ged their friends inside the walls not to surrender on their account. Eventually the defenders of Derry erected a gallows on the walls in sight of the enemy to hang the prisoners whom they held unless their starving relatives were released. Alarmed by this threat, General Rosen released the Protestants, though many were left lying dead from exposure, outside the gates.

The siege continued and on Saturday, July 27, the last cow and the last horse were slaughtered for the starving people. All of the dogs already had been eaten. But relief came at last. The historian Thomas B. Macaulay best describes the closing scenes:

"The sun had just set: the evening service in the cathedral was over, and the heart-broken congregation had separated, when the sentinels on the towers saw the sails of three vessels coming up the Foyle. Soon there was a stir in the Irish camp. The besiegers were on the alert for miles along both shores. The ships were in extreme peril, for the river was low, and the only navigable channel ran very near to the left bank . . . where the batteries were most numerous..."

To prevent relief by sea, the Irish army had built a boom of logs and cables across the river just below the town. Macau-lay continues his account:

"At length the little squadron came to the place of peril. Then the Mountjoy took the lead and went right at the boom. The huge barricade cracked and gave way, but the shock was such that the Mountjoy rebounded and stuck in the mud. A yell of triumph arose from the banks: the Irish rushed to their boats, and were preparing to board, but the Dartmouth poured on them a well-directed broadside, which threw them in disorder. Just then the Phoenix dashed into the breach which the Mountjoy had made, and was in a moment within the fence. Meanwhile the tide was rising fast. The Mount joy began to move and soon passed safe within the broken stakes and floating spars."

By 10 o’clock the ships were safe at the landing and great stores of food were unloaded. As Macaulay remarks, "It is easy to imagine with what tears grace was said over the suppers of that evening." The next night the besiegers burned their quarters and stole away.

It is estimated that 10,000 soldiers and civilians, one-third of the total population, died during the siege, mostly from hunger and disease, comparatively few from enemy bullets. Of the 7,000-man army, only 4,300 survived.