“Of the facilities at the docks, as much can be said. It is the only port in the country where vessels drawing twenty-four feet of water can come alongside and load in such numbers. There is room for twenty-four vessels of that draught, three hundred and twenty feet long, to lie end for end, and receive cargoes at the same time. These steamers are all loaded from the railroad tracks, just twenty feet removed from the edge of the pier, and nothing stands in the way of the quick work. Vessels of less length make it possible to increase the number, and at one time there were thirteen vessels loading end to end at one side of the pier. According to this calculation, thirty-two vessels could be accommodated. At these docks are to be found berths for phosphate vessels where their cargoes are loaded from electric elevators, which are the latest improved. Just across the slip is the government coal dock, and here are electric elevators for handling this business. A large amount of coal is now stored in these docks for the government.
“It was not necessary to provide any of these facilities for the especial purpose of handling the government war business. They were all there and in use before the war, and the government used them in sending off this fleet of thirty-six vessels, under convoy of a large number of war vessels. It was one of the most imposing sights of the age to see this great fleet steaming down the bay; flags flying and bands playing, and sixteen thousand American soldiers cheering as they felt the vessels move over the waters of Tampa Bay, all bound for a victorious campaign against the enemy.
“The Plant System has done well its part in the great modern war, and is equally well prepared to do its part in carrying on the great commerce between the United States, Cuba, the West India Islands, and all of the South American countries.”
The Marine Journal of New York of July 9, 1898, has the following editorial:
“Port Tampa—Phœnix-like Rose and Met the Occasion—Over Thirty Troop Ships Loaded and Departed from its Piers—The Largest War Fleet ever Sent from One Port at One Time in the Nation’s History—The Port’s Immense Facilities.
“It would take the entire reading space of the Marine Journal to describe the great amount of work done at Port Tampa, Fla., in getting Gen. Shafter’s army afloat, and the exhaustive facilities that were found by the government to exist there available for this purpose; in fact, only those who have visited the West coast of Florida within ten years past have any idea of the extensive improvements that have been made at Port Tampa by the Plant System with a view to bringing the commerce of the United States within close communication with the Island of Cuba, Jamaica, and other nearby Gulf ports. Millions of dollars have been expended by Henry B. Plant and associates under the supervision of the best known experts in railroad and harbor improvements that could be obtained for this object, and the work was near completion when war was declared with Spain, and the Island of Cuba became the base of hostilities.
“Fortunately the government was well informed as to the superior facilities already in operation at Port Tampa, and the Quartermaster’s Department of the Army was not slow in recommending this place for the mobilization of troops and their preparation and embarkation to Cuba therefrom. The vexatious delays caused by inexperience in handling such a large body of men and munitions of war, reports of spook Spanish fleets, etc., are more or less familiar to our readers, as well as the detail of the fitting out and embarking of over 12,000 troops and their supplies which were loaded on board over thirty transports at Port Tampa in a very short space of time. The wharf facilities at some times accommodated as many as thirteen of these troop ships strung along end on.
“Let the Marine Journal readers imagine for a moment that the Florida terminus of the Plant System of railroads at Port Tampa extends out into the harbor nearly a mile on two solidly built piers of sheet piling, earth, and rocks between which is a canal or basin with twenty-five feet depth of water its entire length, where a fleet of ships can lie and load or unload from or into cars night and day. The south pier is seventy feet wide, and has three tracks laid upon it, twenty feet of this width is set apart for working cargo from car to ship, and vice versa, also a promenade its entire length, midway of which is the famous “Inn,” built out over the water, where passengers in transit to Cuba and Key West, as well as tourists, can enjoy a cool, delightful rest after a trip by sea or land. One can hardly imagine the amount of transportation facilities afforded at this immense terminus, with its mile in length railroad-yard, and Port Tampa is but twenty-four hours sail from Havana by steamers of fair average speed. The Olivette, of the Plant Line, has frequently made the trip in nineteen and a half hours.
“There is twenty feet of water on the shoalest part of the bar at the entrance of the (thirty feet) harbor of Port Tampa, and a very small expense in dredging, which is now being arranged for, will enable vessels to enter drawing twenty-five feet. Outside of the harbor, in Tampa Bay, is a roadstead where the entire naval and transport fleet of the United States could ride safely at anchor in the fiercest hurricane, thereby adding another valuable argument for Port Tampa as a naval as well as an army base.
“It is a well-known fact to mariners who are familiar with West Indian and Gulf navigation, that after July 15th, it is necessary to keep an eye to windward for hurricanes up to the middle of September; then more or less heavy weather occurs until the middle of March. And here comes in another great advantage in favor of Port Tampa as against all other ports in the United States as regards safety from the elements. With the present able weather bureau, and its complete arrangements for signaling the conditions of the weather from all important points, there is not the slightest danger of encountering a hurricane between Port Tampa and Cuba. The weather reports available make it not only easy to avoid them through reliable information of their coming, but enables the mariner to prepare for them in the harbor of Port Tampa or Key West if there isn’t time to reach Cuba. If the government is wise it will ship no more troops to Cuba or Porto Rico this season from north or south of Hatteras, as there is no need of subjecting them to the risk of hurricanes. Our soldier boys should have as short and comfortable a sea voyage as possible, and that is only obtainable in first-class shape from Port Tampa, following down the west coast of Florida, always under the lee of the land in case of an eastern gale or hurricane.”