The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1881-05-25
THE MORRISTOWN GAZETTE
Subscription Price, 81 80.
AN OCEAN RIVER.
Discovery of a Third Equatorial CGrreu1
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Discovery of a Third Equatorial Carren4
4 rlgrsHf 3 I'm the Pacific. s.
The London Nautical Gazette con-
| tanned recently an interesting announce
ment and detailed account of a newly
| discovered current in the equatorial Pa
1 cifc. The diseoverer and explorer of
this remarkable oceanic movement Is
Capt. John McKirdy, of the steamship
| Peruvia, running between Callao, Homo
lulu, and Hong Kong, who has devoted
much study to the circulation of the sea
! from the Peruvian coast to Panama, and
thence westward along the equator 1t
Is well known that approximately parallel
with i'the line" and from the second to
the tenth parallel of north latitude the
Pacific Equatorial counter current"
moves eastwardly, contrary to the grand
general movement ofall equatorial waters
Along the western coast of South America
there has been also recognized since
Humboldt's time vast flow of glacial
water from the Antarctic basin, which,
after penetrating to the equator, turns
westwardly and falls into the general
westerly movement. But now, to the
surprise of photographers, a third and
powerful equatorial current is revealed
10y Capt McKirdy's explorations, which
presses with a large volume from the
Mexican and Panama coasts first. to the
southwark and then to the westward
The remarkable features of this cur
rent are its shape, force, and color, with
its temperatuTe-all so distinctly tracea-
ble far from land that its explorer says:
''Its color is deep, deep blue, or deep
6LUisb-6Lack, and cannot be mistaken
(the surrounding waters of the North
Pacific are bright, beautiful blue), and
its waters differ in temperature from that
around it by about two degrees, so that
you can tell in a minute if you are in it
or out of it.. As it flows west Of the one
hundredth meridian, west longitude, it
feels the northwestward pressure of the
great body of Antarctic water known as
HumboIt's current, of a 'FdaTk, dirty
green" hue; and thus the cOntrasted
stream of ''deep blush black" is forced
bodily north of the equator, forming a
shrunken horn or distorted letter S re-
versed the lower end pointing to Panama /
and the upper q little to the eastward Of !
the Sandwich Islands. The equatorial !
counter current also aids in causing this |
"bend' in its course, but when the pres /
sure is removed the current of dark blue /
its westerly path, curving gently !
round. ls. t-. -a :.-E ---.
The explanation of this "mighty river
running in the Pacific Ocean," as Capt. !
McKirdy calls it, is very nationally |
siderable testimony" he SAYS, "as to the I
of a current setting to the south
ward and southeast along the Californian
and Mexican coasts POSSIBLY continue
ton of the Japanese. current). This body
IF %a1.c afc I,n (H11lf Of
anna. It cannot get south on account of
current, and the two streams
change their course to the westward,
running along side by side near the
equator, until they meet the equatorial
current which splits them like a
wedge" Undoubtedly, as this able off
GER of the mercantile navy suggests, the
he newly-discovered ''hOrn-shaped cur
rent" is q continuation of the Japanese
known as the KurO SiwO, or
9 Black Stream of Japan" whose pheno-
nena and movements off the coasts of
Japan and its recuryation across the Pa
,ific to the California coast were origin
lily ascertained and charted by Capt h
5Ias Bent, Of London, in Perry's Japan
expedition. The deep, blue color of the {
Kuro Siwo near the Japan Islands and
III the way across the North Pacific to {
california marks its identity with Capt !
Nc Kirdy's ''deep blush black" current
s traced westwardly from the Gulf of
Panama to the mid-Pacifc {
The Importance of this discovery is
ecognized by the highest authority of '
he British Admiralty as refecting new /
nd decisive light upon the mysterious {
REGULATION of Pacific waters, and as JUS I
flying a recasting of Western Pacific l
harts It affords a long-looked-for key {
D the history of the Kuro Siwo-the z
of the greatest of oceans
s that dark water, after coursing SO
many thousand of miles, bends around
be North American coast, and, complet- +
lg its grand round, re-enters the main
quatorial stream whence it originates, %
ear the Asiatic coast It is quite evil {
ent, also, that for all purposes of navi-
alton in the region through which it T
loyes, so magnificent ''river in the
ga" (within which the Peruvia made the d
andsome run of 322 miles a day), is
to be great highway of com a
lerce. ba