Coal I.

This is coolbert:

Coaling stations!

From the period of over one hundred years ago now, the primary importance of the COALING STATION relative to sea power and naval warfare undeniable.

The coal-fired boilers of those triple-expansion steam engines as found on warships and commercial vessels of the pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought era requiring an unending supply of fuel [coal] both in abundance and of the highest quality.

Coaling stations those naval bases, port and harbor facilities with prodigious amounts of pre-positioned coal on hand at all times, replenished and maintained as exhausted, naval and commercial vessels availing themselves of re-supply as needed.

Those imperial and colonial powers maintaining these coaling stations, foremost of which in number were those of the English. Voyages by vessels "steaming" to and fro to all parts of the empire, coal an absolute necessity, the British not relying on the sufferance of foreign powers, friendly, neutral or hostile!

"a voyage out to the Far East would or could involve the possible coaling at Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden and Ceylon."

"There were 14 main coaling stations in British possessions, at which vessels could refuel . . . the 14 were King George Sound and Thursday Island in Australia; Hong Kong and Singapore in the Far-East; Trincomalee and Colombo in Ceylon; Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea; Simon’s Bay and Table Bay in South Africa; Sierra Leone in West Africa and St Helena in the South Atlantic; and, finally, Jamaica and Castries Bay, St Lucia in the Caribbean. There were of course smaller coaling stations, such as Esquimalt in British Columbia and Perim in the Red Sea."

"COALING STATIONS  . Maritime"

"Great Britain obtained as a legacy from sailing days a large number of harbours admirably adapted for use as coaling stations . Since the dawn of the era of steam, she has acquired Aden, Perim, Hong-Kong, North Borneo, Fiji, part of New Guinea, Fanning Island, and many other islands in the Pacific, while the striking development of Australia and New Zealand has added to the long roll of British ports"

Coaling stations and the desire to acquire same indeed quite often a point of friction and conflict between nations. Thanks to the archives of the New York Times [1892]:

"BRITISH SEIZE PAGO-PAGO"

"AFTER THE COALING STATION CEDED TO THIS COUNTRY."

"The place selected is very suitable for a coaling station. As the water is very deep, with a wharf running out thirty feet, the men-of-war could haul alongside it and coal. it is land-locked and has every facility for a good coaling station."

Coaling stations a necessity during peace time, absolutely vital during war time, "the sufferance of foreign powers, friendly, neutral or hostile" NOT desirable!

coolbert.