The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume I Part 6

A second repulse brought many of the mutineers to their senses, and temporarily awed the rest, some asking pardon on their knees. But at midnight the revolt again broke out, the soldiers attacking the party in the centre of the raft with the fury of madmen, even biting their adversaries. They seized upon one of the lieutenants, mistaking him for one of the s.h.i.+p's officers who had deserted the raft, and he was rescued and protected afterwards with the greatest difficulty. They threw overboard M. Coudin, an elderly man, who was covered with wounds received in opposing them, and a young boy of the party, in whom he took an interest. M. Coudin had the presence of mind both to support the child and to take hold of the raft; and his friends kept off the brutal soldiery with drawn swords, until they were lifted on board again. The combat was so fierce, and the weather at night so bad, that on the return of day it was found that over sixty had perished off the raft. It is stated that the mutineers had thrown over the remaining water and two casks of wine. The indications in the narrative would not point to the latter conclusion, as the soldiers and workmen were constantly intoxicated, and many, no doubt, were washed off by the waves in that condition. A powerful temperance tract might be written on the loss of the _Medusa_. On the morning of the fourth day after their departure from the frigate, the dead bodies of twelve of the company, who had expired during the night, were lying on the raft. This day a shoal of flying-fish played round the raft, and a number of them got on board,(61) and were entangled in the s.p.a.ces between the timbers. A small fire, lighted with flint and steel and gunpowder, was made inside a barrel, and the fish, half-cooked, was greedily devoured.

They did not stop here; the account briefly indicates that they ate parts of the flesh of their dead companions. Horror followed horror: a ma.s.sacre succeeded their savage feast. Some Spaniards, Italians, and negroes among them, who had hitherto taken no part with the mutineers, now formed a plot to throw their superiors into the sea. A bag of money, which had been collected as a common fund, and was hanging from a rude mast hastily extemporised, probably tempted them. The officers' party threw their ringleader overboard, while another of the conspirators, finding his villainy discovered, weighted himself with a heavy boarding-axe, and rus.h.i.+ng to the fore part of the raft, plunged headlong into the sea and was drowned. A desperate combat ensued, and the fatal raft was quickly piled with dead bodies.

On the fifth morning, there were only thirty alive. The remnant suffered severely, and one-third of the number were unable to stand up or move about. The salt water and intense heat of the sun blistered their feet and legs, and gave intense pain. In the course of the seventh day, two soldiers were discovered stealing the wine, and they were immediately pushed overboard. This day also, Leon, the poor little boy mentioned before, died from sheer starvation.

The story has been so far nothing but a record of insubordination, murderous brutality, and utter selfishness. But the worst has yet to come.

Let the survivors tell their own shameful and horrible story. There were now but twenty-seven left, and "of these twelve, amongst them the woman, were so ill that there was no hope of their surviving, even a few days; they were covered with wounds, and had almost entirely lost their reason.... They might have lived long enough to reduce our stock to a very low ebb; but there was no hope that they could last more than a few days.

To put them on short allowance was only hastening their death; while giving them a full ration, was uselessly diminis.h.i.+ng a quant.i.ty already too low. After an anxious consultation, we came to the resolution of throwing them into the sea, and thus terminating at once their sufferings.

This was a horrible and unjustifiable expedient, but who amongst us would have the cruelty to put it into execution? Three sailors and a soldier took it on themselves. We turned away our eyes from the shocking sight, trusting that, in thus endeavouring to prolong our own lives, we were shortening theirs but a few hours. This gave us the means of subsistence for six additional days. After this dreadful sacrifice, we cast our swords into the sea, reserving but one sabre for cutting wood or cordage, as might be necessary." Was there ever such an example of demoniacal hypocrisy, mingled with pretended humanity!

[Ill.u.s.tration: ON THE RAFT OF THE "MEDUSA"-A SAIL IN SIGHT.

