The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-11-11
Morning Star and Catholic messenger.
aEw ORLEANS, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER II. 1877.
THE G ULF STREAM.
The Most MsJestic of Rivers Flowing Through the
Ocean.
BENEFICENT INFLUENCEs OF ITS WARM WATERS
ON THE WESTERN COUNTRIES OF EUROPE.

BENEFICENT INFLUENCES OF IT'S WARM WATERS
ON THE WESTERN COUNTRIES OF EUROPE.
It is singular fact that two of the most
important of the industrial arts-the eLtrac
tion of food from the soil and the transporta-
tion OF commodities to and from distant re-
gions-have, from time immemo orial, been the
occupations of the most ignorant and preju.
diced classes of mankind. The sailor VINO
witnessed the wonders of the great deep, was
as little impressed by it's marvellous phenome-
ma the plougbmau, who, amidst the wonder
fni and mysterious processes of vegetation,
whistled as he went, tor want of thought. The
boon which astronomy conferred upon the
navigator may be compared to that which
chemistry subsequently afforded to the agri.
cuiturist. Vet neither was Sufficient. Vege.
table physiology next aided the tiller of th Q
soil; but the pIougher of the deep, ignorant
OF its prevailing winds and currents, still en-
pirically followed the devious track of the old
voysgeFs. At length iieutenant Matthew F.
Msury, of the United States navy, latter ards
Commander in the Confederate States navy),
ber of journals and log g-books, was enabled to
produce the Htnd and Current Charts. that have
caused so marked q progress in the art of navi-
CATION. From these charts, in their turn:
Geography of the Sea The aim of this work is
as tne anthor tells Us, TO present the CLEAN
lngs from this new field in a manner that may
be interesting and instructive to all, whether
old or yeapgr ashere-or-af -afleat,- desire q
closer look into the wonders OF the great
deep" Cleaning principally from this most
science, let US attempt to describe one of the
most remarkable of all kHown oceanic phenom-
ena-the mighty current which ceaselessly
flows from west to east, across the bosom of
the North Atlantic. The fountain. head of this
ocean river, as it may well be termed, is in the
Gulf of Mexico From thence it flows north
eRsteriy along the shores of the United States
until it reaches the banks of Newfoundland:
then stretches across the Atlantic O the British
islands, where it divides into two parts-one
flowing northward to the Arctic Sea- the other
"a yHh vnrll
there is not 30 msj estic q fow of water as this
ocean river. Its current Is more rapid than
the Amazon or the ID ssissipPi. In the severest
dronghts it never fails in the greatest hooae
it never ovesaows. Though iIs banks and
bed consist of cold water, yet the river itself
is warm and SO great is the want of affinity
between these waters, 30 reluctant are they to
mingle with each other, that their line of JUNG
tion is often distinctly visible to the eye one.
half of ship may frequently be perceived
floating in the cold ocean water, the other half
in this warm current, known to mariners and
geogrsphers as the Gulf Stream.
Long before the discovery of America, the
artificially carved pieces of wood to the shores
of Europe, indicated the existence of q west
ern continent. Columbus himself was told bv
q settler in the Azores that even strange boats |
had been seen, constructed SO that they could |
not SIZE, and managed by broad faced men of /
faFstGa appearance. Without doubt these men |
were Esqnimaux Indians. Wallace, in his 40. |
<ohnt Of the Islands Of Orkney, tells us that in
1852, an Esquimaux was seen in his canoe off |
the south side of the island of Eada bv many
PERSONS who could not succeed in reaching !
oim and another Was seen, in 1854, off the
island OF Westram. Moreover, he says, be the
seas never 30 bosterous, these boats, being
made of fsh.skips, are so contrved that they
can never sink, but are like ses-gulls swim
ming on the top of the water" Two more of
hese current-drifted canoes were an ubseo uentlv
Iound on the shores of the Orkneys; one was
,hurch of Bora,
AS If determined to make its course and ex.
stence known to the most unobeervant the
3ulf Stream carried the m ain mast of the Eng
ish ship "Tilbury," that was DESTROYED bv FIRE
ID the coast OF ST. Domingo, during the Seven
FEARS War, to the coast Of Scotland, But
again, It carried to Scotland q number of casks
Il palm oil, thst were recognized by their
marks and brands to be part of the cargo of the
hip that had been wrecked near Cape Lopez. |
q Africa. How could this last remarkabIe
Tit come to passf Simply thus The Gulf i
stream, which we have compared to q river ie
reailty part OF great system of oceanic
ireulstlon. The brsooh that, as We have said,
urns off from the British issnds sou tb wards /
the Azores, joins be great equatorial current Z
Lhich, flowing to the westward from the coast q
africa enters the Caribbean Sea, and emer- v
tream. The casks of palm-oil, then had | q
vice traversed the Atlantic first from east 4
west In the equatorial current, and second o
?, from west to east, in the Gulf Stream @
eI0te Gney found a restin place on the coast 81
Scotland. n
10 compare small things with great: if we O.
ere 90 place little pieces of cork, chat, or d
ner light bodies, in basin of water, and cl
We the water ciroular motion, the light NJ
distances would crowd together 10 the censse "a,
nefe tnere Is the least motion. So it ia in the re
eat basin OF the Atlantic, where the Sargasso II
ID forms the centre of the whirl caused bv the T
Ccu6ar motion of the equatorial current and te
9 Gulf Stream. This sea, situated about q
loway IN the Atlantic, in the triangular space tt
tween she a Azores, Canaries and Cape de Verd tu
lands, covering g space equal in extent to the in
'i!ey OF the Mississippi, is SO thickly matted ar
or with pec1liar weed (FMcus natGns) that m
Q speed of the vessels passing through it ia Dc
ten greatly retarded. To the eye, at short
stance, 1t seems substantial enough to walk pa
on, and countless hosts of small crustacea iet
.eil on this curious carpet of the ocean. Co. st
NOUS sailed through it on his first voyage of tn
'oovery, in spite of the terrors of lis less of
Ventnr9us companions, who believed that it on
'rEed the limits of navigation aud it's posi- Cb
n n has not altered since that time BE
Iho waters Of the Gulf Stream do not, in lar
part OF their course, touch the bottom of sp,
oo o. 10y ore everywhere defended from iaI
ot Sood u conductor of heaT by an
nehlon of cold water, one of the best of err