Middletown transcript., 1916-04-29
n N EN-OF-WAR, large and small;
IVA indefinitely colored trans
ports, laden with troops, and

| /" Indefinitely colored trans
ports, laden with troops, and
never-ending line Of war
requisitioned freighters, day by day,
slip out Of Portsmouth, the first naval
harbor Of the worlds greatest naval
| power, bearing their reinforcement to
| all of the troubled zones Of Europe,
Asia and Africa, says a bulletin of the
National Geographic society. The bur
dens and responsibilities of this Eng
| lish port have grown enormous since
the outbreak of the war; for it, like
German Kiel. symbolizes the mighty,
vital effort of great group of powers
in the greatest war of history.
Very little has been written about
Portsmouth, the war port; for the la
bors and planning that have taken
place there have been much too inn
portant, much too intimately bound up
with the hopes and aims of the en-
tente allies. to be trumpeted abroad. A
veil of military exclusiveness has been
drawn over the fearful stress and tur-
moil of Portsmouth, hiding the nature
of its giant tasks, the details of its
multitudinous enterprises and the sig
nifcance of it's achievements. One re-
members, however, that Portsmouth
is the chief naval arsenal and port of
Britain, the heart of the allied pow
ers' rule upon the seas.
Greatest Of Naval Bases.
Situated in Hampshire, at a central
point in England's southern coast,
about "A miles southwest of London,
Portsmouth is both sheltered and
we'll placed to serve the empires naval
needs on whatever ocean. Probably
first on the roll Of the worlds great
naval bases. the English port, an ag-
gregate of four towns, possesses a
splendid harbor. and one that has
been developed as a base for English
naval power through more than five
centuries. Portsmouth has the most
complete and impregnable fortifca-
tions in England; for it is a master
nerve-center in the empires life and
dominion.
Portsmouth, Portsea. Landport and
Southsea are the towns which join
to form the port, and they are all To-
Gated on Portsea island. Portsmouth
proper is the garrison town; Portsea
is the naval station, with dry docks,
great dock yards, torpedo and gun
mounting stores, electrical shops and
innumerable subsidiary shops, while
Landport is occupied by the homes of
the artisans. Southsea has enjoyed
steady growth in fame as fashiona-
Bile watering place.
The port is defended by a powerful
ring of landward forts, the Portsdown |
forts and the Hilsea lines; and. by |
the Spithead forts to the seaward. |
The anchorage of Spithead is roomy
enough to ride the great fleets of Eng |
land, scores of boats safe in the shell |
ter of the Isle of Wight
Richard I built the first town there.
influenced to its foundation solely by |
reasons of strategy. The fostering
care of King Henry VIII and Queen /
Elizabeth first brought the port into
and its importance as a
naval harbor has grown steadily ever
since, keeping pace with the growth
of the empire.
Cardiff, the Coal Port.
Cardiff is the greatest coal-exporting
port in the world, where more busi-
ness is carried on in quiet way than
in hundreds of cities better advertised
and far more in the public eye.
For years great part of the coal
that has driven the industrial ma
chinery of Germany, Austria, Holland,
France and Russia has been shipped
from this Welsh port, and so vast was