The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-06-29

None Of the three grew TO De Oh any
great moment in the history OF theif
times.
The base from which the allied
fleets are operating is the island OF
Tenedos. This. too, is famous
Homer himself praises IT
for it's association with the COO
Apollo, and the Roman poet Virgil
speaks Of it as within sight of Troy
and well known to fame
.Sestos and Abydos, towns which
have been mentioned IN
the reports Of the present fighting IN
the D~ardanelles, are known to his
tory as the scene Of Leander'S court
ing Of Hero, and his swimming o. the
HelIespunt. where he finally drowned.
At the Narrows, spoken of frequent
Nv in the news, Xerxes built a bridge
of ships and from his thrOIe up6n the
hillside watched a million men pass
from Asia into Europe, where they
were destined to be destroyed. Near
here, too, the young Alexander
ferried his armies over for their con-
quest of Persia. Athens, the brilliant
queen city of the ancient Greek con-
federacy, once held Sestos, and from
Sestos commanded the rich trade OF
the Black Sea and extended her COM
mercial conquests beyond tic ken OF
the civilization of her time. Near
SeStOS, IN 4Vo d. -, the pIOuu dICch
city was humbled in the defeat OF
Aegespotami, receiving a blow from
which she never recovered.
In more modern days the region OF
the Dardanelles saw many epoch
making events. For instance, the
fort of Sed-ul-Bahr was built by the
Turks in 1856, to hold off h fleets
of another cOnquering city, Venice
The old Castles" which have beer
ocao ~ n,ico nf nnHorn f0rtc n ny
times since the war began, were bull
at the mouth Of the NarrOWS 2O(
years earlier, and before Sed-ul-Bah
began to frown over the waters at tn
Grand Turks command, often hat
been ravaged by raiding Venetian
fighting craft.
Under Turkish Rule.
Mahomed the Conquerer, who firm
ly fixed the barb of Turkish ascen
dancy into the flesh of medieva
) Greek civilization in 1453, when Con
r stantinople fell, but Kilid-ul-Bahr Q,
!, the European side and Chanak Q
the Asiastic side. These ancient for
: tressess were equipped with canno
: of huge calibre, which discharge
cannon balls made Of stone, an
I weighing a thousand pounds apiece.
! peculiarly of these old "42-centi
meters" of an almost forgotten civ
I~ilization was hat they could not b
: trained, but had to be fired just 6
: the moment an enemy's ship was pass
: ing the point where their missile fel
An Englishman Of an earlier day, S.
n John Duckworth, felt heir w j
S 1907, after he had penetrated wit
e his fleet to Constantinople aid VIZ
: sailing back through the Dardanelle
Strange to say, he forced his way
past the forts with little oppOSitio
Y Under Duckworth Sir Sydney Smit
v engaged a Turkish squadro-- in N:
It CARA Bay, at the northern end OF IL
# Narrows, and landed and spiked tt
e guns of the forts.
If So the guns of the Allies rouse
e no means the first warlike echo
d that the long, narrow strait of IL
It Dardanelles and the adjaca t plail
h have heard in their history. Indee
Ie It has been one of the historic spo
d Of the ageS-and perhaps the grea
le est chapter in its history is just nc
d being written in letters Of powder al
shot.