Strait of Gibraltar

“ We passed outside of the harbour a little before sunset, and held on to the light until midnight, when we steamed for the Strait of Gibraltar.
Saturday, January 18th.—* * * * We entered the Strait of Gibraltar at about 5 A.M., passing the Tarifa Light, and with the bold shores of both Africa and Europe in plain sight, in the bright moonlight—bright, notwithstanding the passing clouds. We made the Gibraltar light about daybreak, and saw at the same time a number of sail. ”

“ We could not think of running into Gibraltar before overhauling these sails; we might, perchance, find an enemy among them, and so we altered our course and gave chase; as so many barks, ancient and modern, heathen, Christian, and Moor had done before us, in this famous old Strait. The telescope soon revealed the secret of the nationality of two of the sails; they being, as plainly as symmetry and beauty of outline, the taper and grace of spars, and whiteness of canvas—produced upon our own cotton-fields—could speak, American. ”

“ The Caribbean, on the contrary, is enclosed on its eastern side by a chain of small islands, the passages between which, although practically not wider than the Strait of Gibraltar, are so numerous that entrance to the sea on that side may be said correctly to extend over a stretch of near 400 miles. The islands, it is true, are so many positions, some better, some worse, from which military effort to control entrance can be exerted; but their number prevents that concentration and that certainty of effect which are possible to adequate force resting upon Gibraltar or Havana. ”

“ This grand range of batteries, bastions, and ravelins is now armed with upwards of one thousand guns.
To the west lies the Bay, which measures nearly eight miles and a half in length, and upwards of five in breadth; its circuit being between thirty and forty miles. On its western curve, facing the town of Gibraltar, is situated the Spanish town of Algesiras. It boldly indents the shore on the north of the famous Strait, which extends, we may add, from Cape Spartel to Ceuta, on the African coast, and Cape Trafalgar to Europa Point, on the Spanish side. ”

“ With a little use of the imagination we may liken the ridge to a crouching beast keeping guard over the waters of the Strait below. Now the houses of the 5 town begin to show against the dark background of hill, and soon we pass a cruiser at anchor and enter the new harbour, with its docks and coaling wharves enclosed in protecting moles.
We have seen Gibraltar on the west from the level of the sea; let us 6 turn to the map for a moment and take a bird’s-eye glance at the whole peninsula with its surroundings. ”

“ Gibraltar produces nothing except a little fruit, and most of its provisions, including meat and corn, are imported from Tangiers, in Morocco. The inhabitants of the town are dependent for their support upon passing vessels, the English garrison, and a brisk contraband trade with Spain. Gibraltar affords very indifferent shelter, and only one-fourth of the vessels passing through the strait call there, and even these generally confine themselves to replenishing their stock of coal. ”

“ We were directly abreast of the straits of Gibraltar. Europe and Africa lay before me, and the sun was rising behind the lofty ridge of the Atlas mountains. Were I to live a thousand years, I should never forget this moment, nor the overpowering emotions that [Pg 83] took possession of me at the sight. Few prospects in the world can be more imposing. The stern and craggy cliffs of the Spanish coast; the towering wood-crowned peaks of the African mountains; the noble strait that separates these two famous quarters of the globe ”

“ As they walked back to the forecastle, Paul overheard Young remark, that "She might a put it in French or a Italian paper, but he was d—d if they ever put in a American paper!"
When they reached Gibraltar a heavy west wind was blowing in through the strait. Under lowered top-sails they were compelled to beat up and down under the shelter of the rocks. A large fleet of weather bound vessels kept the George company. It is too deep to anchor here, so the vessels are compelled to keep moving up and down until they get a fair wind to go through the straits into the Adriatic. ”

“ If you have to go slowly, so much the better, for you will be glad to linger by the way. As you mount higher and higher, the view spreads out wider and wider. Below, the bay is placid as an inland lake, on which ships of war are riding at anchor, "resting on their shadows," while vessels that have brought supplies for the garrison are unlading at the New Mole. Nor is the side of the Rock itself wanting in beauty. Gibraltar is not a barren cliff ”

