The Wind Star in front of the old British arsenal

 The MSY Wind Star is a motor sailing yacht, sailing as a cruise ship for Windstar Cruises. She is one of an unusual class of only three vessels (msy Wind Star,msy Wind Spirit, and msy Wind Song), designed as a modern cruise ship but carrying an elaborate system of computer-controlled sails on four masts.

More than 300 years ago a naval base was built in Mahon harbour to meet the needs of the British navy. Many of the buildings that once were the old arsenal are today part of a Spanish Navy base which is not open to the public but it can be seen and viewed from many points in Mahon town, or from the Yellow Catamarans which do the harbour trips every day.

There is also an artificial island called Isla Pinto, filled by the British in 1768 from an island, giving it its present form. Among other stories, more than fifteen ships were built there between 1786 and 1798. It was an area used to clean the bottom of the ships of the Dutch and British fleets from before 1708, as one of the safest places and sheltered port of Mahon.

 The old arsenal today.

 Pinto Island in 1870

Pinto Island today

The Minorca Regiment

The Minorca Regiment was raised in 1798 by Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Stuart from German-speaking prisoners of war of Swiss regiments, formerly in Spanish service, when Minorca was under British control on December 12th. 1798. 

François Théodore Rochard (French, 1798-1858)

An Officer of the 96th Regiment of Foot, wearing double-breasted red coatee

 with gold epaulettes and collar, white cuffs, black breeches, crimson sash tied 

at his waist, white cross belt, the belt plate bearing 96, and 

a gilt-handled sword on his left hip

The regiment embarked to Gibraltar en 1800 and in 1801 took part in the expedition to Egypt to dislodge a French army of occupation. During the Battle of Alexandria, French cavalry charged the British infantry and were about to break through the lines, such was the ferocity of their charge, but the Minorca Regiment advanced in support and launched volley after volley into the mass of cavalry with devastating effect.

The regiment embarked for Portugal in spring 1808 for service in the Peninsula War. It saw action at the Battle of Vimeiro in August 1808, the Batalla de Talavera in July 1809 and the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810.It also fought at the First Siege of Badajoz In February 1811 and the Battle of Albuera in May 1811 before sailing for home in October 1811.

 The regiment was dispatched to Canada in May 1814 and took part in the Siege of Fort Erie in August 1814 before arriving back home in July 1815. It was renumbered as the 96th (Queen's Own Germans) Regiment of Foot in February 1816 and was disbanded at Limerick in Ireland in December 1818

Sanitja and Malva Sylvestris.

The Sanitja port or Sanisera is a natural port located next to the old roman town Sansiera. The port is in the Caballeria cape and it has an approximately lenght of 800 meters and very little depth which represent a perfect shelter against Tramuntana wind for boats.

The port isn’t very exploited and you can barely see few little wooden boats during high season. The entrance to the port used to be very protected by the Sanitja Tower, a british Tower of Defense built of stone and mortar in 1801. The inside of the tower can’t be visited because over time, it has deteriorated significantly and it’s almost demolished.

The scientific name, Malva sylvestris, is just as lovely as this flowering plant in the Malva genus, and is more popularly known as high mallow or common mallow. This plant is often found in fields and hedgerows and has a striking purple flower. It is native to western Europe, but has spread to portions of the Mediterranean and northern Africa, and has been imported to much of the English-speaking world. 

 The flowers and leaves of this unique herb are used for medicinal purposes, particularly in topical applications as a pain reliever.

Hotel del Almirante, Nelson's Home?

A pencil drawing made in 1851 that shows the South shore of Mahon harbour and Collingwood House on the cliff. 

 

The original is in the Maritime Museum of Greenwich and erroneously the author, George Pechell Mends, naval officer, indicated that it was the house of Lord Nelson.

25th. Regiment of foot

The regiment was raised on 18 March 1689 by David Melville, 3rd Earl of Leven to defend Edinburgh against the Jacobite forces of James II.
 
