Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1893-03-10
SETTING BOTTLES AFLOAT.
UNCLE SAM TAKES A HINT FROM
sHIPwRECKED MARINERS
Studying Ocean Current by Putting
Messages in Bottles and Throw
ing Them Overheard.

Studying Ocean Current by Putting
Messages in Bottles and Throw
ing Them Overheard.
" ETTING afloat messages in bot
~ ties, writes Rene Bache in the
y Boston Transcript, has been an
experiment resorted to by ship
wrecked mariners for many centuries.
Often has writing thus consigned to
the waves been the happy means Of res
cuing castaways, bringing succor to those
whom hope had well.nigh forsaken.
More frequently such document, picked
up years later perhaps, has relieved sus-
pense by making certain the fate of miss
ing voyagers. 1t seems odd that this
idea should have been recently adopted
by science for the practical and unro-
mantle purpose of finding out about the
surface currents of the ocean.
The work is the newest that has been
undertaken by the photographic Office
of the United States Navy. Within the
last two years it has distributed tens of
thousands of "bottle papers" among the
$500 shippers of sea. going vessels, from
sailing craft to Atlantic liners, who con-
tribute reports as voluntary observers in
exchange for supplies Of pilot charts,
etc., given by the Government. These
bottle papers are printed forms which
the observers are requested to enclose in
bottles and throw overheard, after mark
ing upon each of them the latitude,
longitude and date. On each paper is
separate space in which the person who
may find the bottle is asked to write the
date and locality, afterwards forwarding
the paper to the nearest United States
consul or to the photographic Office in
Washington. Directions as to these
matters are printed on the paper in sew
eral languages. Up to the present time
261 of the bottle papers thus scattered
broadcast have been returned, but thou
sands of them are still afoat, and of
these considerable percentage will be
picked up sooner or later. OF course, it
is impossible to know how many of those
placed in the hands of observers have
been duly bottled and launched.
The courses taken by the bottles tell
the story of the ocean currents, and
knowledge of these is of the utmost
Importance to mariners. Chiefly is it
valuable for enabling vessels to seek such
routes across the seas as will make it
possible for them to take advantage of
favoring streams and to avoid unfavora.
BILE ones. Columbus knew nothing
about the currents of the Atlantic, and
so he made his way to the New World
by the path which the surface drift laid
out for him. Thus, after being driven
far to the southwark, he finally brought
up at San Salvador. Knowing where
he started from and the point at which
he finally arrived, photographers to-day
can draw curved line on the map show.
ing exactly the course which he must
have followed. Just at this time such a
fact possess no little interest. Only a
few months ago the Photographic Office
was called upon to determine the proba-
BILE location of Pacific Mail steamship
which was lost in the Pacific Ocean.
Her machinery having broken down, as
was reported by vessel which had sig
nailed her, she had drfted oil aud
nothing had been heard of her fer
weeks, The Pacific Mail Company, be-
ing unable to fiud her, appealed to the
experts at Washington, who promptly
pointed out the exact spot where she
would be discovered. And she was found
there, six hundred miles west of where
the owners had been looking for her.
This was figured out from known facts
respecting the direction aud velocity of
the currents in that great waste OF
waters.
Some of the bottled papers set afloat
by the Prince of Monaco foated for more
than five years before they were picked
up. His Serene HIghness, who is an en-
thusiast in such matters, has devoted
much attention to experiments of this
kind. For the purpose of studying the
surface currents of the Atlantic, he
launched from his sailing yacht in 1885
and 1886 great number Of floats con-
sisting of wooden casks, copper globes
and glass bottles. All of thom were
weighed to prevent any part of them
from being out of the water to catch the
wind, the object being to determine the
drift. He finally determined that the
best float for the purpose was a thick
glass bottle coated with pitch and COW
-red over this with copper. OF such
bottles he launched 931 In the year 1887,
in line stretching from the Azores to
the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Each of them contained document in
nine languages, asking the finder to re-
cord on it the locality and date of dis
covery and to forward it to the nearest
maritime authorities. Of all the bottle
papers thus disturbed he got back 227,
some Of them bringing up in Iceland,
Others on the west coast Of Africa, others
on the shores of America, and fourteen
as far away as japan. The prince has
published charts which show most inter
estingly the courses taken by the Attain
tic currents as proved by the bottles.