Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн

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The only other settlement on Vancouver Island which has any direct interest to the Royal Navy, is Nanaimo, the coal-mines of which yield a large amount of the fuel used by the steamships when in that neighbourhood and about all that is used on the island; a quantity is also shipped to San Francisco. The mines are worked by English companies, and are so near the coast that, by means of a few tramways and locomotives, the coal is conveyed to the wharves, where it can be at once put on board. It is a pleasant little place, and many an English miner would be glad to be as well off as the men settled there, who earn more money than at home, own their cottages and plots of land, obtain most of their supplies cheaper than in England, and have a beautiful gulf before them, in summer, at least, as calm as a lake, on which boating and canoeing is all the rage in the evenings or on holidays.

The Pacific Station is an extensive one, for it commences at the most northernmost parts of Bering Sea, and extends below Cape Horn. It embraces the Alaskan coast. Many English men-of-war have visited these latitudes, principally, however, in the cause of science and discovery.