Scottish draftsman John Archer’s report on the French bombardment of the castle of San Felipe (1756)

Among the collections of the Royal Trust we can find an unprecedented manuscript of about fifty pages written by the (presumably) Scottish engineer John Archer, which explains the reasons why some British commanders, entrenched in the Castle of San Felipe, did not want to capitulate to the French who finally occupied Menorca between 1756 and 1763.

The Castle of San Felipe was besieged between May 8 and June 29, 1756 by French troops. The British commanders went to Archer to write a report of the events when Mahón was already practically lost. This was the same British military leadership that was later accused of not destroying houses in Mahón that eventually sheltered the French. Despite that, surprisingly, almost everyone was promoted.

On the other hand, regarding engineer Archer, it is unknown what his future was. His legacy is the aforementioned manuscript and a map of the siege of the port fortress of Mahón in the 18th century.

Source: Diario Menorca