Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-10
AN UNCONQUERED FOE
Stirring and Romantic Story
of the Town of Ragusa.
DEFIED INFIDEL HORDES
DAY OF ITS ASCENDANCY AND
PRESENT TIME.
Ragusians Have Modern Commercial
Spirit-Want Twentieth Gen.
tury Fleet.

| seaport on the Adriatic.
| "Well?" Queried the man.
| In that we'll was summed up what the
| world at large today knows of the once
| famous little republic that was the Turk S
| one unconquered foe when the terrible Mo-
| hammedan invader overran southern
| Europe.
| But the twentieth century descendants of
| the handful of men who baffled for years,
| both in battle and diplomacy, the outnum-
| bering hordes of onsweeping Turks are
| perhaps prouder of this glory Of their an
| cestors than of the fact that their fathers
| owned and sailed and their town gave its
| name to the famed argosies of old. Their
| sentiment is that of one of their councillors
| of state:
I'VE are an exceedingly proud people.
| We have a right to be. We are in the
| very heart of the region south of Venice
| and east of the Adriatic that since the
| coming of the Turk, has been an almost
| continuous battle ground between Chris
| tan and Mussulman. Our Slavonic legends
are full of bloody battles and heroic deeds.
| Few localities there south of German
| Austria that have not been under Turkish
| rule at some time or other. But we-a
| mere handful of men, even in our palmlest
| days-have never been under Mussulman
| rule. The Turk has never entered our
| gates except peaceful merchant. He
has not left his impress upon us excep. IN
| the matter of dress, and that we got sec
ond-hand from the people about US. The
| Turk? Let us oppose him in Macedonia,
| and he will run from Ragus1ans.
A New Field.
| Let the infrequent tourist within the
| gates of this once famous town listen long
| enough to a native and he will hear many
interesting things. He will be told that
Ragusa for over two thousand years was
an independent republic, with a govern
ment similar to that which existed in an
| cient Sparta e time of the Persian in
vasion. He Val learn that Ragusa was the
| gateway of the orient's trade with the oc-
| cdent. and that it's little rock-bound har-
| Dor was filled with fleets of argoses for
! centuries. He will hear how the Turk laid
! covetous eyes the rich port, and strug-
| gled for its possession, all In vain; how
| once 1t was besieged for fifteen months by
| Saracens from the sea and Turks from the
| land, all in vain. In short the eulogfst of
the deeds of his fathers will continue relat-
| ing historical facts until the listener tires
of how Turkish commander after COM
mander and envoy after envoy met with
discontinue at the hands of the Ragusians
of old; and when he does end 1t will be
with a proud flourish and a triumphant
note:
'Ragusa, mark you, has never been con-
quered by the infidels.'
The traveller, the while he listens, cannot
| help thinking of the contrast-the prosper
Gus Ragusa of the time of the crusades and
several centuries after, the first port of
! Christendom and of the argosies; the Ra-
| gusa of today dwindled from 10000 to
| 1900 souls. port into which only decklesS
coasters put with any regularity, and from
which scarcely a dollars worth of mer-
chandse is shipped to the markets of the
west. The reflection of former glories is
seen everywhere In this mountain ana sea-
bound town of race who, though never
warlike people, and given more to COM
tloan tn hn
did not bend to the yoke of the Turk when
seemingly more powerful communities
about them succumbed before the on
slaughts of the invader.
Back to the Armada.
The reflection Of former deeds has been
resting on Ragusa since the days of the
| armada when the Ragusians turned many
| of their argosies into ships of the line and
joined fortunes with the Spaniard.
Swiftly, after that defeat, trade swerved
| to Venice; the argosies dwindled and crum
| bled, plaques swept the republic: earth
! quakes tumbed the town about the heads
| of the inhabitants; it became involved in
| the Napoleonic wars; Russia besieged it;
| the French took it; and finally, on Napo-
| Icons downfall, it passed into the hands of
! Austria with the rest of Dalmatia. and
! ceased forever to be an Independent power.
| But now this little city, whose willy diplo
| matsts and Notifications, which are still
| strong, saw to it that the Turks never en-
! tered it's gates except as drivers CT cara
| vans loaded with the precious products of
| the orient, is arousing itself from Its long
| lethargy. Along with the Introduction of
| western dress by travelled Ragusians among
| their turbaned and killed fellow townsmen,
| the big. muscular, dark-skinned and fair
/ eyed descendants of old Romans, old
| Greeks and Slavs have caught the modern
| commercial spirit. They are endeavoring
! to revive, in part at least, some of their
| former supremacy on the seas.
Five years ago a company of Ragusian
merchants was formed with the express
| purpose of sending out modern argosies.
| They would have line of ships belonging
| to that port that would bring the name of
! Ragusa once more before the commercial
| world. So the president of the company
went to England to buy a big steamer,
| taking with him a captain and mate to
! officer the ship back. All Ragusa waited
for months ahead anxious that the return
| of the first modern argoSy should be re-
! ceved with a memorial welcome.
The Lord Napier.
| The president fixed his choice on the old
Liverpool steamer known under the Brit
ish flag as the Lord Napier. She was big
over 1900 tons-but that was the best that
could be said of her. For two years she
! had been laid up on the mud fats of the
| River TYNE condemned as unseaworthy by
| British maritime laws.
crew was picked up In Newcastle-On-
the-Tyne. The sailors consisted of one
! American, a Spanard, a Brazilian. a Rus
sian and a Turk. The firemen We're Swed-
| ish, Italian, Austrian, Argentinan and Ger
! man. The cabin boy was Scotch. With
| this motley crew the new argoSy, renamed
| the Balkan. left England, her rusty en-
gines protesting at every revolution. The
old worn sails were pulled out of the lock-
| ers and attempts were made to set them.
! but puff of wind snuffed them as though
| they had been spider webs. Occasionally
! the engines stopped to rest, the steering
! gear refused 10 work, and the Balkan s
! course was like that of a drunken snake.
The boats creaked and split open they
| swung in the davits. The masts tossed
back and forth from want of proper sup
port. The sailors growled and cursed their
officers openly for bringing them out on
such an unseaworthy tub. Thus did the
first of the modern argosies start for home.
The old battered Balkan might have stag
gered to her new home without mishap. but
she had yet to cross the Bay of Biscay,
where many better vessels than she have
foundered.
On the third night out storm arose and
tossed the old steamer about. Big seas
| washed over her decks. The deck seams
had not been pitched for years, SO the
water entered freely and began to fill the
hold, laden, not like the argosies of old
rtr{t ,rlyi Sh UnIi lbs 4