The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1872-01-31
The Winter Westerly Gales Of the Nerth
Atlantic AN Instructive
Phenomenon.

The late stormy passages of our trans
atlantic steamships, on their trips from
Liverpool to this port, present some very
instructive lessons in navigation and
reveal some of the most important at
mospheric phenomena. The difficult
and tedious battling with fierce north
west and westerly gales and head seas
has been the experience of nearly every
westward bound vessel crossing the At
lantic this month. This fact has, per-
haps, impressed us the more, as it stands
in striking aontrast with the mild and
genial weather that has prevailed ashore.
But it is o well-known and normal phe--
nomenon, with which every sailor and
traveller is te o familiar, although there
have been seasons when it was abnor-
mally intensified, as in January 1872,
when the weather in Great Britain and
France was "most extraordinarily hot,
damp, stormy and oppressive, with west
erly and southwesterly gales almost
without intermission and the barometer
lower than has been known for thirty
five years before"
The prevalence of these furious west
erly winds in the North Atlantic it is
highly important for seamen to compre-
hend, and some of our best meteorolo-
gists have made them special study.
According to our teachings and old
maps we have been led to suppose that
the trade wind belt occupied the Tropic
Zone from one side of the Atlantic to the
other, and this has always been the
generally accepted theory. In accord
ance with its requirements, 1t has been
always held that the southwest anti
trade winds commonly known as the
"passage winds'') which blow north of
the parallel of forty degrees north lati-
tude and the so-called region of the "roar-
ing forties," returned to the Polar re-
gions Just the same quantity Of air that
the opposite current withdrew from
them. Without attempting theoreti-
cal discussion of thir subject, it is enough
for our purpose to say that recently re-
vealed facts give us different system of
atmospheric circulation.
First we have broad and upper cur
rent of equatorial air which sweeps from
the West Indies and the Mexican Gulf
toward the northeast over the track of
the Gulf Stream, and is projected toward
England and Norway. To balance this
we have an equally grand current of
Polar air, streaming over Northeastern
America, and over the northwestern side
of the Atlantic. The first, or Equatorial
current-a Gulf Stream in the air-which
began as an upper current of air, sails
with tremendous velocity from the lower
to the higher latitude, until it touches
the ocean between New York and Liv-
erpool, and there runs obliquely against
the northerly Polar air current produc-
ing, as resultant, the furious westerly
and southwesterly gales of which we
speak. This is by no means matter Of
theory, but Of observation as opposed to
theory, and we believe it was first pointed
out by Captain r: Inglis, Marine Super
intendent of the Cunard line of steam
ers.
Drawing line northeast from the ca
ribbean Sea, clear of the Florida coast, it
cuts the Cunard steamer track between
the meridlans of forty degrees and fifty
degrees west, and this line, it is believed,
us nearly as possible, marks the western
margin of great southwest equatorial
current. In q remarkable voyage from
Havre to New York, in o screw steamer
a few years ago, Captain lnglis put this
theory to al erperinaentatna. c'.atcass and
whenever he buffeted by the westerly
wind, by putting his ships head off to
the northwest the more wind was found
to north ward and the more the ships
way increased. BY attending to this
simple rule he not only demonstrated his
own views to be correct, but also beat
one of the fastest and most powerful OF
the Cunard steamships o whole day
He has shown that if ship is going east
she may carry southwest or westerly
wind all the way across the Atlantic.
As has been suggested by many mete-:
biologists and seamen, it is Of the utmost
to determine by observations
where the line of contact at different sea-
sons is to be located. 1t would be of inn
mense benefit to commerce if we could
80 definitely fix the boundaries Of this
great Gulf Stream in the air and the
marginal disturbance it creates when it
is impinged upon by the Polar current
from thenOrth, that vessels bound from
to America could insure north
erTy winds by keeping to the north, and,
on the return passage, by keeping more
southerly course.
Only the other day the Algeria was
twenty days in making her trip, which
for this splendid and powerful Cunarder
is enormously long; other steamers have
recently been greatly imperilled and
shattered by attempting to run headlonlg
through these head seas and westerly
gales. 1t is almost certain, as Captain
l'oynbee, the Marine superintendent OF
the English Meteorological Office, and
other able seamen have shown, that
there is usually no necessity for encoun-
.ering these winter gales. tits positively
bad and recklass seamanship to run into
them, or, at least, to run against them,
when by u slight northerly detour the
westward passage might be made with
The loss of only day or two, instead OF
with the loss of ten days las in the case
above cited). and with the added proba-
oility Of the loss of the vessel and her
,reW.-N. Y. Herald.