Twenty Years' Recollections of an Irish Police Magistrate

by Frank Thorpe Porter

CHAPTER XXIX. GIBRALTAR (CONTINUED)—DEPARTURE FOR HOME—CHARITY, REAL CHARITY—A DEATH AND FUNERAL—THE BAY OF BISCAY AGAIN—AT HOME: LEISURE NO PLEASURE—A REVIEW.

Towards the conclusion of my visit to Gibraltar, a marriage was solemnized between an officer commanding a frigate lying off the New Mole and a young lady of very prepossessing appearance who came from England, accompanied by her mother and some other relatives. The ceremony was performed at the Protestant Church, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and an arrangement had been made that the wedding dejeuner should take place on board the vessel, after which the happy couple were to proceed by boat to Algesiras to spend the honeymoon. The frigate was directly in view of Mr. Costello's residence, and with the help of a binocular glass I could see persons on deck as plainly as if I stood amongst them. As soon as the bridegroom came ashore to proceed to the church, several boats came from the stairs at the Ragged Staff, conveying a profuse supply of evergreens and flowers. These were quickly taken aloft by the crew who swarmed up, and in a few minutes the masts, yards, and rigging were festooned with floral decorations, amongst which the peculiarly appropriate nuptial ornament, "a wreath of orange blossoms," was conspicuously displayed on each bow and quarter. The other ships were dressed in the usual manner, but the frigate appeared pre-eminently beautiful. The reception of the bride and bridegroom and their cortege was most enthusiastic. I was assured by several naval officers that the display, which excited the unqualified admiration of all who witnessed it, was a spontaneous manifestation on the part of the crew of their respect and affection for their captain. I regret that I do not recollect his name, but the feeling evinced towards him was not the only instance that came under my observation indicative of great attachment on the part of British sailors for their commanders.

To the respectable residents of Gibraltar, whether official or commercial, the place affords many advantages. The comforts attainable in the cities of the United Kingdom can be there procured on terms in many respects more moderate, and in none, as far as I could learn, seriously greater, whilst many articles of domestic requirement, are vastly cheaper, owing to their importation not being subjected to Customs' duties. The prices of shoes, boots, and hats appeared to me to be lower than those I should have to pay in Dublin for a similar description and quality of goods. Woollen, linen, and cotton fabrics are somewhat dearer than here, and tables, chairs, and bedsteads, unless made of very old and well-seasoned wood, shrink and shrivel in the sultry time, and require repairs involving some outlay. The expenses incident to soft goods and furniture are not much complained of, and do not appear to be considered serious inconveniences.

Respectable residents or visitors can have, at a cost of twenty shillings yearly, access to a library, from which useful information and amusement may be extensively derived. The building is of elegant structure, of extensive dimensions, and its furniture unites beauty of appearance with utility and comfort. It is supplied with the principal newspapers and periodical publications of the civilized world, and its shelves contain about twenty thousand volumes, most conveniently arranged, and comprising the choicest specimens of ancient and modern literature. No person should visit Gibraltar, even during the time required for coaling a steamer, without taking a glance or two at the library and from its windows, for some of them command a splendid view of the bay and of a considerable portion of the fortress, whilst many others are immediately over parterres of the choicest and most luxuriant floral productions.

Having enumerated almost every agreeable or advantageous circumstance that I can recollect respecting the time I spent in Gibraltar, I shall proceed to notice the only alloys to the varied pleasures which I experienced there. From the middle of June to the beginning of September the heat is extremely oppressive, and when the wind is easterly, as it frequently was during my sojourn, its effect is extremely debilitating to the body and depressing to the mind. During the sultry months no rain ever falls, and, nevertheless, the wind coming from the Levant is surcharged with moisture. Clothes hung out to dry under a scorching sun continue as damp as when first exposed, or perhaps become more so. Fish or flesh meat killed in the morning will not be eatable in seven or eight hours. Wine bottled, marmalade or jams made, turn acid very soon. The slightest exertion becomes a labour, and persons are less censurable for inattention to the comforts of others as they lapse into indifference to their own requirements. A long continuance of an east wind would probably prove disastrously unhealthy, but it seldom lasts long, and generally, after a couple of days or a few hours, it is succeeded by a westerly breeze from the broad Atlantic, cool, dry, and invigorating.

This impregnable fortress, which may defy all human efforts for its forcible reduction, is not proof against the invasion of countless small but most sanguinary creatures that, if they could audibly express their universal craving, would make an unvaried and continuous demand of blood. The mosquitoes appear early in June, and are a most persistent nuisance during the sultry months. It is no slight advantage to Great Britain and Ireland to be free from their annoyance. I suffered greatly from their envenomed bites, and although sex or age appears to be utterly disregarded in their insatiate and incessant attacks, they are reputed to accord a preference to the blood of a stranger. The slightest aperture in the curtains of my bed resulted in numerous punctures being made in the skin of my face and hands. My friend Costello slept in an uncurtained bed, and was not attacked by the mosquitoes. He told me that, after he had resided in Gibraltar for a couple of years, they ceased to annoy him. Dr. Williams described them as "the most affectionate little creatures in the world, for if you killed one, some hundreds would come to his funeral."

During the months of May and June in 1861, I heard more cannon shots than ever reached my ears in the rest of my existence. The artillery were practising daily for several hours at floating targets in the bay, and the noise was certainly far from agreeable to me. In the expression of a wish for more quietude, I met no sympathy from those who had resided in Gibraltar for a year or two, and who had become accustomed to the firing, and perhaps, if I spent a few months more in the fortress my nerves would have become more obtuse. The convict depot, outside the line wall, was very near to the battery principally used for practice, and I have seen the premises occupied by the superintendent completely clouded with smoke, whilst his walls reverberated the repeated discharges of heavy cannon. He directed my attention to the domestic fowl, of which he had a considerable number, and to the poultry of various kinds having become quite accustomed and apparently reconciled to the appalling sounds, and to the fire and smoke copiously emitted in their proximity.

I was told, in casual conversations with artillery officers, that one-third of the ammunition contained in the magazines of Gibraltar was expended yearly, and that the deficiency was supplied by an equal quantity from home. I was informed that gunpowder becomes deteriorated if kept beyond three years, and that the most advantageous use of the old stock was to expend it in artillery practice. Some of the floating targets were stated to be eight hundred yards, and others six hundred, from the battery. I saw shells used very frequently, and was informed that the practice was not efficient or satisfactory if at least one-third of the shells did not explode directly over the target. The bay is occasionally visited by large shoals of porpoises, and in calm weather they frolic in great numbers on the surface of the water. On a day in June, 1861, they were extremely abundant, and no where more so than close to the floating targets. Every shell discharged, killed or disabled some of them without frightening the others or dissolving their "aggregate meeting." Some tons of porpoises were collected after the firing ceased, and subjected, I believe, to some process for the extraction of oil. I was a spectator, for about two hours, of the scene I have endeavoured to describe, and it impressed me with an awful appreciation of our artillery as applicable to actual warfare.