(_After the celebrated Painting by Gericault._)]

One can hardly interest himself in the fate of the remaining fifteen, who, if they were not all human devils, must have carried to their dying days the brand of Cain indelibly impressed on their memories. A few days pa.s.sed, and the indications of a close approach to land became frequent.

Meantime, they were suffering from the intense heat, and from excessive thirst. One more example of petty selfishness was afforded by an officer who had found a lemon, which he resolved to keep entirely for himself, until the ominous threats of the rest obliged him to share it. The wine, which should have warmed their bodies and gladdened their hearts, produced on their weakened frames the worst effects of intoxication. Five of the number resolved, and were barely persuaded not to commit suicide, so maddened were they by their potations. Perhaps the sight of the sharks, which now came boldly up to the edges of the raft, had something to do with sobering them, for they decided to live.

Three days now pa.s.sed in intolerable torments. They had become so careless of life, that they bathed even in sight of the sharks; others were not afraid to place themselves naked upon the fore part of the raft, which was then entirely under water; and, though it was exceedingly dangerous, it had the effect of taking away their thirst. They now attempted to construct a boat of planks and spars. When completed, a sailor went upon it, when it immediately upset, and the design of reaching land by this means was abandoned. On the morning of the 17th of July, the sun shone brightly and the sky was cloudless. Just as they were receiving their ration of wine, one of the infantry officers discerned the topmasts of a vessel near the horizon. Uniting their efforts, they raised a man to the top of the mast, who waved constantly a number of handkerchiefs tied together. After two hours of painful suspense, the vessel, a brig, disappeared, and they once more resigned themselves to despair. Deciding that they must leave some record of their fate, they agreed to carve their names, with some account of their disaster, on a plank, in the hope that it might eventually reach their Government and families. But they were to be saved: the brig reappeared, and bore down for them. She proved to be a vessel which had been dispatched by the Governor of Senegal for the purpose of rescuing any survivors; though, considering the raft had now been seventeen days afloat, there was little expectation that any of its hundred and fifty pa.s.sengers still lived. The wounded and blistered limbs, sunken eyes, and emaciated frames of the remnant told its own tale on board. And yet, with due order and discipline, presence of mind, and united helpfulness, the s.h.i.+p, with every soul who had sailed on her, might have been saved; and a fearful story of cruelty, murder, and cannibalism spared to us. The modern _Medusa_ has been branded with a name of infamy worse than that of the famous cla.s.sical monster after which she was named.

The celebrated picture by Gericault in the Louvre, at Paris, vividly depicts the horrors of the scene.

The wreck of the _Medusa_ has very commonly been compared and contrasted with that of the _Alceste_, an English frigate, which was wrecked the same year. Lord Amherst was returning from China in this vessel, after fulfilling his mission to the Court of Pekin, inst.i.tuted at the instance of the East India Company, who had complained to Government of the impediments thrown in the way of their trade by the Chinese. His secretary and suite were with him; and so there was some resemblance to the case of the _Medusa_, which had a colonial governor and his staff on board. The commander of the _Alceste_ was Captain (afterwards Sir) Murray Maxwell, a true gentleman and a bluff, hearty sailor. Having touched at Manilla, they were pa.s.sing through the Straits of Gaspar, when the s.h.i.+p suddenly struck on a reef of sunken rocks, and it became evident that she must inevitably and speedily break up. The most perfect discipline prevailed; and the first efforts of the captain were naturally directed to saving the amba.s.sador and his subordinates. The island of Palo Leat was a few miles off; and, although its coast at this part was a salt-marsh, with mangrove-trees growing out in the water so thick and entangled that it almost prevented them landing, every soul was got off safely. Good feeling and sensible councils prevailed. At first there was no fresh water to be obtained. It was

"Water, water everywhere, Yet not a drop to drink."

In a short time, however, they dug a deep well, and soon reached plenty.

