the fact that without the Navy the operations could not have
been undertaken at all, and that the Navy played to them the part
of the base of operations and line of communications. Like the
foundations of a building, these lie outside the range of superficial
attention, and therefore are less generally appreciated than the
brilliant fighting going on at the front, to the maintenance of
which they are all the time indispensable. Consequently, whatever of
interest may attach to any, or to all, of the minor affairs, which
in the aggregate constitute the action of the naval force in such
circumstances, the historian of the major operations is confined
perforce to indicating the broad general effect of naval power upon
the issue. This will be best done by tracing in outline the scene of
action, the combined movements, and the Navy's influence in both.

The harbour of New York divides into two parts--the upper and lower
Bays--connected by a passage called the Narrows, between Long and
Staten Islands, upon the latter of which the British troops were
encamped. Long Island, which forms the eastern shore of the Narrows,
extends to the east-north-east a hundred and ten miles, enclosing
between itself and the continent a broad sheet of water called Long
Island Sound, that reaches nearly to Narragansett Bay. The latter,
being a fine anchorage, entered also into the British scheme of
operations, as an essential feature in a coastwise maritime campaign.
Long Island Sound and the upper Bay of New York are connected by a
crooked and difficult passage, known as the East River, eight or ten
miles in length, and at that time nearly a mile wide[15] abreast the
city of New York. At the point where the East River joins New York
Bay, the Hudson River, an estuary there nearly two miles wide, also
enters from the north,--a circumstance which has procured for it
the alternative name of the North River. Near their confluence is
Governor's Island, half a mile below the town, centrally situated to
command the entrances to both. Between the East and North rivers, with
their general directions from north and east-north-east, is embraced
a long strip of land gradually narrowing to the southward. The end of
this peninsula, as it would otherwise be, is converted into an island,
of a mean length of about eight miles, by the Harlem River,--a narrow
and partially navigable stream connecting the East and North rivers.
To the southern extreme of this island,