Evening star., 1934-09-16


BY means of worn spiral stairs climbed 20
the ramparts on top of the walls Here the
enormous cannon, the fallen giants, are strewn
about. dismounted and half buried in the sand
For solid mile walked around these battle
ments. Always the moat was below-80 feet
below-separated from the sea by stout wall
On four sides Of the fort the moat is intact
and as clean as the day it was built. but on
the other two sides, facing the southern gulf,
the storms have battered down sections of the
wall and filled the moat with coral gravel In
the old days this moat was stocked with
sharks. These man-eaters kept enemies out
and prisoners in.
other human being in sight, for my boatman
had put out to sea again to fish. Was the
stiffness then so noticeable, so disconcerting?
Far from it. constant strident, a nerve
shattering noise filled the air-the screaming
of a million sea birds.
I said a million-I didn't count them for
the count would have taken year. But they
swarmed all around the fort, in f1ocks in
clouds-terns and noddies flying recklessly
overhead and down into the shallow sea to
dive upon the schools of minnows that darken
the water with their countless multitudes.
THESE birds do not inhabit the fort itself
! but a small island, Bird Key, GOVERN
ment preserve, a hundred yards away. When
later I visited the islet I could scarcely walk
for the multitude Of eggs and chicks strewn
across the sand. The birds are quite tame. !
stroked the neck of mother noddie sitting
upon her single egg. She closed her eyes and
purred like kitten. I walked through flock
of terms that carpeted the beach. They
wouldn't even move out Of my way. But tame
as both species are, they keep up their scream-
ing day and night. L had to shout myself to
make fisherman guide hear me above the
tumult. The air, the land, the sea, vibrates
piercing cries. One becomes dizzy and deaf
ened after few minutes visit to this whirling
world of shrieking birds.
Fort Jefferson Is q good friend to all these
birds. To 1t, as to lighthouse, the terms and
the noddies steer their course each Spring..
They will not nest elsewhere. They are safe
here, and they know 1t, protected by the grim
walls and the tunbled cannon of old Fort
Jefferson.
The fort itself was scarcely finished when
the Government realized that for all military
purposes it was going to be complete failure.
The 500 cannon were never even supplied
with ammunition. George Allan England tells
IN his story about the Dry Tortugas of Con-
federate privateer that approached the fort
close enough to demand its surrender. The
Union commander sent back q blistering reply
and ostentatiously and menacingly trained Q
hundred cannon on the ship Discreetly the
Confederate withdrew. But it was just .
bluff. There was not a cannon charge on tina.
entire island.
Useless as a fort, perhaps but as a Federal
prison Fort Jefferson was, theoretically, ideal.
And from 1850 to 1870 the Federal Govern
ment. beset with more political and military
enemies than during any other period in its
history, had need of penal island, escape
proof and well removed
And so, along with the 600 soldiers in the
garrison, all kinds Of Federal prisoners-over
a thousand at times-began to fill up the great
vaulted compartments of the fort 1t became,
and for SO years remained the American
Devils Island. Escape, with the shark filled
moat to face, and then the open sea, was
almost impossible. But within the prison there
lurked one deadly and secret enemy-the mos
quito In the rain-water cisterns beneath the
fort these villainous insects bred and spread
their terrible venom of yellow fever germs.
Fort Jefferson stands today monument %
yellow fever. Not the Confederates nor the
Spaniards nor the hurricane ever daunted the
garrison or caused the loss Of q single life.
But the mosquito annihilated thousands C