Then the Malays attacked and surrounded them; at first a few score, at last six or seven hundred strong. Things looked black; but they erected a stockade, made rude pikes by sticking their knives, dirks, and small swords on the end of poles; and, although they had landed with just seventy-five ball-cartridges, their stock soon grew to fifteen hundred.

How? Why, the sailors set to with a will, and made their own, the b.a.l.l.s being represented by their jacket-b.u.t.tons and pieces of the gla.s.s of broken bottles! Of loose powder they had, fortunately, a sufficient quant.i.ty. The Malays set the wreck on fire. The men waited till it had burned low, and then drove them off, and went and secured such of the stores as could be now reached, or which had floated off. The natives were gathering thick. Murray made his sailors a speech in true hearty style, and their wild huzzas were taken by the Malays for war-whoops: the latter soon "weakened," as they say in America. From the highest officer to the merest boy, all behaved like calm, resolute, and sensible Britons, and every soul was saved. Lord Amherst, who had gone on to Batavia, sent a vessel for them, on board which Maxwell was the last to embark. At the time of the wreck their condition was infinitely worse than that of the _Medusa_; but how completely different the sequel! The story is really a pleasant one, displaying, as it does, the happy results of both good discipline and mutual good feeling in the midst of danger. _Nil desperandum_ was evidently the motto of that crew; and their philosophy was rewarded. The lessons of the past and present, in regard to our great s.h.i.+ps, have taught us that disaster is not confined to ironclads, nor victory to wooden walls; neither is good discipline dead, nor the race of true-hearted tars extinct. "Men of iron" will soon be the worthy successors of "hearts of oak."

Having glanced at the causes which led to the ironclad movement, and noted certain salient points in its history, let us now for a while discuss the ironclad herself. It has been remarked, as a matter of reproach to the administrators and builders of the British ironclad navy, that the vessels composing it are not sufficiently uniform in design, power, and speed. Mr.

Reed, however, tells us that _la marine moderne cuira.s.see_ of France is still more distinguished by the different types and forms of the vessels; and that ours by comparison wears "quite a tiresome appearance of sameness;" while, again, Russia has ironclads even more diversified than those of France. The objection is, perhaps, hardly a fair one, as the exigencies of the navy are many and varied. We might have to fight a first-cla.s.s power, or several first-cla.s.s powers, where all our strength would have to be put forth; some second-cla.s.s power might require chastising, where vessels of a secondary cla.s.s might suffice; while almost any vessel of the navy would be efficient in the case of wars with native tribes, as, for example, the Maories of New Zealand, or the Indians of the coasts of North-west America. In a great naval conflict, provided the vessels of our fleet steamed pretty evenly as regards speed, there would be an advantage in variety; for it might rather puzzle and worry the enemy, who would not know what next would appear, or what new form turn up. Mr. Reed puts the matter in a nutsh.e.l.l; although it must be seen that, among first-cla.s.s powers with first-cla.s.s fleets, the argument cuts both ways. "In the old days," says he, "when actions had to be fought under sail, and when s.h.i.+ps of a cla.s.s were in the main alike, the limits within which the arts, the resources, and the audacities of the navy were restricted were really very narrow; and yet how brilliant were its achievements! I cannot but believe that, if the English ironclad fleet were now to be engaged in a general action with an enemy's fleet, the very variety of our s.h.i.+ps-those very improvements which have occasioned that variety-would be at once the cause of the greatest possible embarra.s.sment to the enemy, and the means of the most vigorous and diversified attack upon the hostile fleet. This is peculiarly true of all those varieties which result from increase in handiness, in bow-fire, in height of port, and so forth; and unless I have mis-read our naval history, and misappreciate the character of our naval officers of the present day, the nation will, in the day of trial, obtain the full benefit of these advantages."

[Ill.u.s.tration: SECTION OF A FIRST-CLa.s.s MAN-OF-WAR.]