“ To those who were watching from the top of the Rock, probably no event of their lives ever moved them so much as when they first caught sight of the English ships entering the Straits of Gibraltar. Men, women, and children, wept aloud for joy, for the coming fleet brought them life from the dead. And when it anchored in the bay, and the ships began to unload, they brought forth not only guns and ammunition, but more priceless treasures—beef, pork, butter, flour, peas, oatmeal, raisins, and biscuits, as well as coals, iron hoops, and candles! ”

“ This, the key to the Mediterranean, is one of the most important coast fortresses in the world. It has been in possession of Great Britain since 1704.
And when we reach Gibraltar the change of scene and life is abrupt and almost startling. If we go to Gibraltar by the road from Spain, we cross a narrow strip called Neutral Ground. It is arbitrarily fixed territory between Spanish and British ground. It is so low that it can hardly be seen from a distance. The effect is to make Gibraltar seem like an island. ”

“ Whatever the exact origin of the Maltese may be, in speaking of Malta and Gibraltar together we are certainly linking the very old with the very new. Gibraltar has no real native people and no continuous history; even from the point of view of naval strategy it is essentially modern. Malta was a naval base in the days when trade and civilization were confined to the Mediterranean; the opening of the Suez Canal has merely added to its former importance. Gibraltar only comes into history when western civilization has spread to the outer seas and the broad Atlantic. ”

“ Aside from its military importance, Gibraltar is of the greatest value to England as a stopping-place, where coal and other necessaries can be obtained by her commercial marine. All the steamers which pass through the Suez Canal on their way to India and Australia stop here. If England were at war with any other nation, the place would be of vast importance as a coaling station, where her ships could lie in safety in spite of any force that might assail them.
"There are no springs of fresh water on the Rock," said Captain Ringgold to his party. ”

“ It was a great centre when Rome and Carthage wrestled in a death-grapple for its possession. But England is as much at home in the Mediterranean as if it were one of her own lakes. At Gibraltar, at its entrance, she has a magnificent bay, more than five miles in diameter, deep, safe from storms, protected from man's assault by its more than adamantine rock. In the centre, at Malta, she has a harbor, land-locked, curiously indented, sleeping safely beneath the frowning guns of Valetta. But from Southampton to Gibraltar is for a steamship an easy six days' sail ”

“ At the point of contact of two continents, on the direct line of ocean trade with the far East, in regular steam communication with all the great ports of Europe and with North and South America, Gibraltar, by its position, is fitted to be a trade centre of the world, but the unrest and suspicion engendered in Morocco by the intrigues and designs of the European powers, and excessive protective duties and maladministration in Spain, have done much to extinguish the trade of Gibraltar. ”

“ The steamer Clyde left at 7 p.m.
After 3 days' voyage we reached Gibraltar at 12 p.m. The ship remained there the whole night. I had a good mind to see Gibraltar, so got up early in the morning and awakened Mazmudar and asked him whether he would come with me to the shore or not. He said he would. Then I went to Mr. Majid and awoke him. We three went to the shore. The time at our disposal was only 1 1/2 hours. It being the dawn of the day all the shops were shut. It is said that Gibraltar being a free port smoking is very cheap. Gibraltar is built upon a rock. ”

“ Not an Englishman passes through the Straits whose heart does not swell within him to see the flag of his country floating from the top of the Rock, from which, as he believes, the whole world cannot tear it down. Every true Briton would look upon the lowering of that flag as the abdication of Imperial power.
But is not this an over-estimate of the value of Gibraltar to England? Is it worth all it costs? Would it weigh much in the balance in a great contest of nations for the mastery of the world? The object of this Rock-fortress is to command the passage into the Mediterranean. ”

“ We are apt to consider the Gibraltar of to-day as occupying the same position to the Mediterranean as Queenstown does to the Atlantic, a place where passengers go ashore while the mails are being taken on board, and not so much for their interest in the place itself as to again feel solid earth under their feet. There are passengers who will tell you on the way out that you can see all there is to be seen there in three hours. As a matter of fact, one can live in Gibraltar for many weeks and see something new every day. ”

