Tangier, Morocco

Map

The overlays that highlight 17th century London features are approximate and derived from Wenceslaus Hollar’s maps:

Open location in Google Maps: 35.782170, -5.800780

1893 text

This place so often mentioned, was first given up to the English fleet under Lord Sandwich, by the Portuguese, January 30th, 1662; and Lord Peterborough left governor, with a garrison. The greatest pains were afterwards taken to preserve the fortress, and a fine mole was constructed at a vast expense, to improve the harbour. At length, after immense sums of money had been wasted there, the House of Commons expressed a dislike to the management of the garrison, which they suspected to be a nursery for a popish army, and seemed disinclined to maintain it any longer. The king consequently, in 1683, sent Lord Dartmouth to bring home the troops, and destroy the works; which he performed so effectually, that it would puzzle all our engineers to restore the harbour. It were idle to speculate on the benefits which might have accrued to England, by its preservation and retention; Tangier fell into the hands of the Moors, its importance having ceased, with the demolition of the mole. Many curious views of Tangier were taken by Hollar, during its occupation by the English; and his drawings are preserved in the British Museum. Some have been engraved by himself; but the impressions are of considerable rarity.—B.

This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

24 Annotations

First Reading

John Skinner  •  Link

For those whose geography is as weak as mine: Tangiers is a coastal city in Morocco, located across the straits of Gibraltar from Spain. Its value was that, together with the fortress city of Gibraltar, it allowed control of access into and out of the Mediterranean.

Pedro.  •  Link

More on Sandwich and Tangier.

The above site and content has changed, for the history of the regiment formed to go to Tangier see…
http://www.kipar.org/military-history/kirkes_regi…
Sandwich’s involvement up to the current point in the Diary, and waiting for Lord Peterborough to arrive can be summed up by L&M in the Companion Volume…
“When Sandwich arrived he found the place besieged by Moorish troops under Gayland, who had rebelled against the Emperor of Morocco and was in the control of the region around Tangier. With commendable promptitude Sandwich landed seamen to man the derilict defences….
Ordinary seaman Edward Barlow wrote, “We kept guard and stood sentry about the town, and upon the walls night and day. And sometimes in the daytime, we all of us, being about 400 men, upon the walls which lay open to the country, gave small shot, when we saw any of the Moors, to put them in fear and let them know that the town was well manned.”

David Moray  •  Link

"Tangier: England's Lost Atlantic Outpost 1661-1684," Routh, E.M.G. London. John Murray. 1912 Huge amount of information about the whole period of the English occupation of Tanger. A lot from Peyps' journals and includes many plates of Hollar's engravings of the fortifications.

language hat  •  Link

The L&M Companion volume has a long essay on Tangier.
You can read some of it at Google Print:
http://print.google.com/print?id=J-JSalViBrMC&pg=…
(keep hitting the forward arrows and skip over the unavailable pages). There's a nice description of Sam's 1683 voyage, for which he kept a journal ("a worthy appendage to the great diary though far less well known"):

"As Pepys soon found out, the place was a sink of iniquity and corruption

language hat  •  Link

Encountering the Infidels: Restoration Images of the Moors
is the title of an essay by Karim Bejjit that has a lot of material relating to the English occupation of Tangier:
http://www.shu.ac.uk/wpw/morocco/Beljjitt/Beljjit…

"During the Restoration period, following a long absence of the Moor from the English stage, popular notions about the Moors were more directly influenced by the numerous and regular reports published at home about the condition of the British garrison in Tangier and its encounters with the belligerent natives. The paradox that emerges, then, is that as official and public awareness of the Moors takes on a worldly and more concretised aspect than hitherto entertained, the dramatic treatment of the Moor in such renowned plays as Elkanah Settle

language hat  •  Link

TANGIER: ENGLAND’S FORGOTTEN COLONY (1661-1684)
By Dr John Wreglesworth

A long online essay:
http://www.elsewhereonline.com.au/worldres/countr…

"For over 20 years from 1661 to 1684, the ancient city of Tangier was held as a colony by England. The story of the occupation now constitutes, at best, an obscure footnote in Britain’s imperial history. And yet, in its day, the English presence in Tangier represented the greatest overseas investment of royal manpower and resources..."

