The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1920-08-26
OUR GREAT PORT.

=
may become the army base for the
Panama Canal Zone and Porto Rico IS
but another recognition by the govern
ment of the value OF this port. geo.
graphically and commercially. for in
the adoption OF a permanent base of
supplies, the location is chosen not only
with relation to it's proximity to ade-
quate coast defenses, but also with a
view to dispatch with which supplies
may be assembled and handled.
To those who are familiar with the
ports of the United States, without
prejudice, 1t is easily seen that Pen
sacola is the logical location for such a
base. In spite of the claims of other
and rival ports, Pensacola has the
most direct route to the canal of any
port in the United States.
Pensacola is the greatest port south
of Newport News, and all one has to
do to substantiate this statement. is to
compare this port with other Gulf and
Atlantic ports.
The dredged channel over the bar has
a minimum depth of thirty feet at
mean low tide. This means that at its
shallowest, Pensacola is deeper than
many ports at their deepest. The mini
mum width of the channel, generally,
Is 500 feet The main channel depth
varies from 80 to Sc feet at mean low
water. From the centre OF the city to
the open sea is distance of but eight
miles. Anchorage area available in the
harbor is seven and one-half square
miles, with depth of 35 feet and over,
and nineteen square miles, with a.
depth of twenty feet and over.
When Pensacola gets its publicly
Owned docks. it will be hard to find
any city better equipped for handling
cargo for with the great million dol
lar dock at the navy yard, and the
Bruce dry dock equipment high dem
sity cotton compress, and adequate
wareheusing, Pensacola will have ia
cilities of tremendous value.
AS it is. Pensacola has two coal
piers which are able to handle a great
deal of business. -
The Pensacola, Northern and Gulf
railroad has an electrical operated
travelling coal derrick with two travel
ing tipples, the normal capacity of
Vile and Nashville coal pier, known as
Muscogee Wharf, is 2,440 feet long,
with a width at the seaend of 10 feet.
There are on this wharf seven railroad
tracks. aggregating 1880 linear feet.
This arrangement on the wharf is such
that vessels can take bunker coal from
the upper trestie while loading a cargo
from the lower trestle.
Besides these, Tarragona and Com
mendencia street wharves also handle
bunker COAL On Tarragona street
wharf the arrangement is such that a
vessel can take cargo from both levels
orsAan load bunker opal from the up
per level while discharging cargo di-
rect from ship to cars or ship to ware
house, from the lower level Common
dencia is so designed that vessels may
receive or discharge cargo arom the
upper and lower tracks simultane-
ously, thus insuring the quickest DOS
sible banding of cargoes. Vessels may
discharge or receive cargo and take on
bunker coal at the same time.
The G.. f. and A. or as 1t is now
known, the Pensacola, Northern and
Gulf, has ten coal shutes operated from
an elevated coal trestle or wharf and
these can be worked anywhere from
one hundred to two hundred tons per
hour. One of these chutes is of the
telescoping variety and can be raised
or lowered to suit the vessel, and will
coal up to thirty feet above water.
The coal hoists will raise coal so feet
above water and were installed re-
Gently TO take care of the more mod
ern type of vessel.
When vessels call for bunker coal at
Pensacola, they are assessed for only
half harbor dues and $4,000 for each
more: pilotage is 1925 per foot draft
each way, which is less than half pilot
age. When vessels come in coastwise
for bunkers and do not remain in port
over "a hours. it is not necessary to
enter and clear at the custom house
The port is administered by a board
pilot commissioners and a harbor
master.
Loading is direct from the rail to
the ship, and the depth of water at
the principal piers is sufficient for the
largest freighters to berth alongside
% to 80 feet.
As far as they go. these docks are
good. but they ares far from ample
enough for our needs.
New Orleans is 10 miles from the
mouth of the Mississippi river; Mobile
is connected with the Gulf by a chan
mel 33 IL miles in length. Tampa is
forty miles from the Gulf of Mexico;
yet, because these ports have ample
public utilities, they are forging ahead
of Pensacola. Gulfport is about the
same distance from the Gulf as Pen
sacola, with a slight difference OF
fraction of a mile in favor of this port,
but Gulfport has no dry-docking IA
cilities; very inadequate coal facilities;
no fuel oil bunkering facilities, and
most of is terminals are privately
owned.
Naturally, there is no port in the
South which can touch Pensacola. The
government is showing its recognition
of this fact every day, and yet there
is an inability or an Indifference or a
stupidity which seems to prevent the