For a period it was known as Semphill's Regiment of Foot, the name under which it fought at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 and the Battle of Culloden in 1746. With the introduction of regimental numbering in 1751, the regiment became the 25th Foot and it was as such that it took perhaps its most famous battle honour at Minden on 1st August 1759.

Following prolonged garrison duties on Minorca from 1768 to 1780, the regiment was sent to relieve Gibraltar, and in the same year, for a number of reasons, was retitled ‘the 25th (Sussex) Regiment of Foot’.

There is a remarkable collection of paintings and engravings of the time when the regiment was located in Menorca.

In August 1799 the regiment sailed from the Isle of Wight to Kent, where, at Canterbury General Abercromby was assembling a force for the invasion of the Netherlands. In October 1799 the 25th won a third battle honour at the Battle of Egmont-op-Zee, fighting in the vanguard of Sir John Moore’s brigade on the sand dunes.

In 1801 the Regiment was sent to Egypt with Sir Ralph Abercromby’s force and took part in the capture of Alexandria, thus earning, the right to bear the emblem of the Sphinx on its Colours.
The 1st battalion spent the most part of the Napoleonic Wars in the West Indies. Martinique was taken in 1809, and Guadeloupe in 1811. During this campaign the Battalion lost more men through disease than as a result of enemy action. Also during this period, in 1805, at the order of King George III, the regiment was retitled the ‘King’s Own Borderers’ and its facings changed to royal blue.

The Royal Leicestershire. 17th. Regiment of Foot.

The troublous days that marked the closing period of the reign of King James II saw the birth of The Royal Leicestershire Regiment.

 On July 11, 1725, the regiment embarked for Minorca, arriving by the 14^th of August. The regiment remained on duty at the island until 1749, lending aid to the garrison of Gibraltar during its siege in 1727. 

Richard Montgomery irish-born soldier who served in the British Army. When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Montgomery took up the Revolutionary cause, and was elected to the New York Provincial Congress in May 1775

In 1732, Whightman’s mustered 19 officers, 4 staff, 30 sergeants, 30 corporals, 20 drummers and 441 private men. By virtue of a Royal Warrant for June 12th, 1739, the regiment was augmented by ten men per company, bringing the establishment strength up by one hundred. Each company then consisted of three sergeants, three corporals, two drummers, and 70 privates. The regiment sailed for Ireland in 1749, landing at Cork on October 5th. From then until 1757, the regiment served at various duty posts throughout Ireland. On 1^st July, 1757, a Royal Warrant officially assigned the numerical designation “17” to the regiment.

 St. George Chapel at Leicester Cathedral

The chapel, enclosed by a carved wooden screen, was reconstructed in 1921 and contains memorials to the men of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment. All recorded and all remembered. 

 Website of the Museum of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment at Leicester. 

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THE 61st (South Gloucestershire) REGIMENT OF FOOT.

After a period of garrison service in England, Ireland and the Channel Islands the 61st Foot was stationed on the island of Minorca in 1771. The island had become a British possession under the Treaty of Paris of 1763. 

By 1779 Britain was involved in a war with America, France and Spain. In the following years and after an outbreak of tertian fever had hit the garrison, in August 1781 the Duc de Crillon landed with 8000 Spanish troops and 100 guns, the garrison had only 1500 men. The 61st found themselves besieged in Fort St Philip. Soon after another 8000 French troops joined the Spanish. The Duc demanded the surrender of Fort St Philip. The garrison held out until February 1782 when it was forced to surrender, the enemy commanders were so impressed with the conduct of the defenders that they paraded their troops as the garrison marched out.

 Fort St. Phillip

The remains of the regiment were repatriated in May 1782 where they began recruiting. In August 1782 all regiments of foot without a royal title were given a county designation, and the regiment became the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot in 1782. In 1783 the regiment moved to Ireland where it remained until 1792. In the latter year they moved to Gibraltar.

Link to Soldiers of Gloucestershire Website