Photo bv Emil P. AlbreclH 



THE XEEDLES ! SOUTHAMPTON 



These are jagged chalk rocks resting upon bases of darker stone rising ioo feet from 

 the sea, a warning and a menace to mariners bound for Southampton. The cliffs form the 

 westernmost point of the Isle of Wight. Cowes, with the best harbor on the island, is at 

 its northernmost point, opposite Southampton and but two miles from the mainland. Ryde, 

 farther to- the east, is almost directly opposite Portsmouth, the great naval station. The 

 island is about 65 miles in circumference and rises nearly 800 feet above the sea. 



chief naval base. It is made up of four 

 towns — Portsea, Southsea, Landport, 

 and Portsmouth — smallest, but name- 

 giver, and has a magnificent harbor 

 nearly five miles long, reaching into Spit- 

 head. 



Portsmouth's dockyards 



The dockyard covers 300 acres, the re- 

 pairing basins 60 acres, and there are 

 drydocks and building slips capable of 

 holding the largest superdreadnought. 

 Southampton docks are probably in use 

 also at present for naval purposes. Spit- 

 head and the Solent are mined ; there are 

 no crowds on the cliffs above Ryde, no 

 yacht squadron fluttering its white sails 

 in and out of Cowes. 



In these days, when history is in the 

 making, it seems futile to recall the past ; 

 yet one old memory will be heard even 



today. It was on Southampton shores 

 that Canute rebuked the courtiers who 

 proclaimed his command of the sea. 

 Probably those double tides were puz- 

 zling to the Danes. 



Ah, they were stirring days ! Yet not 

 more so than now. Go on round the 

 coast, if you will, from port to port, com- 

 ing finally to where Dover faces France. 

 Ask the castle on the white cliff there 

 what it has seen — Roman, Saxon, Dane, 

 and Xorman ; how the invaders come ; 

 how, too, the white fleets go out to meet 

 them. And now again there is war in 

 the channel and the rocks and forts keep 

 guard. 



"Keep then the sea that is the wall of 

 England/' The cry is four centuries old ; 

 but bravely the ports, little and big, have 

 kept the word and today would keep it 

 still. 



55 