It needs no argument to convince the reader that the aim of a naval architect should be to combine in the best manner available, strength and lightness. The dimensions and outside form of the s.h.i.+p in great part determine her displacement; and her capacity to carry weights depends largely on the actual weight of her own hull; while the room within partly depends on the thinness or thickness of her walls. Now, we have seen that in wooden s.h.i.+ps the hull weighs more than in iron s.h.i.+ps of equal size; and it will be apparent that what is gained in the latter case can be applied to _carrying_ so much the more iron armour. Hence, distinguished authorities do not believe in the wood-built s.h.i.+p _carrying_ heavy armour, nearly so much as in the ironclad, iron-_built_ s.h.i.+p.(62) The durability and strength are greater. The authority of such a man as Mr. J. Scott Russell, the eminent s.h.i.+pbuilder, will be conclusive. In a pamphlet,(63) published in 1862, he noted the following ten points: 1, That iron steam s.h.i.+ps-of-war may be built as strong as wooden s.h.i.+ps of greater weight, and stronger than wooden s.h.i.+ps of equal weight. 2, That iron s.h.i.+ps of equal strength can go on less draught of water than wooden s.h.i.+ps. 3, That iron s.h.i.+ps can carry much heavier weights than wooden s.h.i.+ps [hence they can carry heavier armour]. 4, That they are more durable. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, That they are safer against the sea, against fire, explosive shots, red-hot shots, molten metal; and 10, That they can be made impregnable even against solid shot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "WARRIOR."]

The last point, alas! is one which Mr. Scott Russell himself would hardly insist upon to-day. When he wrote his pamphlet, five or six inches of armour, with a wood backing, withstood anything that could be fired against it. When the armour of the _Warrior_, our first real ironclad, had to be tested, a target, twenty feet by ten feet surface, composed of four and a half inch iron and eighteen inches of teak backing-the exact counterpart of a slice out of the s.h.i.+p's side-was employed. The shot from 68-pounders-the same as composed her original armament-fired at 200 yards, only made small dents in the target and rebounded. 200-pounders had no more effect; the shot flew off in ragged splinters, the iron plates became almost red-hot under the tremendous strokes, and rung like a huge gong; but that was all. Now we have 6-ton guns that would pierce her side at 500 yards; 12-ton guns that would put a hole through her armour at over a mile, and 25-ton guns that would probably penetrate the armour of any ironclad whatever. Why, some of the s.h.i.+ps themselves are now carrying 30-ton guns! It is needless to go on and speak of monster 81 and 100-ton guns after recording these facts. But their consideration explains why the thickness of armour has kept on increasing, albeit it could not possibly do so in an equal ratio.

Mr. Reed tells us: "This strange contest between attack and defence, however wasteful, however melancholy, must still go on."(64) Sir W. G.

Armstrong (inventor of the famous guns), on the other hand, says, "In my opinion, armour should be wholly abandoned for the defence of the guns, and, except to a very limited extent, I doubt the expediency of using it even for the security of the s.h.i.+p. Where armour can be applied for _deflecting_ projectiles, as at the bow of a s.h.i.+p, it would afford great protection, without requiring to be very heavy."(65) Sir William recommends very swift iron vessels, divided into numerous compartments, with boilers and machinery below the water-line, and only very partially protected by armour; considering that victory in the contest as regards strength is entirely on the side of the artillery. Sir Joseph Whitworth (also an inventor of great guns) offered practically to make guns to penetrate _any_ thickness of armour. The bewildered Parliamentary committee says mournfully in its report: "A perfect s.h.i.+p of war is a desideratum which has never yet been attained, and is now farther than ever removed from our reach;"(66) while Mr. Reed(67) again cuts the gordian knot by professing his belief that in the end, "guns will themselves be superseded as a means of attack, and the s.h.i.+p itself, viewed as a steam projectile-possessing all the force of the most powerful shot, combined with the power of striking in various directions-will be deemed the most formidable weapon of attack that man's ingenuity has devised."

