The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-21
ESQUIMALT NAVAL STATION
HEADQUARTERS OF THE LARGEST BRITISH FLEET ASSEMBLED

|
 In These waters-Claimed That the
 Stronghold Is Intended as a Menace to
 Russia, Rather Than to the United
 States.
 Esquimalt naval station never was of
 greater importance than at present,
 when it is the headquarters for the
 largest British fleet ever assembled in
 these waters, and for the first time can
 boast of defensive works making the
 harbor a safe rendezvous. The noted
 "fortifications" at last are in working
 order, though it cannot be said that
 they are completed, as indeed they
 never will be, since year by year they
 are to receive additions and improve
 ments to keep pace with the advances
 in naval appliances. There is no out
 ward sign of these defensive works,
 and even the great majority of the res
 idents in the city of Victoria, upon
 whose corporate limits they encroach,
 might well be oblivious of the presence
 were it not for the quarterly booming
 of the great cannon in the operation of
 proving the guns"
 These guns look out upon the state
 of Washington, with the line of vision
 bounded by the picturesque Olym-
 plans, from whose snow-clad summits
 there are borne across the straits of
 San Juan de Fuca the gentle breezes
 which, meeting the warm Japan cur
 rent, produce the delightfully."- temper
 ate climate that keeps the grassy
 slopes of the defensive earthworks a
 perpetual green, and summer or winter
 secures a minimum of discomfort to
 the citizen soldiers who are trained to man the forts.
 There are two of these forts-the one
 known as Work Point, or Macaulay Point, and the other as bod Hill. The barracks" occupied by the detach- . ments of royal marine artillery and royal engineers under whose direction the works have been constructed are known as Work Point barracks, but
 the strip of land running seaward and
 separating the entrance to Esquimalt
 harbor from the entrance to the har-
 Dor of Victoria city is known as Mac ] aulay Point, and it is upon this point
 that the chief work has been done.
 The guns-when they come above the
 surface-lookout over the approach to } Victoria harbor but except when about to be fired they are concealed from view by the grassy slope extending 1, from their parapet to the sea, perhaps
 100 yards distant The works here are eminently for defense, not defiance"
 Though their proximity to United : States waters has been made sub
 ject of indignant comment one has
 only to visit the spot to see at once . that these British guns, formidable as
 they may be in themselves, are power- l less to control the American channel leading to the waters of Puget sound } and not available even for the defense of the city of Victoria which, so far as ] they are concerned, is at the mercy of any hostile fleet making the short de- tour required to keep beyond their
 range until the configuration of the
 land upon which the city is built hides , them from the Notifications. The works
 are in fact nothing more than an effec- tive means of preventing the entry of any hostile craft into the harbor of Esquimalt.
 } In the Macaulay Point battery there are three disappearing" guns, these being six-inch breech-loading rifled ordnance of five tons weight. With a l charge of AS pounds of brown smoke less powder, they can throw an armor-
 piercing 100- pound shot a distance of
 about six miles at the extreme range.
 while the natural path of vessels bound for American inland waters, through
 the straits of Fuca nowhere passes within twice that distance of the guns. The time fligkt of the huge projectile would be less than 30 seconds for the six miles. The penetrating power is very great, and the shot would pierce armor from to 10 inches in thickness on any daring craft that approached so close as 1000 yards in attempting to make the entrance. The work of load ing these guns is carried on below the , level of the parapet, and when they are raised for firing the crews are still pro-
 tected for heavy steel shields, through which the guns project The immense weight of gun and crew is raised to the surface by hydro-pneumatic elevating gear, working with almost incredible ) case, and the force of the recoil when the gun is fired puts the air liquid in the elevating chamber again under
 pressure The guns are placed perhaps
 100 yards apart. All around and within . the fortified inclosure in which they are mounted there runs a gravel road : way about seven or eight feet below ! the level of the parapets, so that the troops may be freely moved from point to point without the movements being / observable from the outside. The | earthworks which the parapets sur mount are sufficient to resist any pro- jectiles, and some 50 yards down their slope, to the sea on one side and the land approaches on the other, there is a , deep and wide ditch, planted with an l entanglement of barbed wire, across which at no time could troops make
 their way without cruel hurt, and, should any hostile party be so vent l uresome as to make a landing and at- y tempt to rush the night, it is safe to say that the 1000 rifles peering through the loopholes of the parapet would have the party well-nigh annihilated before this maze of barbed wire had been crossed. In the center of the space so securely guarded are placed well underground the ammunition U magazines and the reserve troops, well out of harms way. Besides the sta- I tionary guns, there will be strong ] | en11inrnent of field pieceS within the