The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-10-03
QUE STORY TELLER.
THE GULF STREAM ASTRAY.
New York Herald. ]

New York Hcrald.J
The brig Drigo, Captain Coffin, whose
arrival at this port was announced in |
the Herald, brings news which will be a !
surprise TO navigators and students of |
physical geography. The vessel left |
Marseilles July 9Th, and touched at Glib
rsltar twenty days later. When she |
reached the edge of the great oceanic |
current known as the Gulf Stream,
between longitudes 81 and 81 viz
about seven hundred miles east of New
York-the Captain, who had steered to
keep well clear Of the mighty river,
found his brig all at once to rush into
the current. At first he inclined to the
opinion that this unexpected encounter
with the mysterious stream had resulted
from error in his reckoning, or "get-
ting the sun" This, however, seemed
Improbable, nasmucb as similar oc-
currence had taken place when he was
crossing the same spot two years previ-
ously. On the next day careful observa-
tions were made, and these were checked
and verified subsequently to such de-
gree that the commander came to the
conclusion that the chart of the stream
in those longitudes is incorrect His
calculations place the limits of the cur
rent full sixty miles south of the posi-
tions they hold on the chart. The use
iulness of this discovery to the COM
mercial world can not be over-estimated.
The error has extended over three de-
grees Of longitude. Many a bark, seek
ing to avoid or to find the stream, as the
necessity might be, has been doomed TO
disappointment in that region. Ocean
steamers, travelling close to the northern
bank of the Atlantic current, are often
compelled 10 seek refuge within its hos
pitable borders from the fury of the hur-
ricane. One may well imagine the
chagrin and disappointment of sailors
in the past, who endeavored to run
southwark into this current, but found
no stream to harbor them from the
cyclone.
IL is not merely as haven of relief
that this stream has proved of import
ance to the navigators of the Atlantic
Upon the correct knowledge of its loca-
ton, its limits, its velocity, its tempera-
ture and its variations depends the safety
OF many vessel. Before its direction
and extent were made known to the
world, the disadvantages to which mer-
chant vessels were put, and the actual
losses sustained through untoward en-
counters with this stream, were consid-
cradle. IL was in the heart of this stu.
pendous ocean river that Columbus and
his companions found themselves when
they struck sea covered far and wide
with driltwood and decaying vegeta
ton swept into the ocean from the coast
OF some tropical clime-a circumstance
which filed them with dread, and hin
with bright hopes of yet seeing the new
land This phenomenon of drifting
trees IN mid-ocean exists to this very
day. The average reader may best real
ize the Importance and the great advan
tages OF the Gulf Stream, and the dis
coveries connected! with it, when h,
peruses the nature and description O
the great current. -
The Gulf Stream is a vast warm rive
of varying width and depth, fowin,
with variable velocity through tn
Atlantic Ocean. 1t rushes through tn
surrounding waters as though it move,
between rocky banks, refusing to mi.
with the adjoining walls Of cold water
and pursuing its journey fer hundred
OF miles without materially diminish
ing its heat. Properly speaking, th
stream can not be said to begin or to en-
at any particular place, for it makes
tour of the Atlantic, and returns agai
TO the place whence it started, keepin
up its circulation as increasingly as th
wonderful river that tumbles down tn
rocks Of Niagara. The causes of th
stream will be alluded to after the Gil
cult 1T makes is described. Its fore
becomes visible to the northwest @
Cuba, where it proceeds family like
feeble tide in an easterly direction
Passing with Increased force throug
the Florida Strait, it strikes the Baham
Bank, which defects it to the NORTH
Here its width is about thirty miles an
depth about two thousand feet. Lea,
ing the Bahamas, it yrushes Inorthwar
along the coast with gradually diminisl
ing depth and velocity, and keepin
about one hundred miles from the coas
until II reaches Cape Hatteras. Nes
the Florida Keys its swiftness reacht
five miles per hour. AT Cape Hatters
II attsins less than one half of that "
loclty, but has width of seventy-f1
miles The projection of the coast ,
the Cape aforesaid seems to defect agai
the course of the stream. 1t leaves I'll
Cape with north-easterly motion, an,
increasing i'm width, gradually recedir
from the shore until it reaches the gre;
Bank Of Newfoundland. Here it CO
lides with river Of cold water tn;
comes from the Arctic seas. The stri
ing diflerenceJof temperature at tn
point cools the yapor-laden air over tt
stream, thus giving rise TO the dem
togswhich rest perpetually around "tf
Banks" as travellers to Europe ha,
often observed. And now the vast Gu
rent undergoes peculiar changes.
At the Banks it is divided into at lea
two distinct branches. One of the
pursues its journey north -westwar
passes by Ireland, and, moving on
tween Scotland and Iceland, mingl
with the Polar Sea beyond Spitzberge
The other branch, after reaching, Il
Azores, bends TO the southeast az
washes the Morocco shores, where it
again broken. A portion of it trea,
along the African coast, but by far Il
larger portion turns round to the we
and drifts with the trade-winds ba,
across the Atlantic 10 re-enter the Gu
Of Mexico, from which it started.
the Gulf Of Mexico it attains tempe
ature of eighty degrees Fahrenhe
This heat it retains throughout its e