The Arkansas banner., 1844-02-20

to arm their broad hoIns1 or their cotton ships? Which? The one willbe as able to defend and give protection as the other. Or, do they continue to listen to thecgy Of give givei for rrepailing and making ready at the East, for building aad fortifying at the North, because, when delences are wanted at the South, they areready to make them ofcotton bags' Their cotton bags they will have to defend: and all the ships that they can build, all the cotton traders and colliers that they can arm, will be of no avail, their cotton bags of no use, unless the Dry Tortugas be occupied as a military and naval station beforehand. These islands must he fortified. Unless theybe for tiied, and unless also d dock yard be estab- lished on the Mississippi, there is no safety
 in War for the commerce of the West, nei- ther can protection be given to the trade from the South
 Who but the Southern and Western people should defend their own frosides There fore, into thcir hands should the defences of the Gulf be committed. The navy that is kept there should be taught to look upon those regions as it's home they are now as a foreign station to our ships in the Gulf i When one of them ends her cruise i'll the 1 Gulf, she goes to the North to be laid up her men arc taken to the North, there to be paid of and discharged if any thing is want l ing for her, they send to the North for it, l If she meet with any accident, or sustain any ! injury, she goes straight there to have Ii eX- amined and repaired There the ship, her officers, and her crew, are all sent to spend l .l1o cooeilpr If tbnr homo
 With dock yard at Memphis for steamers, their supplies, and their crews should be all drawn from the river towns. When the ves- sels are to be repaired or laid up and dis charged, they should be sent there. There they should be manned and paid of. That, and not the North, should be Meir home
 General Jackson had been down upon the Gulf coast during the war. As military man he at once saw the necessity and conl- prehended at glance the value which some strong point in the Straits of Florida would prove to this country. Sofully alive was he to the importance of protecting them in peace and of commanding them in war, that short time after he reached the Presidential chair he declared to friend that the three things hs had most at heart were, to pay off the na- tional debt, to fortilv the Dry Tortugas, and to break down the United States Bank. Ac- cordingly, one of the first acts of his admin istration was to order an examination ot those islands The survey was made in 1929 by Captain Tattnall, of the navy
 The result of this survey was turned up the other day among piles ofrubbish at Wash ington. where 1t chanced to meet our eye With this chart under the bushel, we have often heard 1t admitted from all sides on the floors of Congress that strong naval station at the South was of the first importance to a proper system of national defences; but II has always been added in the same breath, you have no harbors there of sufficient water To amuse Southern members, vessel after vessel has been sent there on what has been called the x survey of Southern harbors. .o- But the officers in charge have not been dl- rected to search for harbors of the requisite depth of water; they have been sent to sur vey those which 1t was already known had not water enough to admit irigates and larger vessels Since Captain Tattnal's survey the Tortugas have always received the go-by.- His chart of them has never been suffered to see the light, while those of Beaufort. Will mington, Sappelo, Doboy, Brunswick, St. Jo- seph's, and others, with their bars of eight. twelve, or sixteen feet of water, CT other practical objections, have been published by the thousands and scattered to the four winds, creating the impression over the country, on the public mind, that there can be found no harbor at the South fit for dock yard or naval establishment This game has been going on for the last twelve or fourteen years, though fancy could not form nor imagination draw more beautiful harbor one more ad- vanageously situated or better calculated for all the purposes required of one there, than that which Captain Tattnall visited and sur veyed at the Tormgas. His chart is on a large scale, and the description which he gives of the barbor and its advantages is ra- ther tame than overwrought
 ssThe outer harbor," says he, in his off cial report of 18th February, 1880, is ill the centre of the whole group of keys and reefs. It's extent is one and three quarters by one and half miles, and it's depth gene rally eightN fathoms. Ithas three entrances from sea, with water sqGicient for he largest vessels. We have no hesitation in recom- mending it as safe and commodious man. UI-NdF ildiDO1 Iie Silldii ldiUoI tOllSiSto Oi two basins, the largest of which is l,200 by 200 wards, the smallest GOO by 400 yards The depth of the former is from 28 to 40I feet, of the latter Is to 24. The entrances are from the outer harbor by channels of 35 feet into the large, and 23 feet into the small basin. The two basins arc connected by a channel of 23 feet; so that vessels may haul from one mo the other. This harbor is so completely walled in by the keys and Hats that the water in the heaviest gales is per- fectly smooth. It is, indeed. natural dock, as easy of access and as safe as can be de- sired. It would accommodate the greater part of our navyo
 As to the facilities of supplying the place in the event of war, Captain Tattnall con tinues:
 sThe keys and reefs occupy a ciFcumfe- renee of thirty miles: the three channels from the sea for large ships are all in different di- rections, and there are numerous passages thrnngh the reefs, by which vessels of light draught of water might enter the harbof. To