The morning call., 1893-01-01
RIVERS OF THE SEA
Systematic Study of Ocean
Currents.
THE ATLANTIC WHIRLPOOL.
Laying Oat Tracks. Across: the Waste
of Waters-Work of the Hydro :
H.: ". graphic Office. ;:

st. Louis Globe-Dem0orat.. has bgen an ex-
pgdient resorted TO by. shipwrecked mari
ners for many centuries: Often has a writ
ing consigned to the waves been the happy
means OF rescuiHg eastaways. bringing sue
cur to those whom hope had weii-nfgh for
saken. More frequently such a document
picked up years later, perhaps, has relieved
suspense by making certain the fate, OF.
missing voyagerss 1t seems odd that this
idea could hgye been recently adopted by
science for the: practical and unromantic
.pnrpese of finding out about the surface
currents of the ocean: ::
:. Tbls work is the newest that has been
undertaken by the hydrogra phle office Of
the United States navy. Within the last
two years it. has distributed tens of tho{i-
sands Of hottie papers" among the $500
shippers. of sea-eoing vessels, from sailing
craft to Atlantic liners, who: contribute
reports as voluntary observers ia, ex-
change for: supplies of pilgt CHARTS,
etc.. given by tile Government. These
bett1e papers are printed forms which: the
observers are requested tOinelese In DO tiles
and throw overheard, after marking
upon each of them the latitude, Longitude
and date: On each paper is a separate
bO title is asked to write the date and local
itF, afterward forwarding the papers to the
nearest United States Consul or TO the
photographic Office: at; shingtOn Diree-
ti0ns as TO these matters are printed on the:
paper I'm several languages. Up co the
present time 2G1 of the bottle papers thus
scattered broadcast have been returned,
bat thousands OF them are still afloat, and
of thesea considerable percentage will be,
picked mp sooner or Later. or: course 1T Is
Impossible to kn0w how many at those
placed in the haHds OF observers haye tten:
duly bottled and laQn ehed. ~
g The COURSES taken by the bottles in DRIFT
ing tell the story OF the ocean cnrreH Is, and
knowledge of these is: of the 'utmost.impor-
taneb to mariners: Chiefly it is valuable
for epabfing vessels to- select such routes
across the seas as will: make tt possible for:
them TO take advantages of fayorfng streams
and to avoid unfaydrabfe ones. Golam-
bins knew nothing about the. currents
of the Atlantic, end SO he: made
bis way to- thu New =: World, by the
path which the surface diff laid out for
him.: Thus, after being driven far TO- the
senthward, be finally brought up nit San
Salvador. Knowing where he started from
and the point at which he finally arrived,
photographers to- day can draw a*eunyed
line on the map showing exactly the course
which he must have followed. Just at this
timesuch fact possesses ne little interest.
Only a few months ago the photographic
office was called ..npen to determine the
probable location of a Pacific Mail steam
ship WI ich was lost in the Pacific Ocean.
Her machinery having broken down..
as WAS reported by a vessel " which
had sfgnaled her.: she had drifted off
and nothing was" beard Of her for
weeks The Pacific Mail Company, being
unable to find her, appealed TO the experts
at Washington. who promptly pointed out
the exact spot where she could be discov-
ered.:. And she. was found there 600 miles
West.of where the owners had been looking
for Ter. - This WAS figured out from known
facts respecting the Direction and velocity
of the currents In that greatwaste.o of waters.
: An, important part of. the; business
of the photographic office is the laying
Of tracks across the ocean. They are
none the less actual roads because they
are marked with imaginary lines instead
Of iron raifss Within the last few
weeks the experts have been called on
to lay ont a route for Steamers direct from
Baltimore to the Mediterranean. Two
roads were required, one TO 60 and the 9th
err to come back by. ThB read eastward had
to be far north Of the return path, in order
to take advantage of the fayaring currents
each way. The tracks Of the great Atlantic
liners between the United States and Great
Britain are as accurately made out and fol-
lowed as II they were built Oh land,
the win ter track being some distance
south OF the summer track because of ice-
bergs. Over these watery roads the ocean
greyhounds travel at the speed of moder-
ately fast railway trains, the maximum
about twentv-three miles an hour. The
tracks going and coming are forty to
sixty miles apart and the pilot charts
warn sailing vessels to avoid them just
as wagons are cautioned TO keep off the
railroads: For these swift steamships do
- far go, WITH inn hut yoa
full speed night and day. Last summer one
of them cut the schooner Fred u. Taylor
fairly in two. the latter being on the track,
one-half floating one way and the other half
the other way. =. + x
Some OF the bottled papers set aflaat by
the Prince of Monaco floated fs,r more than
five years before they were picked up. His
Serene Hig6ness, who lis an euthusi-
asst in snch matters, has DEVOTED
much attention to experiments /: of
this kind For the purpose of study
ing the surface currents of the Atlantic he
launched from his sailing yacht in 1885 and =
1856 great number OF floats, consisting of
wooden casks, c0s'per globes and glass bot
Ties. All OF them were weighted to prevent
any part of them from being out of the water
to catch the wind the object being to deter
mine the drift. He finally doterm med that =
the best float for the purpose was athick
glass bottle coated with pitch and covered
over this with copper OF such bottles he
launched 931 In the year 1887 in a line
sire tching from the Azores to the Grand
Banks of Newfoundland. Each of !
them contained a document in nine lam
guages asking the finder. to- record on II
the locality and date of discovery: and
to forward it. to lie nearest maritime
authorities. or all the. bottle papers thus
distributed he got back >277, some of them
bringing up in Iceland, others ON the west
coast OF Africa. others on the j shores of
America. and fourteen as far away. as
Japan. The Prince has published charts
which show most interestingly the courses
taken by the Atlantic currents as proved by
the bottles. :. -. 49, -
:. 1t haslone been known that the waters of .
the Atlantic Ocean, are a sort of whirlpool
on a gigantic scale. the central point of
which s. short distance to the southwest
OF the Azores. just as iii the case of an
atmospheric. cyclope, there exists in the
middle of. this aqueous vortex a: region
where the fluid of. the sea has scarcely "
any motion, so that bottles or :oIher
floating objects entering it are apt TO re-.
main there indefinitely. sinking finally. to
the bottom. For miles thereabout the sur
face of the ocean Is covered with what is
commonly known as "gmlf weed large
areas OF It having the appearance of
a : drowned meadow: on :. which one
might imagine 1t possible to walk. This
enormous vegetable accumulation was for
merly supposed to be made up OF plants torn .
away by the Gull Stream from the shores of
the Bahamas and of Florida, but it is now
known that tile weed grows and propagates
while freely floating on the water. 1t teens
With multitudlnOns forms of life. Not least
Interesting of the myriad creatures which:
fnhabit it are certain curious nest-bailding
fishes. Thew have arnl-like fore-fins, with
which they cling to the weed. making their
nests by binding together globular masses
of it:as big as Dutch cheeses. This they
accomplish by means, Of long gelatinous
strings which they form for the purpose,
finally depositing their eggs In the center
of the sphere thus composed. The weed
itself is upheld by bulbs filled with air,
which serve as floats.
Shrimps AID crabs swarm In the weed
a 4, {,