Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1856-01-25

'V''"'s" "HBeI on lner voyage 10
Boston than common trading vessels
were from London to Rhode Island.
They therefore begged that the Fal-
mouth packets should be seat to
Providence instead of to Boston. This
appeared very strange to franklin, as
the traders were deeply laden and
badly-manned vessels, to say nothing
OF the extra distance between Lon
don and Falmouth. He accordingly
consulted a Nantucket whaling cap
tain named FoIger, who happened to
be IN London at the lime. Folger
Immediately explained the mystery
by stating, that the Rhode Island tra-
ding captains were acquainted with
the course OF the Gulf stream, while
those OF the English packet service
we're not. The latter kept in it, and
were set back from sixty to seventy
miles per day, while the former mere
ly ran across it, AT the request of
Fanklln, the Nantucket whaer
traced the course of the stream, and
the doctor had it engraved, and sent
copies TO the Falmouth captains, who
treated the communication with con-
tempt. This course of the stream,
as lald down by Folger, has been re-
tanned ~ our charts almost To the
present day. Who, we might ask,
Taught this unscicntific Nantucket
whale! So correct a course OF this
mighty current, then so little known ?
1t was the whales---the gigantic prey
he followed IA the ocean. The right
whale, { (BaiGna mySticetus } as sea-
meu tern It, never enters the warm
water of the Gulf stream II, as well
as the warm waters of the Torrid
zone, is as wall of fire to these
creatures. But they delight to con-
gregate, seeking for food, along the
edges of the stream aud thus Fol-
ger, through the experience of many
voyages, was enabled so correctly to
denote discourse.
Our space warns us to conclude,
ere we have scarcely passed the
threshold Of this interesting subject.
But we must observe, that the Gulf
stream of the Atlantic has its conner
part in the Pacific. The latter flows
out of the Straits of Maacca, just as
the Atlantic current flows out of the
Straits of Florida The coast of
China is It's United States the Phil
ippines its Bernudas the Japanese
islands its Newfoundland. The eli
mates Of the Asialic coast correspond
with those of America along the At
lantic; and those OF Columbia,
Washington, and Vancouver are du-
plicates of those of Western Europe
and The British islands the climate
of California resembles that of Spain;
and the sandy plains and rainess re-
gions of Lower California remind us
of Africa. The course Of this China
stream has not yet been traced out,
but it sets soulhardly along the coast
OF California and Mexico, as the
Gull stream does along the west coast
OF Africa to the Cape Verd Islands.
I This current, too, has its Sargasso
sea; to the west, from California, of
the sOuthwardly set, lies the pool in
which the drlll wood and sea weed
of the North Pacific are gathered.
lnshore OF, but counter to, the China
stream, along the eastern shores Of
ASA, is found current of cold wa
ter, resembling that between the Gulf
stream and the American coast. Ii,
too, like lis counterpart, is the nurse
ry OF most valuable fisheries. The
fisheries Of japan are as valuable in
/ the east as those of Newfoundland
in the west. Thus The people of
widely distant regions are indebted
for their supplies Of excellent fish 10
/ the cold waters which the currents
Of the sea carry 10 their shores.
By ihe researches of Lieutenant
Maury INTO the mysteries of oceanic
phenomena, the art of navigation
has already been greatly advanced.
The shortening of long and tedious
passages, the lifting and bringing, as
It We're, the distant isles and great
marts of the sea so many days near
er TO each other, has not escaped the
attention Of a practical people in
tins unitarian age. Yet there will
be other, though less apparent, BEN
fits derived from the hand of sciencr,
drawing aside the curtain that SO
long has inshruuded the secrets of
the deep. Seaman will take an in
terest IN their profession beyond its
mere practical lechnlcalites. They
aho have the best opportunity of OBJ
serva.ion will become observers
and what Scoresby has accomplish
ed IN the north will be followed out
all over the globe. Captain Meth
ven, 10 recent work, speaking of
the advantages of educational inhu-
ence among those who intend to fol-
low the sea says: 10 the culti-
vated lad, there is a new world
spread out when no enters on his
first voyage. As hls education has
fitted, so will he perceive, year by
year, that his profession makes hlm
acquainted with things new and in-
slrucuve. He will dwell with in
terest on the phases OF the oceau--
the storm, the calm aud the breeze,
aud will look for traces of the laws
which regulate them. All this will
induce serious eannestness IN his
work, and teach him To view lightly
those irksome aud often offensive
dIIIInS lncldent In The heuintler p