Page 326 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

304 Strategic Features of the Gulf of

In connection with this should be consid-
ered also the influence upon our mercantile and
naval communication between the Atlantic and
the Gulf coasts exercised by the peninsula of
Florida, and by the narrowness of the channels
separating the latter from the Bahama Banks
and from Cuba. The effect of this long and
not very broad strip of land upon our maritime
interests can be realized best by imagining it
wholly removed, or else turned into an island
by a practicable channel crossing its neck. In
the latter case the two entrances to the chan-
nel would have indeed to be assured ; but our
shipping would not be forced to pass through
a long, narrow waterway, bordered throughout
on one side by foreign and possibly "hostile
territories. In case of war with either Great
Britain or Spain, this channel would be likely
to be infested by hostile cruisers, close to their
own base, the very best condition for a com-
merce-destroying war; and its protection by
us under present circumstances will exact a
much greater effort than with the supposed
channel, or than if the Florida Peninsula did
not exist. The effect of the peninsula is to
thrust our route from the Atlantic to the Gulf