Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889, by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here. GIBRALTAR.
GIBRALTAR.
The point or rock known as Gibraltar is a promontory two and one-half miles long and from a quarter to three-quarters of a mile wide. It rises abruptly from the sandy shore to a height at its highest point of 1,408 ft. It is composed of gray limestone, honeycombed with caves and subterranean passages, some of which contain most beautiful stalactites in the form of massive pillars.
Gibraltar is emphatically a fortress, and in some respects its fortifications are unique. On the eastern side the rock needs no defense beyond its own precipitous cliffs, and in all other directions it has been rendered practically impregnable. Besides a sea wall extending at intervals round the western base of the rock, and strengthened by curtains and bastions and three formidable forts, there are batteries in all available positions from the sea wall up to the summit, 1,350 feet above the sea, and a remarkable series of galleries has been hewn out of the solid face of the rock toward the north and northwest. These galleries have an aggregate length of between two and three miles, and their breadth is sufficient to let a carriage pass. Portholes are cut at intervals of twelve yards, so contrived that the gunners are safe from the shot of any possible assailants. At the end of one of the galleries hollowed out in a prominent part of the cliff is St. George's Hall, 50 feet long by 85 feet wide, in which the governor was accustomed to give fetes. Alterations, extensions, and improvements are continually taking place in the defensive system, and new guns of the most formidable sort are gradually displacing or supplementing the old fashioned ordnance.
The whole population of Gibraltar, whether civil or military, is subjected to certain stringent rules. For even a day's sojourn the alien must obtain a pass from the town major, and if he wish to remain longer, a consul or householder must become security for his good behavior. Licenses of residence are granted only for short periods—ten, fifteen, or twenty days—but they can be renewed if occasion require. Military officers may introduce a stranger for thirty days. A special permit is necessary if the visitor wishes to sketch.
Though the town of Gibraltar may be said to date from the fourteenth century, it has preserved very little architectural evidence of its antiquity. Rebuilt on an enlarged and improved plan after its almost complete destruction during the great siege, it is still, on the whole, a mean-looking town, with narrow streets and lanes and an incongruous mixture of houses after the English and the Spanish types. As a proprietor may at any moment be called upon to give up his house and ground at the demand of the military authorities, he is naturally deterred from spending his money on substantial or sumptuous erections. The area of the town is about one hundred acres.
Gibraltar was known to the Greek and Roman geographers as Calpe or Alybe, the two names being probably corruptions of the same local (perhaps Phenician) word. The eminence on the African coast near Ceuta, which bears the modern English name of Apes' Hill, was then designated Abyla; and Calpe and Abyla, at least according to an ancient and widely current interpretation, formed the renowned pillars of Hercules (Herculis columnæ), which for centuries were the limits of enterprise to the seafaring peoples of the Mediterranean world.
The strategic importance of the rock appears to have been first discovered by the Moors, who, when they crossed over from Africa in the eighth century, selected it as the site of a fortress. From their leader, Tarik Ibn Zeyad, it was called Gebel Tarik or Tarik's Hill; and, though the name had a competitor in Gebel af Futah, or Hill of the Entrance, it gradually gained acceptance, and still remains sufficiently recognizable in the corrupted form of the present day. The first siege of the rock was in 1309, when it was taken by Alonzo Perez de Guzman for Ferdinand IV. of Spain, who, in order to attract inhabitants to the spot, offered an asylum to swindlers, thieves, and murderers, and promised to levy no taxes on the import or export of goods. The attack of Ismail Ben Ferez, in 1315 (second siege), was frustrated; but in 1333 Vasco Paez de Meira, having allowed the fortifications and garrison to decay, was obliged to capitulate to Mahomet IV. (third siege). Alphonso's attempts to recover possession (fourth siege) were futile, though pertinacious and heroic, and he was obliged to content himself with a tribute for the rock from Abdul Melek of Granada; but after his successful attack on Algeciras in 1344 he was encouraged to try his fortune again at Gibraltar. In 1349 he invested the rock, but the siege (fifth siege) was brought to an untimely close by his death from the plague in February, 1350. The next or sixth siege resulted simply in the transference of the coveted position from the hands of the King of Morocco to those of Yussef III. of Granada; and the seventh, undertaken by the Spanish Count of Niebla, Enrico de Guzman, proved fatal to the besieger and his forces. In 1462, however, success attended the efforts of Alphonso de Arcos (eighth siege), and in August the rock passed once more under Christian sway. