It was during the war of American Independence, when France and Spain made an all out attempt to recapture the Rock from the British in Gibraltar’s 14th Siege, always called the Great Siege. It lasted from July 1779 to February 1783.General Elliott then called Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar is said to have offered a reward to anyone who could tell him how to get guns on to a projection from the precipitous northern face of the rock known as the notch.

Sergeant Major Ince,a member of the company of Military Artificers, forerunners of the Royal Engineers suggested that this could be done by tunneling. Permission was granted and Sergeant Major Ince started works under the direction of Lieutenant J.Evelegh,a Royal Engineer. The tunnellers relied on the strength of their arms, on their skills of a sledgehammer and a crowbar and were also aided by gunpowder.The Labyrinth of tunnels known as perhaps the most impressive defense system devised by man.