to the earliest navigators who penetrated westward the rock must have been a conspicuous landmark, and we have seen what fables were gradually associated with it. suddenly rising, erect and defiant, from the mainland, with the waters whitening in surf at its very base, and apparently defining the boundary of the inhabitable world, it is no wonder that men learned to invest it with a certain mystery and awe. its records, however, at the outset, are vague and conjectural. we are told that the ph?nicians called it “alabe,” which the greeks corrupted into “calpe;” but the true meaning of the name is quite uncertain. according to an ancient writer, it signifies “a lofty mountain;” and some modern authorities connect it with the well-known root alp. others identify it{143} with a word which in the south of spain occurred in the various forms of carp-e, cart-eia, and tartessus.
strabo speaks of a city of calpe, situated about four and a quarter miles from the rock, which was formerly an important naval station of the iberians. some say, he adds, that it was founded by heracles, and anciently named heracleia; and that the great circuit of its walls and its docks could be seen in his time. it is a moot point with antiquaries whether calpe and carteia were one and the same city.
the present name of the rock is derived from jebel-tarik, or “hill of tarik,”—so called from the moorish conqueror who landed here, april 30, 711.
every reader of southey will be familiar with his tragic poem of “roderick, the last of the goths,” and will remember the story on which it is founded,—how that roderick, the gothic king of spain, betrayed the daughter of count julian, the governor of ceuta; and how that the latter, to revenge his dishonoured house, allied himself with muza, the moorish ruler of west africa, to accomplish the conquest of his native land:—
“mad to wreak
his vengeance for his violated child{144}
on roderick’s head, in evil hour for spain,
for that unhappy daughter and himself,
desperate apostate, on the moors he called;
and like a cloud of locusts, which the south
wafts from the plains of wasted africa,
the mussulmen upon iberia’s shore
descend.
muza, having obtained the sanction of the caliph al walid ebn abdalmslik, sent over a small force of 100 horse and 400 foot to examine the country, and the best line of operations for an army. this advanced guard was commanded by tarik ebn zarca, a veteran warrior of high repute, who crossed the strait, accompanied by count julian, and landed on the spanish shore near the present spanish town of algesiras. meeting with no opposition, he ravaged the neighbouring towns, and, loaded with plunder, returned to africa.
incited by the prospect of absolute success, muza collected in the following year a well-equipped army of 12,000 men, to the command of which tarik was appointed. embarking on board a large flotilla, he once more crossed the strait, and, this time, landed on the sandy isthmus which connects the rock with the spanish mainland. before entering on the conquest of the country, he deemed it advisable to secure his communication with africa, by establishing a{145} strong military position on the coast; and his keen eye having at once detected the value of the rock, he ordered a castle to be raised upon it. some portions of this ancient structure still remain; and an inscription discovered over the principal gate, before it was demolished, recorded the completion of the work in 725.
“thou, calpe, saw’st their coming; ancient rock
renowned, no longer now shalt thou be called
from gods and heroes of the years of yore,
kronos, or hundred-handed briareus,
bacchus or hercules; but doomed to bear
the name of thy new conqueror, and thenceforth
to stand his everlasting monument.
thou saw’st the dark-blue waters flash before
their ominous way, and whiten round their keels;
their swarthy myriads darkening o’er thy sands.
there on the beach the misbelievers spread
their banners, flaunting to the sun and breeze;
fair shone the sun upon their proud array,
white turbans, glittering armour, shields engrailed
with gold, and scymitars of syrian steel;
and gently did the breezes, as in sport,
curl their long flags outrolling, and display
the blazoned scrolls of blasphemy. too soon
the gales of spain from that unhappy land
wafted, as from an open charnel-house,
the taint of death; and that bright sun, from fields
of slaughter, with the morning dew drew up
corruption through the infected atmosphere.”
leaving a small force at the foot of jebel-tarik, as the saracens named the rock, in honour of their{146} leader, tarik pushed forward to the westward, captured carteia, and encountered the goths, under king roderick, near xeres in andalusia. the battle was fiercely contested. the goths fought with all their old valour, and victory might have rested with king roderick, had not some of his nobles, with their followers, deserted him at the crisis of the fight, and joined the invaders. the goths then gave way, and the moors pressing them closely, their retreat soon became a headlong flight.