Pedro  •  Link

Tangier (May 3rd 1663)…

On May 3rd 1663 Lord Peterborough was enticed by Guyland to let the garrison outside the city walls. They ran out “in a confused manner”, without prior knowledge of the strength or position of the Moors. The result was disaster. The British pursued the retreating Moors who led them into a prepared trap. Surrounded on three sides the British were routed and only a third of force regained the safety of the town.

This serious setback sapped the confidence of Peterborough and his garrison. No parties were sent out of the town and the gates were permanently shut; the Moors were permitted to steal cattle from under the very noses of the sentries. A change of command was required.

(Childs…The Army of Charles II)

Pedro  •  Link

Sam 10th September 1663…” Mr. Moore who tells me of the good peace that is made at Tangier with the Moors, but to continue from 6 months to 6 months.”

Teviot arrived on the 11th May 1663 and realized that the key to a successful defence of Tangier lay in the construction of fortifications which would allow the Garrison and not the Moors to control the circle of hills surrounding the town.

On June 19th the Moors attacked Fort Catherine, 300 yards in advance of the main gate, but were beaten off. Six days later the Moors launched an offensive against the unfinished Pole Fort, and again the assault failed. After this defeat Guyland sued for 6 months peace, and Teviot accepted as it gave time to complete to fortifications.

The Moors paid scant regard to the truce and attacked the new redoubt, but were driven off. On 16th July came decisive action. Teviot employed a “Guard of Dogs” to discover Moors hiding within the British Lines, and a 2.00 pm they found enemy horsemen waiting in ambush. The Tangier Horse charged down on the Moors, but Teviot fell back as he spotted the approach of a large body of enemy infantry. The 5 new forts were ordered to be manned. A mist had blown in from the sea and the Moors set fire to the grass before Tangier, blinding the garrison artillery. Under cover of this smoke screen, the Moors advanced within a musket shot of the forts. Then, as if through divine intervention the winds changed direction blowing the smoke back over the Moors. This was too much for Guyland who he again asked for a truce.

(Teviot the took 6 months leave in Scotland)

( Summary from…The Army of Charles II by John Childs)

Pedro  •  Link

On the 4th of September Dirk shows that Fanshawe returns to England from his role in Portugal.

The Spanish still believe that Tangier is their property, being at war with Portugal and not recognising Portugal to be an independent State. The Spanish could only take Tangier with the help of Guyland attacking on land, while they mount a sea attack. Philip IV tries to negotiate with Guyland, and English intelligence gets wind of this.

Fanshawe is chosen to go Madrid as Ambassador with instructions to diplomatically warn Philip that we are aware of plans without flaunting all his knowledge. However Guyland had no intention of helping the Spanish and was only interested in taking the money and playing at diplomacy.

(Intelligence and Espionage in the Reign of Charles II by Alan Marshall.)

Pedro  •  Link

Diet of the Garrison.

Mr. Gauden, Victualler of the Navy, supplied the garrison in Tangier.

"Private men lived on a diet of ship's biscuit, salt beef or pork, dried peas, butter, cheese and oatmeal, with the occasional variety of fresh bread and dried fish. The provisions were sent to Tangier from England by contractors who purchased their rights from the Lord's Commissioners for Tangier, but even if the correct amount was shipped there was no guarantee that the stores would reach their destination. Victualling vessels could be shipwrecked during the three week r voyage through the stormy Bay of Biscay, or captured by Corsairs, as happened to the Phoenix in 1677."