The contest between professed s.h.i.+p and gun makers would be amusing but for the serious side-the immense expense, and the important interests involved.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR: FROM THE MAINLAND.]

CHAPTER VI.

ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR.

The Mediterranean-White, blue, green, purple Waters-Gibraltar-Its History-Its first Inhabitants the Monkeys-The Moors-The Great Siege preceded by thirteen others-The Voyage of Sigurd to the Holy Land-The Third Siege-Starvation-The Fourth Siege-Red-hot b.a.l.l.s used before ordinary Cannon-b.a.l.l.s-The Great Plague-Gibraltar finally in Christian hands-A Naval Action between the Dutch and Spaniards-How England won the Rock-An Unrewarded Hero-Spain's attempts to regain It-The Great Siege-The Rock itself and its Surroundings-The Straits-Ceuta, Gibraltar's Rival-The Saltness of the Mediterranean-"Going aloft"-On to Malta.

In this and following chapters, we will ask the reader to accompany us in imagination round the world, on board a s.h.i.+p of the Royal Navy, visiting _en route_ the princ.i.p.al British naval stations and possessions, and a few of those friendly foreign ports which, as on the Pacific station, stand in lieu of them. We cannot do better than commence with the Mediterranean, to which the young sailor will, in all probability, be sent for a cruise after he has been thoroughly "broken in" to the mysteries of life on board s.h.i.+p, and where he has an opportunity of visiting many ports of ancient renown and of great historical interest.

The modern t.i.tle applied to the sea "between the lands" is not that of the ancients, nor indeed that of some peoples now. The Greeks had no special name for it. Herodotus calls it "this sea;" and Strabo the "sea within the columns," that is, within Calpe and Abyla-the fabled pillars of Hercules-to-day represented by Gibraltar and Ceuta. The Romans called it variously _Mare Internum_ and _Mare Nostrum_, while the Arabians termed it _Bahr Rum_-the Roman Sea. The modern Greeks call it _Aspri Thala.s.sa_-the White Sea; it might as appropriately be called blue, that being its general colour, or green, as in the Adriatic, or purple, as at its eastern end: but they use it to distinguish it from the "Sea of Storms"-the Black Sea. The Straits-"the Gate of the Narrow Pa.s.sage," as the Arabians poetically describe it, or the _Gut_, as it is termed by our prosaic sailors and pilots-is the narrow portal to a great inland sea with an area of 800,000 miles, whose sh.o.r.es are as varied in character as are the peoples who own them. The Mediterranean is salter than the ocean, in spite of the great rivers which enter it-the Rhone, Po, Ebro, and Nile-and the innumerable smaller streams and torrents.(68) It has other physical and special characteristics, to be hereafter considered.

The political and social events which have been mingled with its history are interwoven with those of almost every people on the face of the globe.

We shall see how much our own has been shaped and involved. It was with the memory of the glorious deeds of British seamen and soldiers that Browning wrote, when sailing through the Straits:-

"n.o.bly, n.o.bly, Cape St. Vincent to the north-west died away; Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay; Bluish, 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay; In the dimmest north-east distance dawned Gibraltar, grand and gray; 'Here, and here, did England help me-how can I help England?'-say Whoso turns as I, this evening, turns to G.o.d to praise and pray, While Jove's planet rises yonder, silent over Africa."

And the poet is almost literally correct in his description, for within sight, as we enter the Straits of Gibraltar, are the localities of innumerable sea and land fights dating from earliest days. That grand old Rock, what has it not witnessed since the first timid mariner crept out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic-the _Mare Tenebrosum_,-the "sea of darkness" of the ancients? Romans of old fought Carthaginian galleys in its bay; the conquering Moors held it uninterruptedly for six hundred years, and in all for over seven centuries; Spain owned it close on two and a half centuries; and England has dared the world to take it since 1704-one hundred and seventy-three years ago. Its very armorial bearings, which we have adopted from those given by Henry of Castile and Leon, are suggestive of its position and value: a castle on a rock with a key pendant-the key to the Mediterranean. The King of Spain still includes Calpe (Gibraltar) in his dominions; and natives of the place, Ford tells us, in his "Handbook to Spain," are ent.i.tled to the rights and privileges of Spanish birth. It has, in days gone by, given great offence to French writers, who spoke of _l'ombrageuse puissance_ with displeasure.

