The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1916-03-23
ENeLANo's STRONG POINT.

"A survey OF the coast SeOSIdph'
of the British Isles shows some things
of tremendous interest when Consid'
cred with reference to the blockade
undertaken by the Germans, the hrst
serious blockade ever attempten
against the Unditer Kingdom" be-
gins a bulletin just issued by the Ma
tional Geographic Society. which
sketches a few of the difficulties in
the way OF maintaining an effective
blockade of the many harbored, sea-
encircled nation. The bulletin con-
tinues:
Great Britain is land of harbors
and highly developed ports. Its
foreign commerce clears from more
than 1870 seapOrts, that are situated
upon every sea washing the islands
To shut off English commerce WIFE
other lands would require an almost
impossible sea strength. Moreover,
besides its wealth of widely scattered
|harbors, the United Kingdom has a
particularly irregular coastline. which
would serve 10 greatly multiply the
labors of a blockader.
Broken by Rocky headlines, bays,
and deeply penetrating inlets OF the
sea. the English coast line alone
stretches for a distance of 1850 miles.
To thu south, upon the English Chan
incl. lie tee great seaports OF Ply
mouth. Southampton. Portsmouth,
Brighton and Dover; to the east.
toward the North Sea. are the ports
of London. Harwfch, Great Yarmouth
Hull and Newcastle. and to the west,
toward the Atlantic and the irish
sea. are Bristol, Cardiff. Swansea,
and Liverpool. Hundreds Of smaller
ports are sprinklei-in between these
great harbors of world-fame.
"Of these English ports, Liverpool
IS said to have the best developed
harbor in the world: more coal. is
shipped from Cardiff than from any
other seaport; Grimsby is the fishing
capital of the world, and London is
more intimately connected with the
ports on every sea than any other
harbor England has expended with
freehand foresight in the improve
ment of her seaports. and so the war
finds her with adequate harbor facil-
tiles upon every hand, with dry
important harbOr. with equipment to
carry OH d EIcdA lOl CI5A ~ ouC i'Oiii
more than 100 different points.
Scotland is still more battling
problem to an intending blockader.
Probably. it's most striking feature
is the irregularity Of its COastline,
and its coast upon the east ia shield
ed by an intricate mass of bold rocky
islands. Though much smaller iE
aera than England, Scotland has a
coastline of 1900 miles, or one mile
of coast to everv Is square miles of
area Leith. Dundee and Aberdeen
are important ports upon the North
Sea in the east Inverness sends is
shipping to the north. and GlasgC +,
with it's famous ship building VOL IS
and vast foreign trade, lies toward
the North Channel and the open At
Iantic. Few places in Scotland lie
more than 40 miles from the sea. and
smaller ports dot the entire cOastline.
'Treland's greatest ports. Belfast
and Dublin. are situated upon her
east coast on. the, Irish Sea. The
restless breaking of a rough Atlantic
over the rocky needles of her west.
ern coast has retarded the develop
ment of commercial harbors there.
LlWPrlcK. upon the RIVER SHdnHoh'
gives Ireland an important Atlantic
harbor. while Queenstown is an out.
let in the south and Londonderry in
the north.
with its more than $500 miles of
coastline. and it's well developed
harbors all along the way. the United
Kingdom presents a problem of eX.
treme difficulty to any power intend
ing to maintain blockade against IT,"