The Army of Charles II by J.Childs

Pedro  •  Link

May 4th 1664

On May 4th a composite battalion of 500 men, commanded by the Governor (Teviot) marched towards Jews Hill, 2 or 3 miles out of Tangier. Once on Jews River, Teviot met a force of 3,000 Moors, and these he beat off. It seems the advance was a calculated risk...

After repulsing the first attack, Teviot was sufficiently confident to advance further inland... but he was moving into a trap. The Moor's first attack had been a decoy luring the British into a heavy wooded upland where another 8000 lay hidden. Unable to assume their stylised order of battle, the British were defeated in clusters of hand to hand fighting where pikes and hangers were no match for scimitars. Teviot rallied his battalion at the summit of Jews Hill where they were cut down to a man. 30 out of the original 500 escaped to Tangier.

(Childs, The Army of Charles II)

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Hendrick Danckerts, A view of Tangier, 1669
Oil on canvas, 109.2 x 160 cm
Painted for Charles II
Signed and dated lower left: HDanckerts. / F.1669. (initials in monogram)
RCIN 402578

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/object…

Paul Chapin  •  Link

Michael, thanks for the picture. The Mole that we've read so much about is the long straight breakwater extending out into the sea just to the right of the towered building that is the most prominent feature in the garrison. If you zoom in on the picture you can see a line of ships heading for (or away from) it.

Pedro  •  Link

Thanks again to Michael for the picture link. Trying to add some interest from the plan drawn up in Child’s Army of Charles II…

Far left could be Peterborough Tower.

Far right as the walls fall down to Tangier Bay could be Irish Battery, near which, and inside, is situated The Market.

In the centre towards the sea and to the left could be the Governor’s House, and to the right York Castle which is near the Parade Ground.

The point jutting out opposite York Castle could be Catherina Point.

Landward side from Catherina Point there are three buildings that could be from left to right, Bridges Fort, Pole Fort (centre) and Bellaise Fort. The path down the left from the forts leads to Whitehall, and further on and just out of the picture above Peterborough Tower would be Whitby!

The Mole runs out to sea from below York Castle.

Pedro  •  Link

For the record, to give geography to some of the above annotations concerning Teviot…

Following the coast a short distance to the left and onward from Peterborough Tower would bring you to higher ground and a large fort called Whitby. The same distance further on is one called Devil’s Drop.

There is then the narrow Great Valley running perpendicular to the coast with higher ground on the other side and called Teviot (Jews) Hill. Along this valley runs Jew’s River.

On the Garrison side of the valley and opposite Jew’s Hill, moving inland from Devil’s Drop are Henrietta Fort and Charles Fort. Below Charles Fort in the valley is a bridge crossing the river. It was in this area that Teviot came to grief.

Michael Robinson  •  Link

Spoiler -- The Dankerts view is almost certainly the one SP saw at Whitehall on May 29th. 1669 " ... Here with Sir Charles Herbert and my Lord Hinchinbroke and Sidney, we looked upon the picture of Tangier designed by Charles Herberd and drawn by Dancre, which my lord Sandwich admires, as being the truest picture that he ever saw in his life - and it is endeed very pretty, and I will be at the cost of having one of them."

There was also a version (? copy) commissioned by Sandwich (with a companion landscape of Plymouth) formerly at Hinchinbroke, also signed and dated 1669.

See Oliver Millar 'Tudor, Stuart, and early Georgian Pictures in the collection of H. M. The Queen' 1963. no. 401; Margaret Whinney and Oliver Millar 'English Art 1625-1714, Oxford History of English Art VIII' 1957. pp. 263-4.

**********

Contemporary views, or maps with panoramas, of Tangier appear to be of some rarity

For the 'Mapp of the City of Tangier; with the Straits of Gibralter, ...' 1664, engraved by Hollar after Moore:

"Dinner not being presently ready I spent some time myself and shewed them a map of Tangier left this morning at my house by Creed, cut by our order, the Commissioners, and drawn by Jonas Moore, which is very pleasant, and I purpose to have it finely set out and hung up."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1664/03/26/

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ku2IWu3xchoC&pg=…

Can not find a reproduction on line, L&M record a copy in the BM [now BL] Topographical collection (K. Top. cxvii, III, TAB); the BM print department copy, BM Reg # Ee,2.130; location British XVIIc Unmounted Portfolio.
Pennington, Richard, 'A descriptive catalogue of the etched work of Wenceslaus Hollar,' 1982, #1202.