“eight summer days, from morn till latest eve,
the fatal fight endured, till perfidy
prevailing to their overthrow, they sank
defeated, not dishonoured. on the banks
of chrysus, roderick’s royal car[4] was found,
his battle-horse orelio, and that helm
whose horns, amid the thickest of the fray,
eminent, had marked his presence. did the stream
receive him with the undistinguished dead,{147}
christian and moor, who clogged its course that day?
so thought the conqueror, and from that day forth,
memorial of his perfect victory,
he bade the river bear the name of joy.”[5]
flushed with victory, tarik advanced into the country, and meeting with no organized attempt at opposition, rapidly made himself master of the provinces of asturias, biscay, and of the interior of spain. the goths, driven into the mountains, gradually settled down into little communities, which after a while were attracted towards one another by the common sentiment of patriotism and hostility towards the infidels. then they descended from their mountain-recesses, and after a protracted series of contests succeeded in expelling the moors from the northern provinces. encouraged by this success, the chiefs allied themselves together for the purpose of driving them wholly out of spain; and this being accomplished, they founded the several independent kingdoms of leon, galicia, asturias, navarre, and castile.
meantime, gibraltar had increased in importance, though at that time it was surpassed by the neighbouring town of algesiras. early in the fourteenth century, however, ferdinand, king of{148} castile, wrested it from its moorish garrison, and it remained in the hands of the spaniards until 1333. then abomelique, son of the sultan of fez, having landed on the coast with a force to assist the moorish king of granada, immediately attacked the fortress of the rock, and captured it after a brave resistance. the spanish troops fought with determined resolution, and surrendered at the approach of famine rather than to the summons of the enemy.
alonzo xi., king of castile, was hastening to the relief of the beleaguered stronghold, when news of its capitulation reached him. he resolved to attempt its recapture before the moors could throw in provisions or repair and strengthen its defences. pressing forward with great rapidity, he arrived before gibraltar on the fifth day after its surrender. dividing his army into three sections, he posted the main body on the isthmus, a second on the red sands, while the third occupied the north side of the rock above the town. he made several desperate efforts to storm the castle, but each time was repulsed with severe loss; and eventually found himself in the position of the besieger besieged—the king of granada uniting his forces with those of abomelique, and encamping in the rear of the spaniards so as to{149} raise a formidable barrier across the isthmus from the bay to the mediterranean, and cut off their supplies of provisions. for a few days longer alonzo desperately pressed his attacks; but at length was compelled by famine to open up negotiations with the moorish chiefs, which resulted in his being allowed to retire with his troops, unmolested. soon afterwards the christians surprised the moorish camp, and abomelique was slain. his father avenged his death by falling upon the spanish fleet, which he completely destroyed; but alonzo was still bent on the recovery of gibraltar, and in 1349 collected a powerful army for this purpose. his task was more difficult than on the previous occasion, the moors having greatly added to the strength of the fortifications, and garrisoned it with their best troops.
it was in the spring of the year that alonzo sat down before gibraltar, and he conducted the siege with great vigour, harassing the garrison with constant attacks and incessant storms of missiles, and intercepting their communications by land and sea. he was on the point of success when the plague broke out in his camp, sweeping away thousands of his soldiers, and carrying off himself on the 26th of march{150} 1350. the siege was immediately raised, and the crescent still shone luridly from the battlements of the fortress-crowned rock. but dissensions breaking out among the moors themselves, the castle was seized, in 1410, by jusef iii., king of granada. his rule, however, proved so distasteful to the inhabitants that they rose against him, compelled his garrison to retire, and then implored the emperor of morocco to take them under his protection. the emperor despatched his brother said to their assistance with 1000 horse and 2000 foot; but the king of granada was unwilling to surrender his prize, and assembled a fleet and army which speedily compelled the unfortunate said to capitulate.
