Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-10
IN THE DEPTHS.

Thirty-TwO Founders and Anchors that
Lie at the Bottom of Gibraltar Bay.
Tidings have lately reached US, says
the London Telegraph, that a diver en-
gagged in submarine operations off the
coast opposite to Gibraltar has discov-
cred from so to 100 guns, which seem to
be "a and 32-pounders, and also two large
anchors, lying at the bottom of that his
torical bay. They are supposed to have
belonged to some large line-Of-battle ship
which sank in the old war, possibly after
the battle of Trafalgar. 1t is to be hoped
that the apparatus necessary for lifting
from the ocean bed what may possibly be
testimonies of the prOWess of Nelson or
CollingwoOd will not be grudged by the
British Admiralty of to-day. A mere
glance at these oId-fashiOned guns will suf-
flee to establish whether they are of Eng
lish or, as seems more probable, of French
or Spanish manufacture. We can scarce
ly expect that they constituted part of
the armament carried by that mighty
armada which set forth from Cadiz, and
from every other Spanish harbOr of
of the first class, to convert Queen Bess
and her heretical subjects from the error
OF their ways. At the instance, probably,
of the inhabitants of Plymouth, where
Drake, Hawkins and Frobisher refused to
put to sea until they had finished their
game of bowls, although the Duke of
Medina SidOnia was reported, at the head
of 100 vessels, to be bearing down upon
the DeYonshire coast. we shall be cele-
brating in four years from the present
time the three hundredth anniversary Of
the greatest and most important sea VIC
tory ever won by Englishmen upon the
element which from that time to this we
have called our own, and upon which
since the death Of Nelson our supremacy
has been undisputed. The petty squadron
of 80 ships of the line with which Eliza
beth opposed the overwhelming force of
her Spanish antagonists was no match in
guns and weight of metal for the tower
ing vessels, disposed ia the form of a half
moon and stretching seven miles in
length, which the hardy sailors, immor-
talized by Charles Kingsley, set forth
from Plymouth to encounter. OF that
great and seemingly irresistible array no
more than 90 ships were spared to make
their way back to Spain, which, indeed,
they reached in a wretched condition. 1t
is by no means impossible that a vessel
which took part in the Spanish armada
may have sun k in 1888 off the Rock of
Gibraltar, but the guns which she carried
could not have been "a or 32-pOunders.
We must turn to more recent wars to
account for the discovery just made in
those troubled waters, which have so
often echoed to the thunders Of the mod
ern mistress of the waves. We have,
indeed, long list of naval battles from
which to make our choice. The history
of Gibraltar itself, from the day when IN
1904 the famous rock was torn from the
grasp of Spain by Sir George Rookie, sup
plies abundant material for explaining
the hidden treasures which an accident
hoe mat discovered Suph wore the cana
bilities for resistance offered by the I'M
pregnable fortress in 1904 that Sir George
Rookie lostno fewer than $50 men in car
carrying the defenses, which were man.
ned by a Spanish garrison not exceeding
$50 soldiers in strength.