***

Tangere, after Jan Peters, Antwerp, 1664
[published with a set of Mediterranean views]
Hollstein, Dutch, XLII, pp. 123 - 36, 73.

Can find no reproduction 'on line'

*****

For the Hollar Tangier printed views, from his time on the expedition with Lord Henry Howard, 1668-9, published London 1673:

At the British Museum, includes the original drawings:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_…
At the National Maritime museum, prints only:
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/prints/listPrint…

*****

The following map / panorama was advertised in the London Gazettte for June 1681:

A NEW Map of Tangier, six Foot long and four Foot deep; a fit size for Chimney pieces, Galleries, or Staircases. It contains twenty-two several Draughts, with the Mold, Forts, and Lines, taken on the place by Robert Thacker, Designer to the King, for His Majesties particular Use; and now published for the Satisfaction of such Nobility and Gentry as are curious to know the present State and Condition of the place to this year 1681: together with printed Explanations, and a History of things remarkable from its Original to this time. Price, with Ledges and Roller, 20s. Sold by R.Clavell at the Peacock in St.Paul’s Churchyard.

http://newspaperadvertisements.wordpress.com/cate…

However I can find no record of any such a surviving publication in the ESTC database, nor a record of any claim for its copyright or publication in the 'Term Catalogues'

*****

The only other contemporary view of Tangier, 'Four views ...' (A Prospect of Tangier and the Mole before it was Demolished..., ... Tangier; A Prospect of Tangier coming firm the Westward before it was demolished, ... after it was demolished), engraved by Nicholas Yeates and John Collins after Ensign Thomas Phillips who traveled with SP in 1683-4 expedition and performed the demolition. There appear to be a unique set of survivals, Knighton describes them as printed on double sheets and hand colored (examining the published plates only and not the originals, to me these appear to be the original set of pen and watercolor drawings), in the Pepys Library, PL2895, pt. ii., 294 -307, reproduced in C. S. Knighton ed. 'Pepys Later Diaries,' 2004 (paper 2006) (unnumbered, but color plate II-V in my copy).

Knighton notes the set as unique. They were advertised at the time as 'for sale,' London Gazette 5-8 Jan 1685, #1997, if actually published and copies survive I can not find impressions in the British Museum Collection or elsewhere.

There are some of Phillips unpublished papers, and drawings, relating to Tangier at Worcester College, Oxford.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Phillips_(eng…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

This place, so often mentioned, was first given up to the English fleet under Lord Sandwich, by the Portuguese, January 30th, 1662; and Lord Peterborough left governor, with a garrison. The greatest pains were afterwards taken to preserve the fortress, and a fine mole was constructed at a vast expense, to improve the harbour. At length, after immense sums of money had been wasted there, the House of Commons expressed a dislike to the management of the garrison, which they suspected to be a nursery for a popish army, and seemed disinclined to maintain it any longer. The king consequently, in 1683, sent Lord Dartmouth to bring home the troops, and destroy the works; which he performed so effectually, that it would puzzle all our engineers to restore the harbour. It were idle to speculate on the benefits which might have accrued to England, by its preservation and retention; Tangier fell into the hands of the Moors, its importance having ceased with the demolition of the mole. Many curious views of Tangier were taken by Hollar, during its occupation by the English; and his drawings are preserved in the British Museum. Some have been engraved by himself; but the impressions are of considerable rarity. — B.
---Wheatley, 1899.

Views of Tanger by Wenzel Hollar: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Views_…

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1661

1662

1663

1664

1665

1666

1667

1668

1669