13. The British remained committed to resupplying Gibraltar
On September 11, 1782, another British supply convoy departed Great Britain with supplies for Gibraltar, defended by 35 ships of the line under Admiral Richard Howe, who had earlier in the war commanded the British fleet in North America. The journey was slow and in October the fleet was scattered by storms, which could have been disastrous since the combined Franco-Spanish fleet had sailed from Cadiz to meet the British fleet. Meanwhile one of the ships left at Gibraltar to enforce the blockade was driven by storms under the guns of the British garrison. After damaging the ship, San Miguel, with cannon fire from their batteries the British attacked it with gunboats and captured the vessel.
Howe had prepared his captains and those of the merchant ships in the convoy for the contingency of being separated, designating a rendezvous station, and by mid-October the British relief expedition, which also carried several regiments of the British Army, was in the harbor at Gibraltar. Howe used the warships of his fleet as bait to draw the reassembled French and Spanish fleet away from the convoy, sailing in line ahead formation as if he was preparing for battle. The Bourbon fleet was too slow to catch the newer British ships and battle eluded them, and the convoy was able to discharge its cargo unmolested. With Gibraltar again resupplied, and with its garrison reinforced, it was evident to the French that the port would remain in British hands. The Spanish continued to maintain the siege.