Page 327 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. 305

300 miles to the southward, and to make im-
perative a base for control of the strait ; while
the case is made worse by an almost total
lack of useful harbors. On the Atlantic, the
most exposed side, there is none ; and on the
1
Gulf none nearer to Key West than 175 miles,
where we find Tampa Bay. There is, indeed,
nothing that can be said about the interests
of the United States in an Isthmian canal that
does not apply now with equal force to the
Strait of Florida. The one links the Atlantic
to the Gulf, as the other would the Atlantic
to the Pacific. It may be added here that the
phenomenon of the long, narrow peninsula of
Florida, with its strait, is reproduced succes-
sively in Cuba, Haiti, and Puerto Rico, with
the passages dividing them. The whole to-
gether forms one long barrier, the strategic
significance of which cannot be overlooked in
its effect upon the Caribbean ; while the Gulf
of Mexico is assigned to absolute seclusion by

it, if the passages are in hostile control.
The relations of the island of Jamaica to
the great barrier formed by Cuba, Haiti, and
1
There is Charlotte Harbor, at 120 miles, but it can be used
only by medium-sized vessels.
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