The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-02-20
The ForI6cations of the DardanelIes

A writer in the Allgemeine Zeitung says:
The straits at GallIpoli are about German
mile -four English) broad. To the southeast
is Lamsaki, on the woody Asiatic shore,
just opposite the mouth of the EgOspotamos;
a little further on the straits gradually be-
come more narrow up to Sestos and Abydos,
celebrated as the scene of the story of Hero
and Leander, and still more as the place
where the army of Zerxes and that of Alex
ander under Parmenion crossed to the
European shore. The first Turkish fort is on
the adjoining cape of Nagara-Burun.
The straits then turn directly to the
south. ann here is their narrowest part, not
quite 1000 metres wide, between the castles
of the Dardanelles' at Tchanak Kalessi, on
the Asatic, and Kilid Bahri, on the Roume-
liam side. The old Notifications consist
mainly of towers and brick walls, which
shortly before the outbreak of the war were
armed with big guns of very old pattern,
some with stone projectiles. A short time
ago some of these walls were pulled down,
especially those to the south CT Tchanak
Kalessi, in order to lay down the huge
Krupp guns presented by Herr Krupp to
the late Sultan Abdul Aziz The castle of
Tchanak Kalessi commands the whole of the
southern part of the Dardanelles up to the
Egean sea- and it is therefore the central
point of all the maritime defences between
Kum-Kaleh on the south and Gallipoli on
the north.
Beside the above castle three batteries
Medjdie, Kische- Burun and Niagara Burun-
have been recently armed with Krupp guns
OF various calibres and twenty and sixty
and thirty Founders. Kilid Bshri, on the
European shore, formerly also had an
imposing park of artillery consisting of old
guns, which, however, were of but little
practical use. Some of them bore the arms
of the Venetian republic, and there was an
immense quantity of stone projectiles.
These have all been removed, and most of
the cannon have been replaced by Krupp
guns, which are stated to be fifteen in num-
Der. There are also in the neighborhood of
Kilid-Bahri three shore batteries: Dermen
Tabia with eleven guns Gncluding five
Krupps); Tchan Tabia, with seven guns and
Boali Tabia, with twenty old TIVE I've and six
and thirty Founders.
'In proceeding sonthward from the castles
of the Dardanelles, one preceives on the
Asiatic side lofty and commanding shore,
which has hitherto not been fortified, the
site OF the ancient Dardanis, which he's
given its name 10 the straits. At The south
ern entrance to the HellespoDt are the two
forts of Kuhn Kaleh and Sedil Bahri, the
former on the coast of the Tr0sd, and the
latter at the extreme southerly end of the
Thracian Chersonese. There forts were
erected by Sultan Mohammed Nv. in 1859,
and they have lately been strengthened by
several batteries on the Roumeiian shore.
Their position is not, on the whole, SO favor
able from military point Of view as that OF
the castles of the Dardanellts, and Sedil-
Bahri, from its isolated position, might
easily be threatened by land force coming
from the shores of the Egean.
"As to the question of the possibility of
forcing passage through the straits, the
writer thinks that such an undertaking,
though not absolutely impossible, could in
the present state of the forti6ca'ion not be
carried out by an iron clad fleet without
losing several of its ships. He believes.
however, that owing to the strength of the
current, especially when a north wind IL
blowing, it would be scarcely possible to
close up the channel by means of torpe-
does"