The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-01-24
THE LONG TRIP OF A BOTTLE.
Thrown from Cunarder, 1t Travels $500
Miles in Three Years.

Thrown from a Cunarder, 1t Travels 6,3Ou
Miles in Three Years.
Particular attention has for several
years been paid to the subject of ocean
| currents, and various devices have been
employed for ascertainidg the set and
drift of the great rivers Of the ocean.
The late Prince of Monaco was espe
| cially interested in the matter, and had
a special kind of bottle prepared to be
used by vessels all over the world where
current observations were required.
The photographic office in this country
has made strenuous efforts to obtain in
formation in relation to ocean currents,
and its ''bottle-papers" are well-known
features of the outfit of the trapsat-
| lantic steamers. OF the many excellent
results-and some of them have been
extremely satisfactory-obtained by
| these various methods, it is extremely
doubtful if any Of the ''otficial bottles"
ever took longer trip than one recently
picked up on Ambergris Key, small
island on the Caribbean Sea, close to
the coast of Yucatan.
! A bark that recently returned from
the tropics brought u fat bottle of about
half pint capacity, picked up on the
beach. In this bottle was small rec
tangular piece of paper somewhat
stained and very much crumplcd, on
which was written in pencil:
This bottle was thrown from the S.
S. Cephalonia of the Cunard Line on the
24th of November, 1887, by w. C. Lip
pard, about 400 miles from Boston.
Anybody finding this will please send it
to the Boston newspapers"
The records show that the Cephalonia
on her voyage from Liverpool reached
Boston November 20, two days after the
bottle was thrown overheard. IN the
three years voyage that the little bottle
took it travelled about $500 miles, as far
as can be estimated, and, Judging from
what is already known of ocean cur
rents, it would not have been possible
for it to have floatcd down the coast.
around the southern part of Florida,
; through the Gulf Qf Mexico. and so on
by the west end OF Cuba to the Yucatan
coast. The currents are not favorable
to that course 50 that the only route
left is to make the circuit of the At,
lantic and follow the streams as they
run east toward the Azores, then talgir,,.
a turn to the southwark, and when some
l,2OO miles south of our latitude and in
about twenty-five or thirty degrees west
longitude making another turn to the
west and south, From this point the
course would be inclined toward the
northern course of South America and
would follow that coast until the Cen
tral American coast was reached, where
it would turn to the north and cross to
Yucatan. Instead of going quite as far
south as the South American coast its
journey could be shortened by branch
ing off and passing between Cuba and
Hayti, and so north of Jamaica to the
Yucatan coast.
1t would be of great interest if the
mystery of the bottles course could be
solved and the why's and IThercfors for
selecting the course followed could be
known. The speed made was not far
from an average of six miles per day,
which, although not that of the ocean
greyhound, enabled it to get there all
the same. IN. Y. Times,