The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1890-04-23
ABOUT THE GULF STREAM.
Lieutenant Pillsbury Tells of the varia
tions of the Great Ocean Current.

Lieutenant J. E. Pillsbury, of the
navy, has at the request of Professor
I. G. Mendenhall, Superintendent OF
the Coast survey, written him a letter
setting forth his views on the subject
of the Gulf Stream and its variations
He says:
II think the Gulf Stream does
change its position to a slight amount,
but not in the arbitrary manner or to
the great extent stated by some of the
newspaper writers of late
While it is probably a fact that as
rule, current from the equator is
warmer and one from the pole is colder
than the surrounding waters, it is not
always the fact that tie warmest flow
ing water is from the south, nor that
the coolest is from the north.
The mere presence of warm water does
not necessarily show that current
exists, nor does change of tempera-
tglre show that there is a change in cur
rent. The Gulf Stream
probably has a yibratory motion, as
evidenced by our own anchorage off
Cape Hatteras. and as previously
noticed of Rebecca Shoal, Fla. Anchor
ed there, on the northern edge of the
stream, riding to the wind with gen.
tie current, the latter would suddenly
become strong and swing the vessel
until she was stern to wind, to remain
but short time, and then the current
becoming weaker the wind would gain
the ascendency. This was repeated a
number of times.
I believe that the daily volume
of the stream varies but little except
from that due to declination of the
moon. Along the northern coast, how
ever, it is not always on the surface,
but is overrun by other currents. [
think that its track through the ocean
is absolutely fixed by law, and that its
vibration is periodic, although the
limit of the periodic change may vary
trifing amount. The generally ac-
cepted belief that wind blowing
across the current changes the position
of its axis is, | am convinced, erron-
eous. Every temporary wind how
ever, does transport water Chiefly by
means of waves), and with it goes its
heat or cold.
The fact of finding gulf weed with
in few miles of Nantucket lightship
does not so much prove that the cur
rent is nearer our shores as it does that
winds have prevailed in the direction
from which it comes. Its home is in
the Sargasso Sea, from which it is
drawn by the winds .:and the sea. A
small amount finds its way into the
Caribbean through the Antigua pass
age, but most of it passes north of the
West Indian Islands. The break of the
waves has more effect on its movements
than current unless the latter is very
strong, and in the Gulf Stream itself it
is seen stretching in long lines in the
direction of the wind and sea, and not
in the direction of the current, except
only in the case of a rip at the meeting
of currents.
Anchored on the edge of the Florida
reefs. with a strong wind blowing
directly from the Gulf Stream, which
was only a short distance away, its
clear blue water was driven by the sea
and overcame the cloudy reef water,
but no current accompanied it. In
Key West harbor the water is usually
cloudy. A southerly wind will cause
a sea that will carry the clear water
inshore, even in spite of an ebb tide.
The wind shifting to the opposite
quarter will at once alter it to milky
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