Book Description

Excerpt from Annual Reports of the Navy Department: For the Year 1897 On the Pacific Coast there is but one dock Of sufficient size to dock a modern battle ship. This is on Puget Sound, 900 miles from San Fran cisco. Access to it is through a narrow channel 20 miles wide, one side of which is in possession of a foreign country. This lack of docking facilities should be remedied at the earliest possible moment. The necessity is imperative. The Department, therefore, appointed in August last a Special board to examine the matter, and the valuable report made by it will be forwarded to Con gress as soon as it meets. This board reports that timber docks, although less expensive than stone or concrete, are not durable. A plan for the location of additional Government docks, recommended by this board as a result Of its investigations, is comprehensive and should be substantially carried out. When completed, it will give the necessary facilities demanded by the extensive coast line of our country. There are seven strategic divisions of our coast: First, from the Bay Of Fundy to Cape Cod; second, from Cape Cod to Sandy Hook; third, from Sandy Hook to Cape Henry; fourth, from Cape Henry to Cape Sable; fifth, the coast line bordering on the Gulf of Mexico; sixth, the southern portion Of the Pacific coast, and seventh, the northern por tion. There should be docks and repair shops in each division, and these should be placed, as far as possible, at great commercial and industrial centers, not only because workmen and material can be Obtained more readily and more reasonably at such points, but also because such points require and will have, from their importance to the country, a strong land defense; and, as the docks also require a strong defense, one set of fortifications will cover both civil and mili tary property. In the great commercial centers also, from which ply large trans-ocean steamers, the Government will be able to derive some revenue from accommodating them in its docks. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.