Page:Heresies of Sea Power (1906).djvu/182

158 depredations or for checking depredations in certain waters was to be had for the asking almost anywhere. In addition docking facilities were equally easy to obtain—thirteen Northerners and eleven Confederates being repaired in British ports alone.

(3) The ships actually preyed upon were mostly sailing vessels: the transition from sail to steam being just then in process of accomplishment. It is infinitely easier for a steamer to intercept sailing vessels, than for steamers to intercept steamers.

Now these three peculiarities will not occur in any future war: nor are any of them to be found in any past_one to an appreciable extent. Consequently the task of the Northerners was unusually hard.

On the other hand it was, in another respect, remarkably easy, in that the corsairs were:—

(a) Few in number.

(b) Of small account as warships.

Therefore, on the grounds of absolute fairness and on the grounds that in examining this matter it is better to over- than under-estimate the danger of commerce attack, we may perhaps with logic, hold that a and b did much to neutralise the peculiar conditions set out under the head of 1, 2, and 3—certainly those under heads 1 and 2.

The matter then still resolves itself into this:—The few corsairs of the insignificant naval power ruined the sea-borne trade of the strong naval power—