Evening journal., 1899-03-18
C0ALING STATIONS.
Ports Outside Of Europe Where
Steamships Reload.
Lines Established Along the Routes
OF the Great Commerce hearers
of All Nations - Location
OF the Ports.

Four thousand men are engaged to-
day in making Gibraltar one CT the
greatest coaling stations and depots for
the refiiting Of warships in the world.
1t will take two or three years yet for
carrying out the plans fer extending
the docks and other accommodation
required for the repairing OF naval YES
sells and 10 secure perfect protection
from outward attack for the vast guam
tity of coal that is always kept in stock
at that great station. All the i'm
provements are 10 cost about $150c0 eco.
We hear most Of all nowadays about
the coaling stations that are needed
for navies. They are, of course, equally
essential for the merchant marine
Three-fourihs of the worlds commerce
is carried on steamships, and the whole
OF the power used by all nations for the
defense of commerce depends upon the
use Of coal. without security Of the
seas there can be no security Of COM
merce, and so there must be geograph-
ical security for coaling stations all
around the world This fact greatly
impressed Great Britain, for 1t touches
her very existence. Look at her line
of government coaling stations along
all the great trade routes.
Along the route TO the orient: Glib
raltar, Malta, Alden, Bombay, Trim
comalee, Singapore, Hong-Kong. Along
the cast Atlantic coast: Sierra Leone,
Ascension, St. Helena, Cape Town, Maui
ritius. In Australasian waters: Aus
tralia and New Zealand ports Along
the West Atlantic route; Halifax, Que
bee, Bermuda st. Lucia, Kingston and
Falkland islands; and in the,northeast
Fani6c, EsquimaIt After that depos-
its of coal on the east and west coasts
of Canada, South Africa. India and
Australasia. For nation whose COM
merce is all round the world, little more
could be done 20 make geographical
unity complete.
In time of peace coal can be bought
by any naval vessel and the merchant
marine in most of the ports Of the
world, but not in all of them. Coal is
kept as a commodity at 231 ports cf the
world outside of Europe, where every
port is n coal depot, and dealers, Of
course, are glad TO have buyers Of con-
siderable quantities like the captains Of
steamships come along. Atlittle islands
like Nossi BE and Comoro, in the In
dian ocean, and Samoa and the Fiji is
lands. In the Pacific, merchants keep a
good supply of coal on hand, and prac-
tically their only customers in these
tropical regions are passing vessels. At
these out-of-the-way places ship cap
tains buy only a sufficient quantity to
carry them to a port where coal is a
more generally used commodity, for
dealers where there is little or 10 COM
petition in the article often charge an
eXorbitant price for IL. Coal Is now
sold at such low figures in our own
ports that most steamers IA the Trans
atlantic trade usually coal on this side
of the ocean for the round trips IL
happens, therefore, sometimes that
when they are coming back 10 America
and are greatly delayed on the way
their supply runs short. and we hear
now and then that they have been com
PEELED to put into Halifax for coal. ES-
cept. in the Pacific supplies Of coal are
now scattered so widely over the world
that usually q vessel requires only few
days slow sailing or steaming TO reach
some port whore it may replenish It's
bunkers. Suppose. for instance, that
one OF our steam whalers in the Arctic
after a season north Of Bebring strait
should run short Of coal, ithas only to
so south as far as Unalaska, in the
Aleuuan archipelago. 10 buy ell II
needs.
Outside Of Europe coal is specially
kept for sale TO steamers at eight ports
on the north coast Of Africa; at 10 ports
OF West Africa, Including the Cape
Verde Islands and the Canaries; at Il
ports along the Gulf OF Mexico and the
Caribbean sea; at "a ports of The West
lndies;eat ~ Atlantic ports OF North
America as far south as the Gulf OF
Mexico; at Eve islands Of the Atlantici
at nine ports Of East Africa; at IS ports
t, of South Asia; at six islands Of The
/ India ocean; at,26 ports Of the East In
! dies and Philippines; at IA ports Of th'
] East Asian coast; at five ports Of Japan
Sachalin and KamptchatlSa; at ter
I ports Of Australia; at seven ports O.
D New Zealand; at 10 ports on the west OF
S North America; AZ ten ports on th'
( west of South America; at Honolulu
q and Huo in the North Pacific, and a
four islands in the South Pacife.-N. Y
O Gun