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, a powerful grandee who had assisted in its capture, was anxious to get possession of the fortress, and though Henry IV. at first managed to maintain the claims of the crown, the duke ultimately made good his ambition by force of arms (ninth siege), and in 1469 the king was constrained to declare his son and his heirs perpetual governors of Gibraltar. In 1479 Ferdinand and Isabella made the second duke Marquis of Gibraltar, and in 1492 the third duke, Don Juan, was reluctantly allowed to retain the fortress. At length, in 1501, Garcilaso de la Vega was ordered to take possession of the place in the king's name, and it was formally incorporated with the domains of the crown. After Ferdinand and Isabella were both dead the duke, Don Juan, tried in 1506 to recover possession, and added a tenth to the list of sieges. Thirty-four years afterward the garrison had to defend itself against a much more formidable attack (eleventh siege)—the pirates of Algiers having determined to recover the rock for Mahomet and themselves. The conflict was severe, but resulted in the repulse of the besiegers. After this the Spaniards made great efforts to strengthen the place, and they succeeded so well that throughout Europe Gibraltar was regarded as impregnable.
In the course of the war of the Spanish succession, however, it was taken by a combined English and Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke, assisted by a body of troops under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt. The captors had ostensibly fought in the interests of Charles Archduke of Austria (afterward Charles III.), but, though his sovereignty over the rock was proclaimed on July 24, 1704, Sir George Rooke on his own responsibility caused the English flag to be hoisted, and took possession in name of Queen Anne. It is hardly to the honor of England that it was both unprincipled enough to sanction and ratify the occupation and ungrateful enough to leave unrewarded the general to whose unscrupulous patriotism the acquisition was due. The Spaniards keenly felt the injustice done to them, and the inhabitants of the town of Gibraltar in great numbers abandoned their homes rather than recognize the authority of the invaders. In October, 1704, the rock was invested by sea and land; but the Spanish ships were dispersed by Sir John Leake, and the Marquis of Villadarias fared so ill with his forces that he was replaced by Marshal Tesse, who was at length compelled to raise the siege in April, 1705. During the next twenty years there were endless negotiations for the peaceful surrender of the fortress, and in 1726 the Spaniards again appealed to arms. But the Conde de la Torres, who had the chief command, succeeded no better than his predecessors, and the defense of the garrison under General Clayton and the Earl of Portmore was so effectual that the armistice of June 23 practically put a close to the siege, though two years elapsed before the general pacification ensued. The most memorable siege of Gibraltar, indeed one of the most memorable of all sieges, was that which it sustained from the combined land and sea forces of France and Spain during the years 1779-1783. The grand attack on the place was made on the 13th September, 1782, and all the resources of power and science were exhausted by the assailants in the fruitless attempt. On the side of the sea they brought to bear against the fortress forty-six sail of the line and a countless fleet of gun and mortar boats. But their chief hope lay in the floating batteries planned by D'Arcon, an eminent French engineer, and built at the cost of half a million sterling. They were so constructed as to be impenetrable by the red hot shot which it was foreseen the garrison would employ; and such hopes were entertained of their efficiency that they were styled invincible. The Count D'Artois (afterward Charles X.) hastened from Paris to witness the capture of the place. He arrived in time to see the total destruction of the floating batteries and a considerable portion of the combined fleet by the English fire. Despite this disaster, however, the siege continued till brought to a close by the general pacification, February 2, 1783. The history of the four eventful years' siege is fully detailed in the work of Drinkwater, who himself took part in the defense, and in the life of its gallant defender Sir George Augustus Eliott, afterward Lord Heathfield, whose military skill and moral courage place him among the best soldiers and noblest men whom Europe produced during the 18th century.
Since 1783 the history of Gibraltar has been comparatively uneventful. In the beginning of 1801 there were rumors of a Spanish and French attack, but the Spanish ships were defeated off Algeciras in June by Admiral Saumarez. Improvements in the fortifications, maintenance of military discipline, and legislation in regard to trade and smuggling are the principal matters of recent interest.
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