after an interval of a quarter of a century, the hopes of the spaniards once more turned towards the famous rock, which had been the object of so many vicissitudes. in 1435 henry de guzman, count de niebla, resolved to invest it by land and sea; but having disembarked from his galleys, and attacked the moors, before his son john had brought up the land-forces, he was driven back pell-mell into the sea, and with many of his followers perished. in 1462, john de guzman had the satisfaction of{151} avenging his father’s death. a civil war had broken out in moorish granada, and a considerable portion of the gibraltar garrison had been withdrawn to strengthen the army of one of the aspirants to the crown. the governor of tarifa, apprised of the opportunity thus offered, rapidly collected a body of spanish troops and appeared before gibraltar. the inhabitants defended it bravely; but john de guzman arriving with reinforcements for the besieging army, they surrendered, and the cross supplanted the crescent after a period of seven hundred and forty-eight years. this event was so grateful to henry iv., king of castile and leon, that he added gibraltar to his royal titles, and bestowed upon the fortress the armorial bearings of a castle, gules, proper, with a key pendent to the gate, or,—thereby indicating that gibraltar was the key to the mediterranean. don pedro de perras was appointed governor; but the post was afterwards given to don john de guzman, who seems to have held it as a semi-independent fief until 1502, when, in the reign of ferdinand and isabella, it was reclaimed by the crown.
in 1589 its fortifications were extended and modernized by the imperial engineer, daniel speckel:{152} from which date it was regarded as impregnable, until sir george rooke dispelled the long-cherished delusion.
in concluding our brief description of gibraltar, and our summary of its history, we may allude to its intimate connection with the naval annals of great britain. how often have our fleets sailed forth from under its guns to encounter the armaments of hostile powers; how often have they returned victorious, carrying with them the trophies of their prowess! let us glance for a moment at the most brilliant of these triumphs; that last crowning victory of nelson’s, off trafalgar, which was won almost within sight of the celebrated strait. a memorable victory, for it swept the french and spanish flags from the sea, while it defeated napoleon’s masterly combination by which he had hoped to have effected the invasion of england.
the french and spanish fleets, under admiral villeneuve, were lying in cadiz, closely watched by nelson, with an inferior force, when napoleon sent them an imperative order to put to sea. against his better judgment, villeneuve weighed anchor on the 19th and 20th of october 1805, and forming{153} in five divisions,—in all 33 sail of the line and 3 frigates, mounting 2626 guns,—stood for the mouth of the strait. this was the opportunity nelson long had wished for; and with his 27 ships of the line and 6 frigates, carrying 2148 guns, he sailed in immediate pursuit. when, on the 21st, the french admiral became aware of the approach of the british, and discovered that it was impossible to avoid an engagement, he drew up his ships in array of battle,—forming a double and even a treble line, nearly five miles in length, and resembling a curve, or half-moon.
meanwhile, nelson advanced with his ships arrayed in two columns, and pressing forward under a cloud of canvas; collingwood leading the leeward division in the royal sovereign, and nelson himself the weather line in the victory. the wind was blowing freshly from the west, and a heavy swell rolled along the sea. at this moment the great english sea-king withdrew to his cabin, where he drew up a memorandum of a domestic character, and wrote the following prayer, evidently under the influence of a presentiment of coming death:—
“may the great god, whom i worship, grant to{154} my country, and for the benefit of europe in general, a great and glorious victory, and may no misconduct in any one tarnish it; and may humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the british fleet! for myself, individually, i commit my life to him that made me; and may his blessing alight on my endeavours for serving my country faithfully! to him i resign myself, and the just cause which is entrusted to me to defend. amen. amen. amen.”
