Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-19
HARD T0B[0CKADE
THE BRITISH ISLES
Germany's Proposed Task Re-
garded as Attempt to Ac-
complish the Impossible.
GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY DATA

with a deadline of 1000 nautical
miles to guard, measured from head
land to headland. twenty miles off
shore; with 119 ports. large and small,
to seal up. eighty of which, even at low
tide, are open to vessels that can navi-
gate fourteen feet of water: with
larger number of bays and other nav
igabIe lamentations to watch than are
to be found anywhere else in the world
in the same length of straightaway
shorelines, Germany's plan to blockade
the British Isles seems as near pro-
posal to accomplish the impossible as
anything to which any nation hitherto
has committed ITSELF says a statement
lust prepared by the National Geo
graphic Society and issued from its
headquarters in Washington.
Indeed. undertaking to combat at
once the sinuoSities of a shoreline lend
ing itself better to defense against
blockade than any other of equal length
in the world and the greatest navy civ
ilization has ever seen, it is difficult to
imagine how success could even be
hoped for by those putting the plan
into execution.
England is so deeply indented that
no part is more than seventy-five miles
from the sea, while Scotland has the
most ram bling coastline OF any country
In the world.
ireland is not as deeply indented as
England and Scotland; but with all
that it has shores that make the way
of the blockader difficult
Proportions of Shipping Business.
The vast proportions of the British
shipping industry which the German
submarine blockade is attempting to
destroy def1es our comprehension. In
normal years an average of pa ships
arrive at United Kingdom ports from
foreign waters every day in the year.
In addition to that, there are 1s0 ar
rivals from home ports every day IN
the year of ships in the coastwiSe-
trade.
British merchant ships have great
er tonnage tnan those of all the other
countries of the world together. The
merchant marine of that nation in
cludes nearly 1900 ships of all kinds.
OF these. about $500 are sailing ships
and $500 steam vessels employed in
the home trade. There are approxi-
mately 1000 ships engaged in sailing
between British and foreign ports.
These latter have an average capacity
of more than $500 net register tons.
How rapidly Great Britain has been
replacing the losses sustained by her
shipping as a result of Germany's sub
marine attacks is disclosed by the fact
that at the end of 1916 there were 465
steam vessels under construction in
British shipyards, more than half of
them being ships OF more than 5000
tons burden. The aggregate capacity
of these ships is 1,7ss.000 tons. so that
both in tonnage and in number the new
craft are replacing those sunk by the
enemy.
dependent on the importation of food
stuffs as the United Kingdom, and for
her not to possess the strongest navy
in the world would be to leave her of
all nations perhaps the most vulner-
food her 100000 people consume is
brought in by ships engaged in foreign
trade.
Industries Free From Danger.
, ''On the other hand. the splendid coal
deposits and the abundant supplies of
iron make British industries largely
free from blockade dangers. Produc-
ing one-fourth of the worlds coal, the
United Kingdom has little to fear from
coal shortage, no matter what the
character of a blockade around her.
The port of London handles ap-
proximately one-third of all the ex-
ports and imports of the United King
DOM The ships of the whole world visit
1t in normal times, and there is scarce
~ a merchant flag that civilization
knows that Is missing in the Thames in
other than war times.
Liverpool has some of the most mod
ern docks in the world. Flanking the
Mersey river for a distance of seven
miles, the sixty docks, having twenty
six miles of quay and covering 42s
acres of ground, are equipped with
every aid known to industry for the
rapid handling of the immense GUAM
titles of merchandise.
Cardiff is far down the list in the
number OF ships arriving, but ranks
third in the total tonnage-this being
due to the very heavy coal business
from that port Cowes has $4,000 ships
year; Newcastle, 1900: Portsmouth,
$4,000, and Glasgow and Belfast, II, 900
each.
With the opening Of the Clyde, Glas-
gov has been brought into direct COM
munication with oversee lands. Dover
with its great admiralty harbor; Chat
nam. with its vast royal dockyard
where 1000 workmen are employed
even in normal times; Middlesborough
with its great shipbuilding industry
Manchester, with it's splendid canal.
opening up an inland city to world
trade: Belfast, with its famous ship
builders; Portsmouth and Plymouth, on
the south coast, with their extensive
port works: Grimsby, Hull and Aber-
deem, with the largest fishing fleets in
existence. Newlyn and BriXham, homes
of the mackerel fisheries. and Milford
made famous. are all places full of
enterprise, which have been even more
active since the war began than they
ever were before a submarine peril
was dreamed of.
Total of 119 Ports Available.
''As has been said. the British Isles
contain no less than 119 ports available
for commerce, and practically all of
them have been developed for effective
use
Even if the Germans have 500 sub
marines constructed for the purpose
of this blockade. as is claimed. the total
makes an average of only about four
submarines available for blockading
each port.
Submarines, with even the largest
radius which any of these boats possess
are dependent upon "a convenient base
or upon the service rendered by a
mother ship They generally can
carry a most limited number of tor
pedoes. without which they are inef-
fective, and in addition they are severe