Steamboat Lines (comp. ‘Gibraltar Chronicle’). Peninsular & Oriental (Smith, Imossi, & Co., Irish Town), weekly between London, Marseilles, and Port Said (for Australia and China; comp. RR. 17, 67); Orient Royal (Smith, Imossi, & Co.), fortnightly between London, Marseilles, and Port Said (for Australia; comp. RR. 17, 67); Cunard (M. H. Bland & Co., Cloister Bdg.), between New York and Trieste (RR. 15a, 16); White Star (Th. Morsley & Co., Irish Town 11), 2 or 3 times monthly to Naples (and Genoa; RR. 16, 15a), or viâ Algiers to Genoa; North German Lloyd (J. Onetti & Sons, Engineer Lane), fortnightly to Algiers, Genoa, Naples, and Port Said (comp. RR. 1, 15b, 24, 67), also fortnightly between New York, Algiers, Naples, and Genoa (comp. RR. 16, 24); the Hamburg-American (J. Carrara & Sons, Waterport St.) has excursion-steamers only; German Levant (J. Rugeroni & Son, Commercial Sq.), occasionally to Algiers; Hall Line (W. J. S. Smith, Bomb House Lane), weekly between London, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Málaga (comp. RR. 1, 6b); Royal Mail Steam Packet (Bland & Co., see above), every other Wed. for Tangier, Mogador, Teneriffe, etc. (RR. 14, 3, 4); Transports Maritimes (Imossi & Son), 21st of each month for Madeira and S. America; Oldenburg-Portuguese (A. Mateos & Sons, Pitman’s Alley) twice monthly to Tangier and Mogador (R. 14); Navigation Mixte (A. Mateos & Sons), every other Wed. night to Tangier, Oran, and Marseilles (RR. 18, 19); Vapores Correos de Africa (J. Onetti & Sons; at Algeciras, A. Gil Pineda), from Algeciras to Tangier and Cadiz (see R. 6b).—Local steamers to Algeciras and Tangier, comp. R. 6.
One Day (or even less when time presses). Walk through the town to the Alameda (p. [55]); visit to Europa Point (p. [55]) and perhaps Catalan Bay also (p. [56]).—Foreigners are not admitted to the fortifications, photographing or sketching which is prohibited.
Gibraltar, a town of 23,450 inhab. (incl. the garrison of 5100 men), the key of the Mediterranean, and one of the most important coast-fortresses in the world, in British possession since 1704, and headquarters of the Atlantic Fleet, lies on the W. slope of a huge rock, which is connected with the Spanish mainland by a sandy isthmus only. The famous rock bounds the Bay of Algeciras or Gibraltar on the E. ‘It is the very image of an enormous lion, crouched between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and set there to guard the passage for its British mistress’ (Thackeray).
The rock is composed of Jurassic limestone, overlying Silurian slate, and extending from N. to S.; it is 3 M. long and ¾ M. in breadth, with a saddle separating Mt. Rockgun (1356 ft.), the lower hill on the N., from the Signal Station, the Highest Point (1396 ft.), and the Sugar Loaf Hill (O’ Hara’s Tower, 1361 ft.) on the S. Its grey masses ascend gradually in terraces on the W. and S. sides, and rise almost perpendicularly on the E. and N. sides.
The Town of Gibraltar (‘North Town’) covers a third of the W. slope to the N., while the remaining two-thirds are occupied by the Alameda, numerous pretty villas, the barracks of the South Town, and the Lighthouse on Europa Point. The houses rise in terraces to a height of 260 ft.; the streets are narrow and dark, and are relieved by few squares. The natives are chiefly Spaniards and descendants of many different Mediterranean races. The numerous Moroccans, mostly dealers from Tangier, indicate the proximity of the African coast. The cleanness of the town and the absence of beggars produce a pleasant impression. The Coal Stores on the South Mole (along with those of Algiers and Malta) supply the vessels bound for the Suez Canal (about 1200 annually). There is little other trade except the import of cattle and provisions from Galicia and Morocco.
The ancient name of the rock was Kalpe, while the hills on the African side were called Abyla (now Sierra Bullones; p. [103]). Together they were known as the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, the entrance to the ocean. Under the protection of the divine Hercules-Melkarth, the Phœnicians ventured through the straits, even as far as Britain, whence they brought the earliest tidings from the North and also cargoes of tin, which they mixed with copper to produce bronze. Kalpe was also the name of the first Phœnician settlement on the bay of Gibraltar, while Carteia, on the inner part of the bay, was probably of ancient Iberian origin. Carteia was still an important harbour under the Carthaginians, and in 171 B. C. it became the first Roman colony in the whole peninsula. Nothing is recorded of the period which succeeded the invasion of the Vandals (p. [322]). At length in 711 the bay re-appears in history, when Mûsa, the governor appointed by the Caliph of Damascus, sent the Berber Târik ibn Ziyâd across from Ceuta to the bay of Algeciras on an expedition against Spain, in which he defeated the Visigoths at Veger de la Frontera, near Cape Trafalgar (p. [58]). Impressed by the commanding position of the rock of Gibraltar, Târik afterwards erected a fort upon it, which formed the nucleus of the Moorish castle (p. [55]). From him is derived the name of Jebel Târik, ‘mountain of Târik’, corrupted into Gibraltar. In 1309 Gibraltar was captured by Al. Pérez de Guzmán (el Bueno) for Ferdinand IV. of Castile; the Moors recaptured it in 1333, but in 1462 lost it again to the Spaniards. In consequence of the plundering of Gibraltar by Algerian pirates under Kheireddin (p. [221]), Charles V. ordered the fortifications to be reconstructed and new ramparts to be built from the S. side of the town to the crest of the hill. In 1610 the Spanish Admiral Mendoza caused the last Moriscoes of Andalusia to be sent back to Morocco from this very port, where their ancestors had so long held sway, and whence they had gone forth to conquer the whole peninsula. After having undergone ten sieges at various periods, the fortress was surprised and captured by the British fleet under Adm. George Rooke and Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1704, during the Spanish War of Succession, and was stoutly and successfully defended by them during a six months’ bombardment by the Spaniards and the French (1704–5). The thirteenth siege (1727) and the ‘great siege’ by the French and the Spaniards (1779–83) were also unsuccessful, the British commander then being Gen. Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield. By the Peace of Versailles, in 1783, Great Britain was confirmed in her possession of the historic rock.
The older Fortifications on the coast, from Land Port on the N. to Europa Point on the S., those on the S. slope of the rock above Europa Point, and those on the N. side (the famous underground galleries, p. [55]) have in late years been strengthened by the construction of a fort on the summit of the hill, armed with guns of the largest calibre.
From the Old Mole, dating from 1309, and lately prolonged by the North Mole, we pass through the Old Mole Gate (the outer gate of the harbour), and then, beyond the Market, through the inner Waterport Gate, which stands on the site of the old Moorish wharf. This brings us to the S. E. to Casemates Square.
Adjacent, on the S., is Waterport Street, with the chief buildings, forming, together with the parallel street to the W. called Irish Town, the chief business quarter.
Waterport Street is prolonged to the S. by Church Street. Beyond Commercial Square and the Exchange (Pl. 3) we come to the Catholic Cathedral (Pl. 4), on the left, originally a mosque, but restored by the ‘Catholic kings’ (p. [75]) after 1502; there now remains little worth seeing except the Moorish orange-court.—A little farther on, on the same side is the Supreme Court (Pl. 7), with its pretty garden. To the right, in Cathedral Square, stands the Anglican Cathedral (Pl. 6), built in the Moorish style.