"Sometimes," says Ford, "there is too great a _luxe de canons_ in this fortress _ornee_; then the gardens destroy 'wild nature;' in short, they abuse the red-jackets, guns, nursery-maids, and even the monkeys." The present colony of apes are the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Rock. They have held it through all vicissitudes.

The Moorish writers were ever enthusiastic over it. With them it was "the s.h.i.+ning Mountain," "the Mountain of Victory." "The Mountain of Taric"(69) (Gibraltar), says a Granadian poet, "is like a beacon spreading its rays over the sea, and rising far above the neighbouring mountains; one might fancy that its face almost reaches the sky, and that its eyes are watching the stars in the celestial track." An Arabian writer well describes its position:-"The waters surround Gibraltar on almost every side, so as to make it look like a watch-tower in the midst of the sea."

The fame of the last great siege, already briefly described in these pages,(70) has so completely overshadowed the general history of the Rock that it will surprise many to learn that it has undergone no less than fourteen sieges. The Moors, after successfully invading Spain, first fortified it in 711, and held uninterrupted possession until 1309, when Ferdinand IV. besieged and took it. The Spaniards only held it twenty-five years, when it reverted to the Moors, who kept it till 1462. "Thus the Moors held it in all about seven centuries and a quarter, from the making a castle on the Rock to the last sorrowful departure of the remnants of the nation. It has been said that Gibraltar was the landing-place of the vigorous Moorish race, and that it was the point of departure on which their footsteps lingered last. In short, it was the European _tete de pont_, of which Ceuta stands as the African fellow. By these means myriads of Moslems pa.s.sed into Spain, and with them much for which the Spaniards are wrongfully unthankful. It is said that when the Moors left their houses in Granada, which they did with, so to speak, everything standing, many families took with them the great wooden keys of their mansions, so confident were they of returning home again, when the keys should open the locks and the houses be joyful anew. It was not to be as thus longed for; but many families in Barbary still keep the keys of these long ago deserted and destroyed mansions."(71) And now we must mention an incident of its history, recorded in the "Norwegian Chronicles of the Kings,"

concerning Sigurd the Crusader-the Pilgrim. After battling his way from the North, with sixty "long s.h.i.+ps," King Sigurd proceeded on his voyage to the Holy Land, "and came to Niorfa Sound (Gibraltar Straits), and in the Sound he was met by a large viking force (squadron of war-s.h.i.+ps), and the King gave them battle; and this was his fifth engagement with heathens since the time he came from Norway. So says Halldor Skualldre:-

"'He moistened your dry swords with blood, As through Niorfa Sound ye stood; The screaming raven got a feast, As ye sailed onwards to the East.'

Hence he went along Sarkland, or Saracen's Land, Mauritania, where he attacked a strong party, who had their fortress in a cave, with a wall before it, in the face of a precipice: a place which was difficult to come at, and where the holders, who are said to have been freebooters, defied and ridiculed the Northmen, spreading their valuables on the top of the wall in their sight. Sigurd was equal to the occasion in craft as in force, for he had his s.h.i.+ps' boats drawn up the hill, filled them with archers and slingers, and lowered them before the mouth of the cavern, so that they were able to keep back the defenders long enough to allow the main body of the Northmen to ascend from the foot of the cliff and break down the wall. This done, Sigurd caused large trees to be brought to the mouth of the cave, and roasted the miserable wretches within." Further fights, and he at last reached Jerusalem, where he was honourably received by Baldwin, whom he a.s.sisted with his s.h.i.+ps at the siege of Sidon. Sigurd also visited Constantinople, where the Emperor Alexius offered him his choice: either to receive six skif-pound (or about a _ton_ of gold), or see the great games of the hippodrome. The Northman wisely chose the latter, the cost of which was said to be equal to the value of the gold offered. Sigurd presented his s.h.i.+ps to the Emperor, and their splendid prows were hung up in the church of St. Peter, at Constantinople.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GIBRALTAR: THE NEUTRAL GROUND.]

