After abandoning a land assault, the allies adopted Jean Le Michaud d'Arçon's claim that floating batteries could be made unsinkable and unburnable. Thick timber, wet sand, pumped water, and old cable were supposed to absorb shot, suppress fire, and balance the concentrated port-side armament. Five large and five smaller batteries would mass their guns while ships of the line and bomb vessels divided British attention. D'Arçon even approached Gibraltar under fire to gather the information needed for the design, showing that the concept was an engineered assault system rather than an improvised hulk.
Notable Point · 2:05:51-2:07:31
The floating batteries promise an unburnable assault platform
A French engineer proposes one-sided, timber-and-wet-sand floating batteries intended to survive Gibraltar's guns while concentrating heavy fire on the walls.