“ So here this mountain wall that rises above me, does not awe and overwhelm so much as it shelters and protects; the higher it lifts its head, the more it carries me upward, and gives me an outlook over a wider horizon. If I were a dweller in Gibraltar, I would seek out every sequestered nook upon its side, where I could be away from the haunts of men, and could "dream dreams and see visions." Often would I climb to the Signal Station, or O'Hara's Tower, to see the glory of the sunrisings and sunsettings ”

“ This side has never been fortified, for the reason that it is so defended by nature that it needs no other defence. One would as soon think of storming El Capitan in the valley of the Yosemite as the eastern side of the Rock of Gibraltar. Yet he who has followed a Swiss guide in the Alps knows that with his cool head and agile step he will climb heights which seemed inaccessible. And so a Spanish shepherd, or goatherd, had found a path from Catalan Bay, up which he offered to lead a party to the top, and five hundred men were daring enough to follow him. ”

“ For picturesqueness of situation, the mighty Rock, standing at the entering in of the seas, is unique in the world, and the outlook along the shores of Africa and Europe is enough to captivate the eye of the most sight-worn traveller. And the people who hold this rock-fortress are worthy to be its masters, for they are not only brave, as soldiers are by profession, but they have all the manly qualities of the English race; they are chivalrous and generous. Nowhere does English hospitality appear more charming. If ever a man had occasion to like Gibraltar and the English in Gibraltar, I have ”

“ On that sea-route I might have picked up a memory at every mile if the past had not been eclipsed by the tremendous actuality. We saw the signs of it in the emptiness of the Mediterranean, the aspect of Gibraltar, the misty glimpse in the Bay of Biscay of an outward-bound convoy of transports, in the presence of British submarines in the Channel. Innumerable drifters flying the Naval flag dotted the narrow waters, and two Naval officers coming on board off the South Foreland, piloted the ship through the Downs. ”

“ If the traveller wishes to go by this line, he may commence his journey from either London or Plymouth, cross the Bay of Biscay, where the chances of getting an ugly sea and perhaps a gale of wind are about even, and entering the Mediterranean, make Gibraltar his first port, 5 days and 1,300 miles distant from London. A stay of 4 hours will allow a short run on shore. A drive around the superb Rock is worth the taking, also a visit to the battery, where the 16-inch 100-ton guns keep watch over the threshold of the blue sea. ”

“ The best thing that I find in any place is the men that are in it. Strong walls and high towers are grand, but after a while they oppress me by their very massiveness, unless animated by a living presence. Even the great guns, those huge monsters that frown over the ramparts, would lose their majesty and terror, if there were not brave men behind them. And so, after I had surveyed Gibraltar from every point of land and sea ”

“ You pass in five minutes from a land of sleepy, blissful lethargy to a stirring, bustling, look-alive sea-port and garrison town. I dare say Gibraltar would not be a pleasant place to live in, but after spending so many weeks among people who think nothing in the world worth hurrying about, and no one’s time of the slightest importance whatever, it was delightful to breathe the business-like, martial air of the place. ”

“ Nine out of every ten of those who visit Gibraltar for the first time expect to find an island. It ought to be, and it would be one but for a strip of level turf half a mile wide and half a mile long which joins it to the sunny green hills of Spain. But for this bit of land, which they call "the Neutral Ground," Gibraltar would be an island, for it has the Mediterranean to the east, a bay, and beyond that the hills of Spain to the west, and Africa dimly showing fourteen miles across the sea to the south. ”

“ A high and narrow ridge, rising over a thousand feet, falls steeply to the land on the north and to the sea on the east; towards the south, where the ridge is lower, it ends in cliffs against which the sea beats always and prevents all access. On part of the west side the lower slopes are more gentle, and on these lies the town with the harbour at the foot.
Let us look now at the approach to Gibraltar from 7 the mainland of Spain. Here we see a corner of the northwest face of the rock, where it overlooks the isthmus. Notice how sheer it rises from the plain, with the flooded moat at its foot. ”