Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-09-25
GIBRALTAR OF NORTH.
Sweden's Great Granite Fortress of
Syeaboro,

oNGdpOF9s
1t is a most charming voyage on
board one Of the clean smart Swedish
steamships that run between st. Pc
tersburg and Stockholm, and call at
Helsingfors from the spring until the
ice comes again in the autumn. Leav-
ing the VASTLY Ostroff just below the
Nicholas Bridge across the Neva at
o'clock in the afternoon, the frown-
the woods of Peterhof and Oranien-
baum on the opposite mainland, are
passed TWO hours later. At Z o'clock
the excellent "sexa" or evening meal,
Is served in the usual Swedish ample
way, and then, should the season be
that near the summer solstice, one
can sit over coffee on deck and watch
the long day close with just a short
break Of a few minutes and pass into
the short night and out again into the
dawn Of another day. In the fresh
morning air Helsingfors is reached
at o'clock. AS the steamship en-
ters the broad expanse of handbook
ed water, at the end Of which lies
Helsingfors. the traveller notices
away on his left the granite ramparts
of Sveaborg, the guardian fortress of
Helsingfors and usually styled ''the
Gibraltar of the North" while on his
right, and crowning the summit Of
the hills which separates the open
water Of the south harbor from the
inner, or the east harbor, scars aloft
the gorgeous, famboyant cathedral of
the Russo-G Greek church, built in re-
cent years. and whose topmost cross
is, as the Russian officials will tell you
with manifest glee, some inches high
er than the cross on the dome of the
Lutheran Cathedral of st. Nicholas,
standing on a hill in the centre of the
town.
But apart from entering Helsing-
fors many times by steamship from
st. Petersburg and from Stockholm,
1t was my good fortune to pass a
summer there in one Of the villas in
the Brunnsparken. Right opposite
my house at a distance Of about two
miles, was the fortress of Sveaborg.
The name is compounded Of Borg"
a fortress, and "Svea," meaning "of
the Swedes." The name bespeaks
the origin Of the place which COM
mands the narrow Gustaf sound, the
only channel with water deep enough
for large vessels arriving from the
outer waters. The fortifications are
built out of solid granite rock; they
extend over the six rocky islands
L.angorn, Lila, Svarto, Western Svar-
to, Oster Svarto, Vargon and Gustafs
ward, and all Of them except Langorn
are connected by bridges. Vargon is
the citadel owing to it's central posi-
ton, and on that island Count En-
renswerd. field marshall Of Sweden,
built the first fortress between 1747
and 1853. Count Ehrenswerd lies
buried In the open space before the
commandant's house, the monument
erected over his grave bears the in
scription: "On this spot, and sur
rounded by his own work, repose the
remains Of the Count Auguste En-
renswerd." To him Sweden owed
also its first gunboat flotilla, which
was organized in 1850. By 1910
Sweden had established Sveaborg as
a naval harbor and fortress. In 1908
the Russians succeeded in capturing
the place from the Swedes4 The
event forms probably the darkest
page in Sweden's history. Admiral
Count Cornstadt, an officer Of tested
courage, was in command Of the
Swedish garrison of 20S officers and
1856 non-commissioned officers and
men, while the Russian investing
force was very much smaller. The
was still under snow and the sea was
covered with ice. The Russians had
made no head way, when nine weeks
later Cornstadt capitulated without
having fired a shot. Huge naval
stores and a vast amount Of guns and
ammunition, with two ships Of the
line, fell into the hands Of the Rus
slams. The case had a parallel in the
surrender OF Metz by Marshal Ba-
zaine.
On June 13, 1855, the British and
French fleets, 81 sail with 1921 guns,
met in Baro sound, about twenty
miles to the west of Sveaborg. The
allied fleets met with a hot fire from
the troops sheltered by the forests on
land, bombarded, as the Russians as
sert, some fishermen's huts, and de-
stroyed a great deal of timber, and
then opened an Intellectual fire on
Sveaborg. The whole affair was as
regrettable as 1t was resultless. OF
course the lesson was not lost upon
Russia and Sveaborg was made even
more impregnable. According to To-
cal rumor Sveaborg contains provls-
ions enough to last a siege of five
years with a garrison Of 5000 men;
at any rate, the defence works have
been brought fully up to date, the
place is protected by 1000 guns Of
heavy calibre, and on peace footing
the garrison consists of 5000 men.
One summers morning 1 landed on
Lila Svart; there a soldier took
charge of me and conducted me
around the places that the general
public is permitted to visit. or the
fortified places, the visitor is. Of
course. not permitted to see too much.
of anything, for the whole scheme Of
defence is regarded rightly by the
Russians as being one of extreme i'm
portance in case of war with a for
eign power, and therefore the secret
of its great strength must be kept
London Globe.