FERROL [El Ferrol]  , a seaport of north-western Spain, in the province of Corunna; situated 12 M . N.E. of the city of Corunna, and on the Bay of Ferrol, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean . Pop . (1900) 25,281 . Together with San Fernando, near Cadiz, and Cartagena, Ferrol is governed by an admiral, with the special title of captain-general; and it ranks beside these two ports as one of the principal naval stations of Spain . The town is beautifully situated on a headland overlooking the bay, and is surrounded by rocky hills which render it invisible from the sea . Its harbour, naturally one of the best in Europe, and the largest in Spain except those of Vigo and Corunna, is deep, capacious and secure; but the entrance is a narrow strait about 2 M. long, which admits only one vessel at a time, and is commanded by modern and powerfully armed forts, while the neighbouring heights are also crowned by defensive works . Ferrol is provided with extensive dockyards, quays, warehouses and an arsenal; most of these, with the palace of the captain-general, the bull-ring, theatres, and other principal buildings, were built or modernized between 1875 and 1905 . The local industries are mainly connected with the shipping trade, or the refitting of warships . Owing to the lack of railway communication, and the competition of Corunna at so short a distance, Ferrol is not a first-class commercial port; and in the early years of the 20th century its trade, already injured by the loss to Spain of Cuba X . IO289 and Porto Rico in 1898, showed little prospect of improvement . The exports are insignificant, and consist chiefly of wooden staves and beams for use as pit-props; the chief imports are coal, cement, timber, iron and machinery .

In 1904, 282 vessels of 155,881 tons entered the harbour . In the same

year the construction of a railway to the neighbouring town of Betanzos was undertaken, and in 1909 important shipbuilding operations were begun . Ferrol was a mere fishing village until 1752, when Ferdinand VI. began to fit it for becoming an arsenal . In 1799 the British made a fruitless attempt to capture it, but on the 4th of November 18o5 they defeated the French fleet in front of the town, which they compelled to surrender . On the 27th of January 1809 it was through treachery delivered over to the French, but it was vacated by them on the 22nd of July . On the 15th of July 1823 another blockade was begun by the French, and Ferrol surrendered to them on the 27th of August .