18. The siege at Gibraltar continued to drag on
Following the defeat of the Grand Assault on Gibraltar and the subsequent arrival of the third relief expedition, the siege of the Rock and the destroyed town continued, as the Spanish and French forces remained in their siege lines on land and the combined fleets continued to maintain a blockade of the port. In late September news of the Grand Assault began arriving in Paris and the magnitude of the operation, in which more troops were involved than in all of the campaigns in North America, made the entire operation a discouraging failure. Spanish authorities began to accept the probability that Gibraltar could not be taken, and the comparatively successful operations in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean led them to more meaningful negotiations.
As negotiators in Paris studied the maps of the globe and the possessions which had changed hands in Asian waters, the Caribbean, India, Africa, and in North America, the besieged garrison at Gibraltar began to bombard their tormentors with accurate and steady fire, damaging the siege works and destroying French and Spanish artillery. Spain continued to insist that the British cede Gibraltar at the negotiating table, and the British remained equally determined to retain it, since it was increasingly evident that the Spanish were unable to force them out. France began to lean on its ally to offer other concessions, such as Spanish conquests in North America, in exchange for Gibraltar. The Spanish refused, and the siege continued.