In the year 1319, Pedro, Infante of Castile, fought the Moors at Granada.

The latter were the victors, and their spoils were enormous, consisting in part of forty-three hundredweights of gold, one hundred and forty hundredweights of silver, with armour, arms, and horses in abundance.

Fifty thousand Castilians were slain, and among the captives were the wife and children of the Infante. Gibraltar, then in the hands of Spain, with Tarifa and eighteen castles of the district, were offered, and refused for her ransom. The body of the Infante himself was stripped of its skin, and stuffed and hung over the gate of Granada.

The third siege occurred in the reign of Mohammed IV., when the Spanish held the Rock. The governor at that time, Vasco Perez de Meira, was an avaricious and dishonest man, who embezzled the dues and other resources of the place and neglected his charge. During the siege, a grain-s.h.i.+p fell on sh.o.r.e,(72) and its cargo would have enabled him to hold out a long time. Instead of feeding his soldiers, who were reduced to eating leather, he gave and sold it to his prisoners, with the expectation of either getting heavy ransoms for them, or, if he should have to surrender, of making better terms for himself. It availed him nothing, for he had to capitulate; and then, not daring to face his sovereign, Alfonso XI., he had to flee to Africa, where he ended his days.

Alfonso besieged it twice. The first time the Granadians induced him to abandon it, promising a heavy ransom; the next time he commenced by reducing the neighbouring town of Algeciras, which was defended with great energy. When the Spaniards brought forward their wheeled towers of wood, covered with raw hides, the Moors discharged cannon loaded with _red-hot_ b.a.l.l.s. This is noteworthy, for cannon was not used by the English till three years after, at the battle of Crecy, while it is the first recorded instance of _red-hot_ shot being used at all.(73) It is further deserving of notice, that the very means employed at Algeciras were afterwards so successfully used at the great siege. After taking Algeciras, Alfonso blockaded Gibraltar, when the plague broke out in his camp; he died from it, and the Rock remained untaken. This was the epoch of one of those great pestilences which ravaged Europe. Fifty thousand souls perished in London in 1348 from its effects; Florence lost two-thirds of her population; in Saragossa three hundred died daily. The sixth attack on the part of the King of Fez was unsuccessful; as was that in 1436, when it was besieged by a wealthy n.o.ble-one of the De Gusmans. His forces were allowed to land in numbers on a narrow beach below the fortress, where they were soon exposed to the rising of the tide and the missiles of the besieged.

De Gusman was drowned, and his body, picked up by the Moors, hung out for twenty-six years from the battlements, as a warning to ambitious n.o.bles.

At the eighth siege, in 1462, Gibraltar pa.s.sed finally into Christian hands. The garrison was weak and the Spaniards gained an easy victory.

