Naval Capability and Warfare

The Western powers had a clear edge on the oceans as only the major Western European powers controlled fleets of deep-draught vessels able to operate at great distances. Only Western European warships and merchantmen sailed across the Atlantic or Pacific or between the Atlantic and the Indian or Pacific Oceans. Havana, Seville, Goa, Malacca, Manila and Acapulco were all way stations on routes of global exchange controlled by the Western powers, and each offered possibilities for resupplying and repairing warships. Moreover, this network expanded during the century, with the creation of new Western bases, notably Cape Town by the Dutch in 1652, which offered a valuable stopping point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, followed for the English by St Helena in 1673, and Batavia (Jayakérta/Djakarta), also by the Dutch, in 1619, which centred their presence in the East Indies. The establishment of colonial bases in North America, such as Boston by the English and Quebec by the French; or the West Indies, such as Kingston, Jamaica by the English; or South Asia, such as Pondicherry by the French, also provided naval facilities, notably safe anchorages and supplies.