The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-06-28
THE DRIFTS IN Old OCEAN
Different Currents Found by Gov
eminent Experiments.
Great Wsnderings of Bottles Cast
Into the Waves at Different Pla-
ces. One Drfted 800
Miles. The Course and
Speed of Gulf Stream.

" aoihe AT SEA LOT peT1OuS ranging from
flvo days TO eight years-thrown over
BOARD from vessels for the United States
government to test the ocean currents
3-haye been recovered during the past
SIX months, and thcir wanderings are il
Illustrated in the June photographic chart.
y One of these bottles drifted around
tho Atlantic in semicirclc of 800
miles. being at sea for aces days 1t
! WAS thrown overheard from tho Yacht
{, II Hirondclle July rs, 1887, and recov-
cred Oct. s, 1894. 1t was cast into the
sea several hundred miles east of New
doundland; Travelled toward England,
passed south along the coast Of Spain
aud down to the easternmost extremity
! of Africa and then went ashore on one
OF the Bahama islands.
~ Another bottle was adrift $50 days
and travelled 3,16o miles, finally bring
? Ing up in the Arctic region. 1t started
midway between Great Britain and
Greenland. After bobbing about for
nearly LEGO miles it passed Iceland,
entered the Greenland sea, then made a
semicircle and went ashore Oh tho
northeast Arctic coast of Norway
A long voyage made in good time
{. was that Of bottle started about 500
miles cast Of New York and which drift
ed about seven miles day, travelling
5000 miles III 400 days, to the north
west coast Of Norway.
y The record breaking bottle in regard
to fast drifting is held by one which
journeyea SO miles day During five
days of Newfoundland it got over $50
"A tx,x ~
one from the west end of Cuba, which
was swept along the coast of Central
America and Mexico and to near New
Orleans at tho rate Of over 10 miles
day, making 1900 miles in So Days.
Two of the indicators thrown over
board several hundred miles off the No
3 va Scotia coast followed the transatlan-
tic steamship route and went direct to
England.
An erratic course, but following. the
currents, was that of bottle started
1rom among the Cape Verde islands, off
4 tho westernmost extremity of Africa. 1t
\ passed along the north coast Of South
4 America, around tho western end of Gu
Da, travelled north along Florida and
stopped OH tho coast of North Carolina.
after trip of 1900 miles III 457 DAYS.
in ii days bottle reached Brazil from
o point 800 miles at sea, which is drift
ing at the rate Of over 20 miles day.
Another bottle travelled so miles in
toward the mouth Of tho Delaware in SO
days, and another journeyed 20 miles
from sea to the mouth Of the Chesa-
peake in 10 days.
In calculating the daily drift che nv
geographic Office makes no allowance for
the time during which u bottle lay ,ui-
discovered upon the beach Three indi-
Gators agree IN giving u mean speed Of
nine miles Per day for the equatorial
current and three in giving mean We
loclty OF seven miles per day for the
4 mid-Atlantic gulf stream in its course
toward Europe. Both of these values
arc, however, probably below the actual
daily drift.
-Four bottles seem to disprove the ex-
1stence of the well known Rennell cur
rent, which has been supposed to set
north and northwest athwart tho mouth
OF the English and St. Georges chan
nels. The direction followed by three
bottles disproyes the existence Of the
current, while the course followed by
one would favor it, but its course, it is
thought, was due to goutherly gales.
y Other observers notably the Prince Of
Monaco. with his yacht, made special
study of the supposed current and could
not ind conclusive evidence of its exist.
ence,
81 This chart indicates circnlar move.
ment of tho waters of the Atlantic
around point lying to the southwest
OF the Azores. Starting from point to
the southwark OF the Grand banks of
Newfoundland the outer edge of this
Z vast circulating system of waters mounts
toward the northeast as far as the fifty
first parallel of latitude, there becoming
easterly. Northwest of the Azores. as
shown by fcur bottles, portion of the
current again takes northeasterly di-
rection to Scotland and Norway
& The main body of the drift, crossing
the meridian at 20 degrees and 10 and
90 north latitude, turns to the south
ward and parallels the shores Of Europe
and Africa to the Canaries.
Y Leaving the African coast, the exter-
nal edge, it has now been shown, takes
8 southwesterly direction, unites with
the northern portion of the equatorial
current, and, entering the gulf of Mexico
through the Yucatan passage emerges
as the gulf stream through the straits of