The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-06-13

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squadron was completely silenced and
every one of the ten invincible bat
teries burned. The enemy lost atsleast
1000 in killed alone, while of the heroic
garrison only sixteen were killed and
sixtyeight wounded.
1t is worthy of record that, notwith-
standing the fury to which the British
soldiers were wrought, Brigadier Cur
| tbs, with devoted band, made gallant
| and successful efforts to rescue the
! poor fellows of the French and Spanish
! fleets who were left by their affrighted
comrades to perish in the burning hulks.
| This battle ended the naval attack,
| but the Spanish land forces continued
the bombardment for five months lon
ger, when, seeing the hopelessness of
reducing the fortress, the Due de Grill
Ion asked for peace, and the Spaniards
welcomed their late enemies with the
enthusiasm due to heroes.
| Since then the British possession has
not been molested, and in view of what
has been done during the century to
| strengthen the famous stronghold, is
not likely to ever be molesteds
Of the capabilities of Gibraltar in
this day, the following words by a
| writer in the London Weekly, gives a
good idea:
"An enemy's feet could be sent to
| the bottom in ten minutes before get
ting within five miles of Gibraltar; not
even torpedo boat could succeed in
entering the bay unobserved on the
blacklist night" That sums up the
opinions of the most eminent naval
experts as to the impregnability of the
world greatest fortress.
But disappointment awaits the sight
! seeing visitor The rock, though bar
rem, is covered with luxuriant vegeta-
ton; not fort prominent; not a gun
to be seen even with the most power
full glasses; no discernible ammunition
magazines; no strongholdsl only a
peaceful, prosperous harbor, and a
sleepy struggling town,
| 1t is night and the maneuvers are
on. Swift-playing searchlights trans
| form the bay into a sheet of simmer
ing silver, upon which are seen majestic
British warships and elongated flying
shadows-the torpedoes. Guns answer
guns ont of every conceivable erevice
and corner, blending in one deafening
| uproar, while scores of shells plough
/ the water for miles around.
| SentTies are everywhere; infantry
parties crouch in the shadows; hundreds
| of gunners stand ready behind hun
dreds of guns in these mysterious
J labyrinths hewn out of the solid rock
-''the galleries.; the vicious barking
| OF Maxim guns gives contrast to the
/ deception baying of these mammoth
pieces of ordnance, the mere report of
| which cracks stone roofs and bursts
! doors and whole windows. Could any
fleet live through the murderous hail of
/ gigantic shellsa
Gibraltar never sleeps. By day and
night two perfectly equipped signal sta
tions, proudly Haunting Britain S flag
/ of ownership, increasingly sweep the
seas around to a distance of fifteen
! miles on clear day, instantly report
| ing the coming and going of each yes
sell Sentries guard all the prominent
forts, magazines and gateways; gun
ners sleep beside their guns; engineers
are ever ready beside the powerful
searchlights.
Modern needle guns, the finest in
| Europe, are installed on all the most
able from the sea, even as they are
uLttIoCVl AAbiC+ OFF1AS ~ INC ShIAI with
which they are painted and draped to
match the surrounding vegetation, while
huge screens drop automatically before
them as each she'll is fred. They have
a range of fifteen miles, and could
drop shells on Ceuta, Africa, opposite,
quite comfortably? One gun weighs
10 tons, and is capable of throwing
a shell weighing three-quarters of a
| toni In that marvel of engineering I'M
| der great difficulties, the galleries, are
concealed guns fer every day in the
| year!
These galleries are divided into three
| sections, entry to which is guarded,
while one is closed even to high of
fcers, containing preserved stores,
munitions Of war, rain water (for Gil
braltar has no springs), had a COM
| plete condensing plant-all calculated
to outlast a siege of seven years.
The firing is the most automatically
perfect imaginable. The surrounding
waters are mapped out into squares,
upon which certain guns are kept ready
| trained, so that it is almost impossib bic
to miss. During practise targets are
lowed across the bay, the object being
to hit the water few yards in advance
| of them.
] Although the sentries have now been