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Updated: June 20, 2025
The stones of the fortress were used to build the great mole which protects Algiers harbour on the west, and for two whole years the Christian slaves were laboriously employed upon the work. To aggravate this disaster, a curious sight was seen a fortnight after the fall of the Peñon.
Once again did Europe lose itself in speculation: against whom, all men were asking, was this new expedition to be directed? Spain feared for her African possessions, as the Goletta was the key to the kingdom of Tunis, while the Peñon de Velez was one of the bulwarks of Algeria. In consequence Don Garcia de Toledo passed over from Sicily to confer with the Grand Master of the Knights.
Spanish forts at Peñon de Velez de la Gomera and Alhucemas, and Portuguese garrisons, repressed piracy in their vicinity; and in later times Salē was perhaps the only port in Morocco that sent forth buccaneers. Reefs of rocks and drifts of sand render the west coast unsuitable for anchorage, and the roads are unsafe when the wind is in the south-west.
In approaching the City of Mexico by the main highway you go directly on to Penon, which is a strong position, exceedingly well fortified. Before leaving Puebla, it had been considered whether the main road can not be avoided and El Penon turned by passing around to the south and left of Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco.
Just after the taking of the Penon de Velez seven galleys of "the Religion," under the command of the chevaliers de Giou and De Romegas, which were cruising in the neighbourhood of Zante and Cephalonia, fell in with "a puissant galleon" filled with the richest merchandise of the East, armed with "twenty great cannons of bronze," and a number of smaller guns, under the command of the Reis Bairan-Ogli, having on board "excellent officers of artillery," as well as two hundred Janissaries for her defence.
Fortified by a series of unbroken successes, Kheyr-ed-dīn at last ventured to attack the Spanish garrison, which had all this time affronted him at the Peñon de Alger.
When the first two brigantines were launched on the Lake of Tezcuco by the Spaniards, Cortes took Montezuma with him to sail upon the lake, soon leaving the Aztec canoes far behind. They went to a Peñón or rocky hill where Montezuma preserved game for his own hunting, and not even the highest nobility were allowed to hunt there on pain of death.
The garrison contains some nine hundred inhabitants. So far as natural resources are concerned, Peñon de Velez is a mere rock, and a part of the year is obliged to be supplied with fresh water from the mainland. The name Gomera, according to J.A. Conde, is derived from the celebrated Arab tribe of the Gomeres, who flourished in Africa and Spain until the last Moorish kings of Granada.
But as they reached the Penon and felt the full vigour of that warm breeze, Sakr-el-Bahr, who by Asad's command remained in charge of the navigation, ordered the unfurling of the enormous lateen sails on main and foremasts. They ballooned out, swelling to the wind, and the galeasse surged forward at a speed that was more than doubled.
We have already said that the harbour of Algiers was formed by the running out of an artificial pier from the mainland to the small island of Penon, which lies close to the town. The island itself was defended all round by ramparts and batteries of heavy guns.
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