Sea Power and Indian History
THIS essay seeks to develop the thesis put forward in the author's former work, The Future of South-East Asia. Indians have failed to realise the decisive influence of sea power on their country's history. In the future, with the expansion of her industries and her overseas trade, it is likely to be immeasurably greater; the loss of control over the Indian Ocean might well be an irreparable disaster. There was little fear of such a contingency in the past, though the exploits of a single light cruiser, the ' Emden,' provided a foretaste of what might happen. Today the position is different. The fall of Singa- pore has demonstrated that the defence of India's long and vulnerable coastline cannot be undertaken by the British Navy alone. By the mere fact of her distance, .Great Britain is at a disadvantage in -comparison with countries directly bordering on the Pacific ; a challenge from a first-class naval' Power cannot be effectively met ny a fleet whose main strength must always be devoted to the defence of Britain's European interests.
India aspires to be a free and independent unit of the British Commonwealth of Nations ; but all these aspirations will remain but vague dreams, unless she is prepared to undertake the respon- sibility of peace and security in the Indian Ocean.' Otherwise she will be at the mercy of any major naval power which has command : of the sea. It is ridiculous to pretend that an Indian Navy could do this unaided. It can only be achieved by a co-operative effort between Britain, India, South Africa and Australia, who must form a regional union, for the purpose. The questions arising out of regional organisations arc discussed in an appendix.
As this useful little book may reach a second edition, some errors and omissions should be noted. Nothing is said about the Dutch East Indies ; Holland will almost certainly recover her great colonial empire, and will not easily forget the bitter lesson of the battle of the Java Sea. In Chapter IV no mention is made of Captain Downton's defeat of the Portuguese Armada off Swally Hole in 1615 or the capture of Ormuz in x621. Yet both these events were decisive. There should be some accounts in Chapter V of the part played by the Parsi shipbuilders of Bombay in defeating the French ; and surely the gallant record of the Royal Indian Navy in the present war should come into the picture. Indians have shown that they make equally good sailors as soldiers. Bad proof-reading is doubtless responsible for such slips as Kakliyt (p. 3o, n.), Lourenco (p. 42), Linchoten (p.' 55), La Bourdannais (p. 65), Garrnor (p. 66) and Sir Stafford Raffles (p. 7o). A bibliography and an index are
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