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Portsmouth (Principal station)

the principal station of the British navy, a seaport, municipal and parliamentary borough of England, in Hampshire, on the S. W. extremity of the island of Portsea. It consists of the four_districts, Portsmouth proper, Portsea, Landport, and Southsea, Portsmouth proper is a garrison town. Portsea is the seat of the naval dockyard; Landport is an artisan quarter; and Southsea on the E. side of the town of Portsmouth is a favorite seaside resort. The island of Portsea, which is separated from the mainland by a narrow creek called Portsbridge Canal, is bounded on the E. by Langston Harbor, on the W. by Portsmouth Harbor, and on the S. by Spithead and the Harbor Channel. The royal dockyard covers an area of about PORTSMOUTH 500 acres, and is considered the largest and most magnificent establishment of the kind in the world. It includes vast store houses, containing all the materials requisite for naval architecture; machine shops, with all modern appliances; extensive slips and docks, in which the largest ships of the navy are built or repaired; ranges of handsome residences for the officials, and a Royal Navy College, with accommodation for 70 students. Outside the dockyard an area of 14 acres contains the gun wharf, where vast numbers of guns and other ordnance stores are kept. Portsmouth has no manufactures of any consequence, except those immediately connected with its naval establishments, and a few large breweries. Its trade, both coasting and foreign, is of considerable extent. Of late years an extensive and systematic series of fortifications has been under construction for the complete defense of Portsmouth. They extend along a curve of about 1½ miles at the N. side of Portsea Island. A series of hills, 4 miles to the N. of Portsmouth, and commanding its front to the sea, are well fortified with strong forts. On the Gosport side a line of forts extends for 4 miles. The municipal and parliamentary borough includes nearly the whole of the island of Portsea. It sends two members to the House of Commons. Pop. (1917 ) 178,- 327.