By the late 18th century, Gibraltar had faced fourteen sieges in 500 years. 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, The Great Siege, (July 1779 to February 1783), the then Governor General Eliott offered a reward to anyone who could tell him how to get guns and ammunition on to a projection from the precipitous northern face of the Rock known as the Notch. It took five weeks for 18 men to dig a tunnel 8 feet square (2.40 m²) by 82 feet (25m) long (25m) into the Rock, using just sledgehammers, crowbars and explosives.