Pepys's Later Diaries by C S Knighton

Author:C S Knighton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press

FOUR

The Tangier Journal 30 July–1 December 1683

Tangier, in the modern kingdom of Morocco, was a possession of the British Crown from 1661 to 1684, having been ceded by Portugal as part of the dowry of Charles II’s bride Catherine of Bragança. British ships, naval and merchantmen, were increasingly present in the Mediterranean, and acquisition of a base for refits and provisioning had previously been considered. Tangier itself had been recommended by General Blake in the 1650s. The 1661 marriage treaty brought this desired object without a fight. Such an outpost would, it was supposed, also assist operations against the Barbary corsairs who preyed on European shipping in the Mediterranean, and occasionally beyond. Once the seaways were secure, Tangier could be developed as a thriving entrepôt, a place of profit in itself, and establishing Britain as a significant fixture in the Mediterranean economy. For all these reasons, and simply because it enhanced British prestige, the new colony was well received. Few, perhaps, stopped to wonder why the previous owners were contentedly parting with it. The Portuguese had been there since 1471, which in itself is a reminder of how far ahead of the British they were in imperial experience.1

There was an immediately complicating factor because Spain, to which Portugal had been annexed between 1580 and 1640, refused to acknowledge Portugal’s new independence, and by extension her competence to cede dependent territory. So Britain’s new colony faced a large unfriendly presence to the north. To the east, south and west were the people of Morocco, who naturally resented this European enclave in their country, and made repeated attempts to recover it. These could sometimes be thwarted by exploiting local rivalries. More generally, the British approached their new neighbours with a policy of kicks and ha’pence. The Moors made their most determined effort in 1680, but the garrison withstood their siege. Two years later a Moroccan ambassador was welcomed in England; and in the last months of the occupation there was an uneasy peace. Tangier lies surrounded by mountains to landward, so command of the heights was essential to its defence. The British drove out a system of earthworks and small forts which created an outer bastion. The Moors beyond still overlooked them; and although they lacked the artillery and general organisation to take the town by storm, they were well placed to conduct guerilla operations.

A more serious problem came exclusively from the west. The prevailing winds off the Atlantic meant that Tangier was an inadequate anchorage for the large ships which the Navy needed to station there. This was recognised from the outset, and the solution was the construction of a stone breakwater, the ‘Mole’. It was a colossal undertaking, quite beyond anything the British had ever attempted so far from home, and much of the history of the colony revolves round it. The site was chosen by Sandwich when he took possession of the town in 1662, and the Swedish engineer Martin Beckmann designed a 400-yard pier terminating in a return arm.

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