THE FALKLAND ISLANDS AND NANTUCKET
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menace of the German fleet was over. Ironically, in World War II, the German battle cruiser named for the Admiral was bottled up by British cruisers in Montevideo, and there scuttled. Port Stanley, in East Falkland Island, is the headquarters for the administration of the "Falkland Islands Dependencies," through the British Antarctic Survey. Not only would the control of the Falklands be lost but Britain's Antarctic possessions would be threatened should the Argentine army prevail. Thus, with rumors of oil resources being uncovered in the area, the question of sovereignty over the Falklands involves far greater an area than political control. The continental shelf covers a great deal of underwater area, and the Antarctic Conti nent is as yet untapped for minerals. Today, as one reads in the newspaper accounts of the action in the Falklands, and listens to the commentators in television reports, the old names originally placed over the coast and islands here have a familiar ring, as the exploits of the first mariners who lived here in the seal-hunting days are recalled. The part Nantucket played in those adventuresome times is also a part of the larger history of maritime America.
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