WHAT THE OCEAN MEANS TO 

 GREAT BRITAIN 



IF a compendious answer in the briefest terms possible 

 were desired to the question in the title, we might 

 truthfully reply in one word, " Everything." But, 

 while this one-word answer really does state a great 

 fact, it is absolutely necessary to go into details for 

 many reasons. The great mass of our population 

 assent in a careless, non-understanding way to the 

 statements that "Britain is the greatest maritime 

 nation in the world," " that if she loses the command 

 of the sea Britain is doomed," that " seven-tenths of 

 the food consumed in Great Britain comes oversea," 

 and so on ; but only a very small minority take any 

 intelligent interest in this first of all questions affecting 

 Britain. So, although there is plenty of sentimental 

 interest in the sea and seafaring, there is a lamentably 

 small amount of practical knowledge of these great 

 matters, and it may be stated, without fear of contra- 

 diction, that there is a hundred times more interest 

 taken in a spicy divorce case, a big football or cricket 

 match, or a sordid murder trial, than is ever manifested 

 in the most epoch-making development of our mer- 

 cantile marine. We are, indeed, a curious people; 

 utterly incapable, apparently, of having a fixed national 

 policy, with a constitution unwritten, the most 



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