New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-13
FLORIDA.
rHE CLAIMS OF PENSACOLA AS A PORT.
,sygrNG HER SUPERIORITY OVER BOTH NEW
ORLEANS AND MoBILE-THE SILENT NAVY
yARp-wHAT THE NEW SOUTH MAY
IL.
DO FOR THE CITY.

DO FOR THE CITY. g.
,v.ox srArF CORRESPONDENT OF THE rmBuxEl
pensacola. Fla, March 90" The Mistress Of
4. Mexic Main" is the poetic title given to this
"A Snanish port by its inhabitants. Mr.. Blaines
scnrocity treaty and the opening of the Nicaragua
raral are counted on TO confirm il, and map Of
.he aThree Americas" is published. with red
ao.ted lines running to Cuba. Mexico. Honduras,
Nicaragua and Brazil, TO show how Pensacola was
raturally destined to distribute their commerce
rith this country. When the Nicaragua Canal
: finished Pensacola will be thousand miles
nearer the Pacific coasts of Central and South
America than New-York. Railroads already
radiate to the north east and west and ccmmum-
.ation with Birmingham and CHATTANOOGA is direct.
The New South clearly needs seaboard Quiet
for its manufactures. and none of the o'her uuH
ports fills the bill The moral is plain
"New-Orleans can't compete with us, says the
Pensacola Chamber of Commerce. 1t is actually
&C far from the mouth of the Mississippi as we
are-with this difference that TO reach it ships
must be lowed ITO miles up q crooked river
AGAINST a strong current, while our docks are only
elk miles from the open sea, with straight line
of entrance from the Gulf.
Mobile is thirty miles from the sea and diihcuIo
Of access. Tampa is too far east. ana galveston
too far west Already Pensacola ranks high as
n seaport beating, in foreign sailing tonnage
Galveston, Mobile. Savannah and Ncw-orieans
combined, and having four times as many clear
aroes as Galveston. and two-thirds as many as
New-Orleans. In aggregate steam and sailing ton
mage these proportions, of course, do not hoid.
Pensacolans declare that they would II Congress
did its duty.
only deepen our BAR" they say. and the
Gulf commerce will flood us.
Al hor
ance. Anybody can see for himself that
the bay is a magnificent sheet of water. Judge
Cooley admits it. and so do Senator Cameron and
Mayor Hugh j. Grant. The harbor. indeed is
sbaned much like that Of New-York, Pensacola
standing in the position of TOmplnsville Staten
Island while the tongue corresponding TO Man
$50 Islond is overcrown with pines. The
channels within the bar are deep and straight
Vessels moor alongside the railroad DOCKS IN
TWENTY-FIVE feet of water. On the bar deep wafer
was maintained by Spain and the United states
from the first soundings ever made until the Con-
federates sank distractions there during tne
Civil War In one year twenty-three vessels
have been forced TO clear with partial cargoes ana
twenty-five delayed by shallow water on the par.
One hundred and seventy-tive thousand dollars
were spent for dredging six years ago Since
then ships drawing over twenty-three leeO nave
crossed with ease. The present depth Is from
twenty and one-half to twenty three feet. To
increase this to twenty-five feet would cost
S1O6. 900 and an annual outlay of about $4,000.
A project is on foot to give thirty feet, at coSO
of about two and quarter millions.
Now" argue the Pensacolans, " as the Govern
ment has given 81 900 900 in ten years to develop
Mobile. where $50 vessels enter and 239 clear,
against 622 and COS at Pensacola, isn't our re-
ouest reasonable? It's true we have received
$3.50 600 since the war for harbor improvements,
Init all but q quarter of that sum was spent Tor
SURVEYS and for restoring the beach at Fort
McRae."
A fayorite excursion from Pensacola is by steam
boat down the bay to the Navy Yard. Ihere
over the sea-wall hangs pair of gigantic white
shears, for shipping and unshipping masts ana ana
boilers, immense yellow buildings nIIed WIN
costly machinery, rows of iron anchors ana olo-
fashioned mortars and howitzers, and avenues OIL
live-oaks and shot-piles leading to the coIilalu-
ants cottage But not wheel turns or hammer
falls. Not soldier or sailor is seen, and not
sound heard except the laughter of girls in
grassy tennis-court The old warshp Pensacola
WAS built there. and in its day the place was
centre of activity. The yard and It's fittings cost
about S4.OOOOO0. The present appraised
value is S2,5OO,000 When Secretary Tracy
was looking for a drydock site month or
so ago the Municipal Commissioners and CHAMBER
Of Commerce promptly united in urging fehsa-
cola's advantages as a naval port over thoSe %
Algers, opposite NeW-Of4e@hS' "A40H was 'Oe''
recommended C,,
Commander McCann," their spokesman Colone1
w ID Chipley told the Dry DOCK Commission,
was all wrong IN saying oua N"oS INNS nf fleet
i'm the Gulf Santa Rosa Island ntervches It's
outside beach is two miles from the yard. ana no
large vessels could anchor within nearly mile
hat there
of sea- room would hamper them, ana orr blcheaiS,
Fort Barrancas and other land batteries cOuiu
blow them to atoms with cross-ilre from tne
heaviest guns known. Moreover, our channel is
easily protected by submarine mines ana tOrpeuoeS.
The key 10 Algiers, on the contrary, Is at the
Mississippi ietties. and a fleet blLt there might
be cooped up indefinitely, or each ship destroyed
as it emerged by hostile squadron concentrating
It's fire at close range Inc EndicoCI poaIu re-
ported that floating batteries TO defend the mouth
of the Mississippi would cost $4,000, 0OO without
armament, and that the complete and permanent
land defence of Pensacola would cost less IMAM
"Our strategic superiority is conceded. AS to
port facilities imagine two warshlps in the Gu1
ut sunset 200 miles out, one running 10 New
Orleans and the other to Pensacola, Tor coal
AT Z the next morning the Pensacola ship would
be alongside the coal dock. Inc NeM-OrIcadls
ship would be standing of the South Pass, IL
miles from Algiers, feeling her way among the
shifting mud-lumps at the mouth. AT AglefS
no vessel could lie broadside to the current long
enough to pass through Sixty -lve foOt 0rydOcK
entrance. Sne InlgHV De Ieihtu LVn ViS MN
into the current but. she couldn't be lerked III,
without demoshing the dock. AT Pensacola the
dock could be anchored in half dozen safe places
and tOwed up the bay In time Of danger Az
New-Orleans the Louisiana drydOck and Two
others have all been lost at different times. with
vessels in them. In 1886 some coal bargeS adrltt
In the current nearly destroyed Admiral Jouetts
North Atlantic squadron. and only year ago
floating logs struck the Swedish warship Saga
like battering-ram.
1t is true the cruiser Boston touched our bar
Hox xubon GDQ
But she did it lin trying to pass in the channel "a
sailing ship drawing % feet. Admiral Walker
wouldn't let the White Squadron coal here ana
ordered coal TO be sent after him in barges, at
great expense. as far as Tampa Yet the Dolphin
soon after ran up alongside the coal-dock and
llled her bunkers in few hours. Admiral Luce