dressed in his customary well-worn uniform, with the four time-tarnished stars of the orders he generally wore, nelson went upon deck. aware that in the ensuing battle his life would be specially aimed at, his captain, hardy, implored him not to lead his division into the storm, and he reluctantly consented that the leviathan and timéraire should pass ahead. but while he issued the necessary order, he took good care it should prove fruitless. the victory was a swift sailer, and could not fail to keep the lead, unless she shortened sail. but it was evident that nelson delighted in crowding on all the canvas his spars could carry. confident of victory, he turned with a smile to captain blackwood, and asked how many ships of the enemy’s he should{155} consider a fair triumph? blackwood, knowing how well they fought, answered that he thought fourteen would be a glorious result. “i shall not be satisfied,” said nelson, “with less than twenty.”
the british fleet was rapidly closing up with the enemy, when, at about twenty minutes to twelve, nelson again turned to captain blackwood, observing that it appeared to him some other signal was wanting. he paused a few moments, and then directed the signal-lieutenant to proclaim to the fleet that fine historic thought,—
“england expects every man will do his duty!”
as soon as its purport was understood by the fleet, a strong and earnest cheer arose, which showed with how heroic an enthusiasm the british were going into the storm and stress of battle. shortly afterwards captain blackwood, having to return to his frigate, the euryalus, shook his commander by the hand, and expressed a hope he should return to congratulate him on the capture of twenty prizes. “god bless you, blackwood,” said the admiral; “i shall never see you again.”
the division under nelson had to bear away to the north, in order to get between cadiz and the{156} enemy. thus it came to pass that collingwood’s division first joined battle,—his flag-ship, the royal sovereign, breaking the enemy’s line at ten minutes past twelve, luffing under the stern of the santa anna, and pouring into her a tremendous broadside. three others of the enemy then gathered round the british man-of-war, hurling at her such a hurricane of shot that they were seen to strike each other in the air. “rotherham,” said collingwood to his captain, “what would not nelson give to be here now?” almost at the same time, nelson, on board the victory, exclaimed, “see how that noble fellow collingwood takes his ship into action!”
ten minutes later, the victory broke the enemy’s line to the northward, and was soon receiving the fire of no fewer than six ships. the incessant discharges were murderous, and men fell quickly. with upwards of fifty killed and wounded, and her sails torn into ribbons, the victory still drove through the enemy, completely breaking up their trim array; her example being followed by each man-of-war as it came up. the battle was at its fiercest when the victory came into collision with the redoubtable, which she engaged with her starboard guns, while she directed her larboard on the bucentaure and{157} trinidad. a constant rattle of musketry was maintained from the tops of the redoubtable, which were filled with soldiers. in a few minutes the dead encumbered the gangways and quarter-deck of the victory, while her cockpit was filled with wounded. meantime, nelson and hardy continued to pace to and fro along a space of deck not more than seven yards in length; and at about twenty-five minutes past one, just as they had reached within a pace of the regular turning-point, nelson, who was on the larboard side, faced about, and, before hardy could support him, fell. “they have done for me at last, hardy!” he exclaimed. “i hope not,” answered the captain. “yes; my backbone is shot through.” a musket-ball from the mizzen-top of the redoubtable had entered his left shoulder through the fore part of the epaulet, and descending, lodged in the spine. he was removed to the cockpit, and examined by the surgeons. the wound was mortal. all was done that could be done to alleviate his sufferings; and he lingered until half-past four, when, murmuring, “thank god, i have done my duty!” the greatest seaman of this or any age passed away.
and passed away in the arms of victory. his daring man?uvre had been completely successful;{158} and out of the formidable fleet which represented the united power of france and spain, nineteen men-of-war were captured. trafalgar gave the supremacy of the sea to great britain.
gibraltar—trafalgar! these are names which will stir the heart of every englishman, so long as patriotism is recognized as a virtue,—so long as england’s sons continue to cherish england’s honour.
