Vox Gibraltar News: Convict Labour

Convict Labour
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vox on 08 August, 2009 08:01


by Freddie Gomez
Inces Gallery (The Siege Tunnels) never did come into action, for the Great
Siege ended months before the project was finished in 1783.
However, below the Inces Gallery tunnels and galleries were subsequently
excavated to construct a communication system through which the whole of the
Northern Defences interconnected.  The Northern Defences are also known as the
Prince's Lines which form part of the Queen's and King's Lines.  The
communication system divided into two sections.  One served to connect the
Moorish Castle with the Upper Rock area - the Queen's and Willis's, which
comprise the Upper and Lower union Galleries; the other an intercommunication
between the Prince's, the Queen's, and the King's Lines.
The dates of construction of these Lines and Galleries range from 1788 to 1797,
though notes taken by military personnel at the time of the Great Siege-which
Captain Drinkwater included in his book "A History of the Great Siege" -
describe the excavation of the tunnel between King's Lines and Queens Lines as
having commenced in July 1782.  There is also written information on some of the
tunnels of the King's Lines existing before the British occupation.  The
British, however, with the use of convict-labour, extended and enlarged the
existing tunnels to suit their purpose.
The Lower Galleries (Northern Defences) are an intricate and well planned system
of galleries, passages and chambers, of which there are too  many to mention,
but an appraisal of the workmanship and planning involved in the construction of
the system can be seen on the map provided.
Apparently the convict labour employed for the construction of the tunnels were
not only civilians under penal servitude but military personnel who had mutinied
(which was not an uncommon occurrence).
Mutineers not sentenced to death by firing squad were either condemned to serve
more time in the regiment or received punishment by a multitude of lashes or,
alternatively, could serve the sentence as convict labour.  The procedure
applied was as follows: a punishment of 50 to 100 lashes could be exchanged for
a whole day's work of convict labour (4am to 6pm), albeit depending on the
severity of the crime committed.
Undated anecdotes appended to punishment records make interesting though
alarming reading.  One of which being that of a Corporal who stood trial as a
deserter and sentenced to life-long servitude in the corps.  Another is that of
a Private by the name of Thomas who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes with the
cat-o'-nine-tails.  The last 50 lashes being executed by the common hangman
(town's executioner) on the journey from Southport to Waterport (the length of
today's Main St) and drummed out of the garrison with a notice stating his crime
hanging from his neck.  There is another concerning a civilian, a boatman by the
name of  Antonio Bensetto who was apprehended  when introducing two foreigners
into the garrison who did not have a Health Bill that cleared them of contagious
disease and who had previously been refused admittance into the garrison.  He
and the two foreigners were sentenced by His Excellency the Governor and
Commander In- Chief of the Garrison, General O'Hara to receive 75 lashes which
were dispensed as follows: 25 lashes on the Alameda Grounds, 25 lashes at the
Four Corners and the remaining 25 at the Lazaretto (Laguna Estate).  The two
foreigners whose names were A. Capello and R. Arilla were also made to work a
convict's day of labour.    Carrying out corporal punishment in public served to
bring about the obedience the military wanted from convicts and population alike
to fulfil the construction of a huge fortress which Gibraltar came to be.