naval branch of
the expedition, with my limited experience, I will
not say that it is 'absolutely impossible. 1 have
answered this question with rJerence to the state
of the weather in the afternoon of the 12th. To
have embarked the whole number of horses, his
Majesty's ships Malta and Fame having furnished
working parties to the number of 600 men ; I out
of opinion, • that it would have required- 24 hours
of perfect day-light. From my knowledge of the
beach, nothing could be so uncertain as a depen-
dence on the weather at. all times.

Gross-examined.

Q. Do you know how many transports we
had ?—A. I understand we had 130 ; but it is
not 'necessary to know the precise. number, when
I know the force to Ire embarked, and also know
that we brought with us no empty transports, ex-
cepting the hospital ship.
sneaking as to the impossibility of, em-
barkation, have von taken into consideration that
the cavalry and artillery
.were sent to 13a1aguer
or embarkation,' and that two battalions of in-
fantry were also there ?—A. I made my calcula-
tion on, the supposition•that the_whole army were
brought down Co the beach. I. was aware that
the horses and artillery were sent to Balaguer
when I answered the question. • •
Q. Do you know that after twelve o'clock of
the 12;h, there were only 18 pieces of heavy ord..'
Nance on shore instead 61.46, as stated by Sir J.
Murray ?—A:The number, of 46wa:i -not stated
in Sir. J. -Murray's question to be on shore at 12
o'clock. •
Q. Were there more than 18 pieces on shore
after twelve o'clock I conceive there were
no More•on shore at that,period, the others hay.
ing been previously embarked.
Q. I: the seamen had worked all the day and
night of the 12t1r, would any thing of conse-
quence ,have been left on shore, excepting the
troops, supposing the horses to have gone to Ba-
laguer ?—A. Certainly not. It was the horses
which constituted the difficulty. The embarkation
of the infantry would have been very light work.
Q. Did we dot embark the horses by means of
stages along the shore Inever saw those
-stages until the embarkation at Balaguer.
Question by the Court.—What time would it
have taken to. embark 18 heavy guns 'and 4000
infantry, supposing the -embarkation to have.be-
gun on the morning of the 13th, at dOvr)
On the 13th we must have erected shears for
the guns, Whereas on the 12th the weather
was so fine we embarked the guns by means of
triangular gins. The guns would have been in
the boats in about two hours, and on board the
ships in about two hours more, had there been
working parties in the ordnance ships. If Bri=
tish troops they would have been embarked in
two hours ; if Spanish troc•pS in three hours. I.
mean the troops could have been embarked at the
same. time with the guns, supposing the men of
wars' boats to he all disposable for the troops.
Q. What time would it have taken to embark
the 4000 men, withOtit the guns,'.at day-hteakof
the 13th ?—A. The difference would not.- have
been great ; I suppose it would have taken 18.
boats .for the guns.
Q. Would 'it have taken two trips of the boats?
A. No.
Captain Charles Patten, 'resident Agent 'for
Transports at. Portsmouth, has been employed
upwards of twenty years as Agent of Transports.
. Sir John Murray having put a question re-
specting the time it would take at Portsinouth to
embark 13,000 men, 1500
,horses, with, stores,
&c.

•
. .
This question was objected to, and the COUrt
was ordered to be cleared. On our .being re-ad-
mitted,

The. Judge Advocate stated it to be the deter-
mination of the. Court, that the question could
not. be put in its present shape.
On the question being put with reference to au
open beach, the witness said, his experience only
went to the embarking of infantry from a beach;
be had never embarked cavalry from'a beach.
Ctiptain John Halstead of the Royal Navy, has
been employed between four and five years as an
agent for transports, and most of that time as
principal agent on expeditions. It would have
taken not less than 48 hours to embark on an
open beach, the number of men, horses, guns,
and stores, formerly mentioned in the question
put to the two preceding witnesses.