When Henry IV. learned of its capture, he rejoiced greatly, and took immediate care to proclaim it a fief of the throne, adding to the royal t.i.tles that of Lord of Gibraltar. The armorial distinctions still borne by Gibraltar were first granted by him. The ninth siege, on the part of a De Gusman, was successful, and it for a time pa.s.sed into the hands of a n.o.ble who had vast possessions and fisheries in the neighbourhood. Strange to say, such were the troubles of Spain at the time, that Henry the before-named, who was known as "the Weak," two years after confirmed the t.i.tle to the Rock to the son of the very man who had been constantly in arms against him. But after the civil wars, and at the advent of Ferdinand and Isabella, there was a decided change. Isabella, acting doubtless under the advice of her astute husband, whose entire policy was opposed to such aggrandis.e.m.e.nt on the part of a subject, tried to induce the duke to surrender it, offering in exchange the City of Utrera. Ayala(74) tells us that he utterly refused. His great estates were protected by it, and he made it a kind of central depot for his profitable tunny fisheries. He died in 1492, and the third duke applied to Isabella for a renewal of his grant and privileges. She promised all, but insisted that the Rock and fortress must revert to the Crown. But it was not till nine years afterwards that Isabella succeeded in compelling or inducing the Duke to surrender it formally. Dying in 1504, the queen testified her wishes as follows:-"It is my will and desire, insomuch as the city of Gibraltar has been surrendered to the Royal Crown, and been inserted among its t.i.tles, that it shall for ever so remain." Two years after her death, Juan de Gusman tried to retake it, and blockaded it for four months, at the end of which time he abandoned the siege, and had to make reparation to those whose property had been injured. This is the only bloodless one among the fourteen sieges.

In 1540 a dash was made at the town, and even at a part of the fortress, by Corsairs. They plundered the neighbourhood, burned a chapel and hermitage, and dictated terms in the most high-handed way-that all the Turkish prisoners should be released, and that their galleys should be allowed to take water at the Gibraltar wells. They were afterwards severely chastised by a Spanish fleet.

In the wars between the Dutch and Spaniards a naval action occurred, in the year 1607, in the port of Gibraltar, which can hardly be omitted in its history. The great Sully has described it graphically when speaking of the efforts of the Dutch to secure the alliance of his master, Henry IV.

of France, in their wars against Philip of Spain. He says: "Alvares d'Avila, the Spanish admiral, was ordered to cruise near the Straits of Gibraltar, to hinder the Dutch from entering the Mediterranean, and to deprive them of the trade of the Adriatic. The Dutch, to whom this was a most sensible mortification, gave the command of ten or twelve vessels to one of their ablest seamen, named Heemskerk, with the t.i.tle of vice-admiral, and ordered him to go and reconnoitre this fleet, and attack it. D'Avila, though nearly twice as strong as his enemy, yet provided a reinforcement of twenty-six great s.h.i.+ps, some of which were of a thousand tons burden, and augmented the number of his troops to three thousand five hundred men. With this accession of strength he thought himself so secure of victory that he brought a hundred and fifty gentlemen along with him only to be witnesses of it. However, instead of standing out to sea, as he ought to have done, he posted himself under the town and castle of Gibraltar, that he might not be obliged to fight but when he thought proper.

"Heemskerk, who had taken none of these precautions, no sooner perceived that his enemy seemed to fear him than he advanced to attack him, and immediately began the most furious battle that was ever fought in the memory of man. It lasted eight whole hours. The Dutch vice-admiral, at the beginning, attacked the vessel in which the Spanish admiral was, grappled with, and was ready to board her. A cannon-ball, which wounded him in the thigh soon after the fight began, left him only a hour's life, during which, and till within a moment of his death, he continued to give orders as if he felt no pain. When he found himself ready to expire, he delivered his sword to his lieutenant, obliging him and all that were with him to bind themselves by an oath either to conquer or die. The lieutenant caused the same oath to be taken by the people of all the other vessels, when nothing was heard but a general cry of 'Victory or Death!' At length the Dutch were victorious; they lost only two vessels, and about two hundred and fifty men; the Spaniards lost sixteen s.h.i.+ps, three were consumed by fire, and the others, among which was the admiral's s.h.i.+p, ran aground.

D'Avila, with thirty-five captains, fifty of his volunteers, and two thousand eight hundred soldiers, lost their lives in the fight; a memorable action, which was not only the source of tears and affliction to many widows and private persons, but filled all Spain with horror."(75)