The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-07-08
FORTRESS A MARVEL
GIBRALTAR IS RIGHTLY CoNSIp.
Erred IMPROBABLE.
Hard to Imagine How Any Attacking
Fleet Could Live in the Avalanche
of Shot That Could Be
Poured on II.

An enemy's fleet could be sent to
the bottom in ten minutes before get
ting within FIVE miles of Gibraltar,
not even a torpedo-boat could succeed
In entering the bay unobseryed on the
blacklist night" That sums up the
opinions of the most eminent naval
experts as to the impregnabillty OF
the worlds greatest fortress.
But disappointment awaits the
sightseeing visitor. The rock, though
barren, is covered with luxuriant veg
citation; not fort prominent; not
gun to be seen even with the most
powerful glasses; no discernible am
munition magazines; no strongholds,
only n peaceful. prosperous harbor
and 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 ma
jestiC British warships and elongated
flying shadows-the torpedoes. Guns
answer guns out of every conceivable
crevice and corner, blending In one
deafening uproar. while scores OF
shells plow the water for miles
around.
Sentries are everywhere; infantry
parties crouch in the shadows, hun
dreds OF gunners stand ready behind
hundreds of guns In these mysterious
labyrinths hewn cut of the solid rock |
the galleries" the vicious barking
OF the Maxim guns gives contrast to
the deeptoned baying of these man |
moth pieces of ordnance, the mere |
report Of which cracks stone roofs !
and bursts doors and whole windows |
Could any fleet live through the muir
derous hail of gigantic shells?
Gibraltar never sleeps, BY day and |
night two perfectly equipped signal |
stations, proudly Haunting Britain's /
flag OF ownership, increasingly sweep |
the seas around to distance OF III.
teen miles on a clear day, instantly
reporting the coming and going OF
each vessel Sentries guard all the
prominent forts, magazines and gate
ways; gunners 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
prominent points. They are unreach.
able from the sea. even as they are
owing to the skill with
which they are painted and drapcd
TO match the surrounding vegetation,
while huge screens drop automatically
before them as each shell is fired.
They have a range Of fifteen miles
and could drop shells on Ceuta. ia
opposite, quite comfortably,
One gun weighs 10 tons aud is capa-
Bile Of throwing shell weighing three.
quarters of a ton. In that marvel OF
under great difficulties,
the galleries. are concealed guns for
every day In the year,
These galleries are divided into
hree sections, entry to which is
guarded. while one is closed even to
high officers. containing preserved
stores. munitions of war. rain water
for Gibraltar has no springs and a
condensing plant-all calcu.
ated to outlast a siege of seven years
The firing is the most mathemat-
cally perfect imaginable. The sur.
waters are mapped out into
squares, upon which certain guns are
iept ready trained. so that il is al.
most impossible to miss. During prac-
ice targets are towed across the bay,
be object being to hit the water
ew yards in advance OF them.