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The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 08 - The Later Renaissance: from Gutenberg to the Reformation by Unknown
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the Bosporus into the port of Constantinople, where the smooth water and
the command of the shore would secure to his ships the mastery of the
upper half of that extensive harbor. The distance over which it was
necessary to transport the galleys was only five miles, but a steep
hill presented a formidable obstacle to the undertaking. Mahomet,
nevertheless, having witnessed the transport of his monster cannon
over rivers and hills, was persuaded that his engineers would find no
difficulty in moving his ships overland. A road was accordingly made, and
laid with strong planks and wooden rails, which were plastered over with
tallow. It extended from the station occupied by the fleet at Dolma
Baktshe to the summit of the ridge near the Cemetery of Pera. On this
inclined plane, with the assistance of windlasses and numerous yokes of
oxen, the vessels were hauled up one after the other to the summit of the
hill, from whence they descended with difficulty to the point beyond
the present arsenal, where they were launched into the port under the
protection of batteries prepared for their defence. Historians, wishing
to give a dramatic character to their pages, have attributed marvellous
difficulties to this daring exploit. It was a well-conceived and
well-executed undertaking, for a division of the Ottoman fleet was
conveyed into the port in a single night, where the Greeks, at the
dawn of day, were amazed at beholding the hostile ships safe under the
protection of inexpugnable batteries.

To establish an easy and rapid communication between the naval camp
on the Bosporus and the army before Constantinople, Mahomet ordered a
floating bridge to be constructed across the port, from the point near
the old foundry, on the side of Galata, to that near the angle of the
city walls, near Haivan Serai, the ancient amphitheatre. The roadway of
this bridge was supported on the enormous jars used for storing oil and
wine, numbers of which were easily collected in the suburbs of Galata.
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