Mr. Reed tells us: “This strange contest between attack and defence, however wasteful, however melancholy, must still go on.”(64) Sir W. G. Armstrong (inventor of the famous guns), on the other hand, says, “In my opinion, armour should be wholly abandoned for the defence of the guns, and, except to a very limited extent, I doubt the expediency of using it even for the security of the ship. Where armour can be applied for _deflecting_ projectiles, as at the bow of a ship, it would afford great protection, without requiring to be very heavy.”(65) Sir William recommends very swift iron vessels, divided into numerous compartments, with boilers and machinery below the water-line, and only very partially protected by armour; considering that victory in the contest as regards strength is entirely on the side of the artillery. Sir Joseph Whitworth (also an inventor of great guns) offered practically to make guns to penetrate _any_ thickness of armour. The bewildered Parliamentary committee says mournfully in its report: “A perfect ship of war is a desideratum which has never yet been attained, and is now farther than ever removed from our reach;”(66) while Mr. Reed(67) again cuts the gordian knot by professing his belief that in the end, “guns will themselves be superseded as a means of attack, and the ship itself, viewed as a steam projectile—possessing all the force of the most powerful shot, combined with the power of striking in various directions—will be deemed the most formidable weapon of attack that man’s ingenuity has devised.” The contest between professed ship and gun makers would be amusing but for the serious side—the immense expense, and the important interests involved. [Illustration: THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR: FROM THE MAINLAND.] CHAPTER VI. ROUND THE WORLD ON A MAN-OF-WAR. The Mediterranean—White, blue, green, purple Waters—Gibraltar—Its History—Its first Inhabitants the Monkeys—The Moors—The Great Siege preceded by thirteen others—The Voyage of Sigurd to the Holy Land—The Third Siege—Starvation—The Fourth Siege—Red-hot balls used before ordinary Cannon-balls—The Great Plague—Gibraltar finally in Christian hands—A Naval Action between the Dutch and Spaniards—How England won the Rock—An Unrewarded Hero—Spain’s attempts to regain It—The Great Siege—The Rock itself and its Surroundings—The Straits—Ceuta, Gibraltar’s Rival—The Saltness of the Mediterranean—“Going aloft”—On to Malta.