The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-26

T;II - , Cduu InaU the British have esUab-
ii I ca, complete little kingdom extend
lug al along the Atlantic coast, control
ing not only the ocean, but the great
lakes and the Gulf of Mexico as we'll
! 40 not know of a more formi
aaole line of defenses in the world
~ Is MADE up of only four points.
Hal!faH, Bermuda. Jamaica and St
them. < '0u ui'0n
I will give you little idea of what a
BUSINESS man sees in making the yovaqe
along this line of iortifcations. as DO
several times every year. The passenger
steamers run from Halifax to Bermuda
Ia louf Gays, but they are slow coaches.
Sucn vessel as the Blake with her 20.
wv morse power, could make the run cas-
ny within 1orty-eight hours That cives
uef an allowance for some delays at start
ana Lnlsh the admiralty schedule nuts
ner uQWn Tor 1orty-four hours between
tue Two points. Bermuda, as evervbodv
Knows, Is an island surrounded bv y net,
work OF coral reefs, through which there
Is only one channel by which large yes
SelS can approach. 1t is as tboroughlv
guarded by nature as any island in the
world. The ship channel opens at tine
east end of the island and runs close bv
the shore for ten or twelve miles. and
any enemy would be exposed to a de-
distance
Bermuda is much like Halifax in the
tact fact that few forlifcations are visi
Die to the visitor. Two forts can be seen
at 81, Georges, at the east end, but they
are oid-fashloned stone constructions that
DO not look formidable You can drive
al over the Islands and not see more than
these forts. And you can stay there for
SIX months, small as the place is. and see
no more signs OF military occupation than
in
IlonS are there, as can readily be learned
by sailing around the islands in a small
BOAT or going up into the Gibbs Hill
lighthouse
me north side is so well protected by
coral reefs that no forts are needed there
beyond the TWO or three that might he
necessary to destroy a vessel that at
tempted the channel II is on the south
side OF Bermuda that forts are needed.
because the reefs there are not so wide.
An enemy might come up within three
miles of shore. You can drive all along
the south shore, within two or three hun
dred feet of the beach. and not see sign
OF a fort but take a boat and sail along
Inc peach and you will see that it is
almost continuous fertilization. One
Tort follows another so fast that there is
hardly room for grass to grow between
them. And they are all connected by
the top of the lighthouse.
If the British had made Bermuda thew
could not have designed an island better
suited To their purposes. The very things
tha0 make II invaluable to them would
make IL almost useless to this country
We are in no need of coaling station and
repair shop within 700 miles of our own
coast, and that is precisely what Ber-
mnda is to the British. In time of war
bermuda would be the great coaling sta
ton on this side Of the Atlantic
1T is as machine shop that Bermuda
is OF the greatest Importance. They can
handle there the largest ships afioat and
make any repairs that can be made any
where. | do not wonder that they were
alarmed when the fire broke out, for
there is enough powder stored on Ireland
Island to supply the navies of the world.
As to proiectlles. they are piled there in
mountains. The warehouses are full of
naval provisions, and disabled man-of-
war can find there duplicates of almost
any part that may be damaged, from
shaft or propeller to a new bowsprit.
And coal! Why, there is enough coal
stored in the Bermuda dockyards to carry
on naval war.
"One thing I noticed in the naval
yards. both in Halifax and Bermuda,
that surprised me till came to under
stand il. In Halifax they keep at least
thousand miles of ocean cable coiled up
ready for use, and in Bermuda there is
nearly twice as much. The West India
cable is a commercial enterprise, and
Goes not belong TO the government: so
there is only one explanation of this
heavy reserve. in case of trouble an en-
envy might cut the cable; and il this
should happen you would see a man-of-
war 60 out in hurry TO repair it or lay
new cable. They can't o ford to lose
their Geographic communication with
the West Indies.
1t is not more than five or six years
since the troops and war ships in Ber-
muda were supplied with rain water
stored in tanks There are immense
tanks in St. Georges for this purpose
and a great rocky hillside was smoothed
to catch the rain as il fell. 1t was eX
cellent water and there was always
plenty of it, But the time might come
when so many troops would be masSed on
the islands that there would not be water
enough to supply them, so one of the
largest set of condensers ever made was
put up at the dockyard for distilling sea
water With these condCnsers at work
the supply of fresh water can never fail.
THE Notifications of Jamaica do not
compare with those of Bermuda but it is
still a formidable place. The entrance to
the hai,bor is so narrow that one or two
ships could easily hold it against an
enemy The island is principally useful
to the British as coaling station and
second rate repair shop in time of peace.
II is in telegraphic communication with
Bermuda and ST. Lucia, and it is so near
the latter that help could reach 1t
speedily But if The British should wish
for any reason to block the Gulf of
Mexico. Jamaica would be an important
point You understand, there are only
two entrances TO the Gulf. one between
Cuba and lorida, a bout ninety mile wide,
and the other between Cuba and Yucca
tan, of nearly the same width a few
ironclads IN each of these passages would
cut the Gulf completely off.
st Lucia is less known than Bermuda,
but it is looming up into one of the great
est British strongholds on this side OF the
Atlantic. 1t is only twelve miles from
the French island of Martinique, and it is
of little account except as d military and
naval station 1t has one Of the best
harbors in the West Indies, surrounded
by high mountains, which are heavily
foruhed. About AGO men are constantly
at work there making new fortltcauons
and improving the harbor. Within the
next five years it will be almost as strong
rs Bermuda. It is already the military
headquarters for the West Indies.
when a British admiral can sit IN his
house in Halifax and direct the manage
ment of a big fire in Bermuda, and when
war ships can 90 from any one OF these