The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-21
A GRAND OLD HuMBUG.
ermuda Correspondence New York Times.

channel have promenaded with it in its
great circle around the Gulf Of Mexico;
have gone with it through the Bahama chan
mel; followed it up parallel with the Florida
coast, and have been buffeted and sickened
by il in mid-ocean; so l know it pretty well.
And have very little hesitation in saying
that the gulf stream is grand old humbug.
That it is q current OF water running through
the ocean just as a river runs across the
land, nobody will undertake to deny. 1t
is a very few degrees warmer than the
rest of the ocean, and that is all.
Thos. beautiful school-book stories about
frozen ships coming down out of the cold
north, their rigging freighted with ice,
aud floating into the gulf stream, where the
ice instantly melted off, and the sailors
plunged overheard to timber their joints, are
just about as true as good many other
school-book yarns. If the ships went far
enough south they would strike warm water,
of course, but the gulf stream would not have
much to do with it. The common 'longshore
idea of the gulf stream is that it is a vast cur
rent of warm water, running northwar
covered with gulf weed, and darker and
dirtier than the rest of the ocean. The exact
truth is, no iandsman alive can tell when he
is in the gulf stream or when he is out of it.
If you want to know when you re in it you
have to ask the captain; ana my private
opinion is that half the captains can't tell it
from tine rest of the ocean. The water is the
same color as other water it is perhaps two
or three degrees warmer, and it sets slowly
northward, or northeast, at the rate of two
or three or perhaps four miles an hour. 1t
is anywhere from 100 to 800 miles wide,
and OCpnSiOnal little gnrirS
seaweed floating in it. This is the gulf
stream in a nutshell. Its position in the
ocean changes slightly according to season.
as | have been told by several experienced
navigators, so that it is liable to be found
most any time from fifty to one hundred
miles out of its course. This is piece OF in
formation not to be found in any textbook,
and some people may not believe it, but
captains who are taking their ships through
the gulf stream two or three times every
month ought to know more about it, l firm
ly believe than learned scientists who stay
at home and write about it from safe dis
lance of thousand miles or SO.
People have queer notions about the gulf
stream, and let their imaginations run away
with them. l have here a copy of an Ameri-
can newspaper containing Il letter from an
American visitor to Bermuda. The CORE
spondent describes the voyage down, and let's
himself loose on the gulf stream Friday,
at 10 A. NJ" ne says I'VE entered the gulf
stream, which is about 120 miles wide. Then
| saw for the first time in my life the rarity
of steam rising from the water, caused the
captain said by the foam OF the warm water
coming in contact with the sharp, biting air!"
Such a current would be fortune to the New
York Steam Heating Company. But the truth
is it steams just about as much as the East
river SteamS on a January morning On
the voyage down here no passenger aboard
would have known when we were in the gulf
stream if the ships officers had not told us,
and even than we were left in some doubt,
for the stories of the officers did not CORE
spond, one officer having us in the stream"
six or eight hours before another, so that we
were half inclined to believe the navigators
themselves were guessing at it, Whoever
depends upon information gained from the
captain OF ship at sea, however, is likely to
get left Captain Fraser, of the Orinoco,
in particular, spreads remarkable informa-
ton in the most reckless manner. He is al
ways willing to agree with a passenger on
any subject. If tmid landsman fears that
a strong west wind will blow the vessel
against Gibraltar the Captain acknowledges
that there is great danger of it, but hopes to
pull through all right. If the ship rolls,
he expects every minute, so he tells any
inquirer. to see her roll over and
sink. If the sea is at all rough it is
the st ormiest passage he ever made, and
capful of wind is a perfect tempest. This
kind of information does not hurt anybody
and it is great comfort to the passengers
particularly those passengers who are making
their first voyage. To arrive at any foreign
port without having encountered tremend-
Gus storm, and been on the very verge of
shipwreck would be a great hardship to
the average passenger. Most travellers
would not believe that not more than one
voyager across the Atlantic in 10000 sees
q real storm at sea; but such is tie sad
f0rt There nlRnfV little gales and
rough seas, but real tempests are not half as
plenty as our travelled friends would have
US believe.
What is this gulf stream we hear so
much about? Where does it come FROM and
where does it go top one of our company of
passengers asked me.
This was a sticker. We all know what it
is, or think we do But where it comes from,
or where it goes, is not so easy to tell. So |
went to the great source of all accurate and
interesting information, and asked the Cap
tain.
There's good deal of humbug about it,"
said Captain Fraser at was once believed
that the warm water burst out of an inn
mense hot spring, but that, you see, would
take spring about the size of half the globe.
1t looks clear enough to me where the water
comes from. The water OF the Amazon and
the other great South American rivers being
warmed by the equatorial sun is almost hot.
These rivers are constantly pouring vast
body of water into the ocean, and this water,
helped along by one of the unexplainable
ocean currents swashes around the borders
of the Gulf of Mexico and makes the cele-
Grated gulf stream. The amount OF water
in the stream varies at different seasons, Just
about as much imagine as the body of
water varies in these great hot rivers"
The Women of Paris.
Stilson Hutchins in Washington Post.
Louise Michel, unless her pictures sadly
belle her, is a crone, with disheveled locks