The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-18
ARCTIC CURRENTS.
Valuable information Gained by Capt. W.
r. Milne.
(From the Dundee Advertiser.)

/
Captain w. F. Milne, of the Dundee
whaler Eclipse, has for many years
taken a deep interest in the question Of
ocean currents, and his experiments
have frequently met with recognition
from the British meteorological au-
thorities. On the voyage from which
he has Just returned, Captain Milne
took occasional opportunities of throw
ing overheard sealed bottles contain
| ing a note of the latitude and longitude
of the particular spot. along with any
other information, and requesting that
the finders should forward same either
to the American or British authorities.
Nothing has yet been heard of his half
dozen bottles so consigned to the deep
on the last voyage of the Eclipse; but
it is somewhat curious that, imme-
diately on Captain Mines return to
Dundee this week. he should have re-
cetYed one of a number of messages
thrown overheard by him during his
previous cruise.
On October 20, 1897, Captain Milne
gave to the waves a bottle containing
the following message: "Whaler
Eclipse. To the finder. Please forward
this to the meteorological office, Lon
don, or Washington. Put over in lati-
tude SO degrees, % minutes north, lon
gitude 65 degrees minutes west" The
Eclipse was then 210 miles to the north
and fully more than that distance to
the west of Cape Farewell. Generally
! speaking, she was at the mouth of Da-
Wis strait. The bottle was picked up
on August by Angus Mcintyre be-
tween Barra lighthouse and Hueskar
| lighthouse. and not far from Ardmlle
Point. Instead of forwarding the mes
sage as requested, Mcintyre. who lives
at Boisdale, South Uist, sent it on to
| Captain Milne at Dundee, and the cap
tain intends forwarding it himself The
| bottle in which the message was con-
| tanned had drifted about fifteen hun
| bred miles ere 1T found a rocky resting
place on the shores of the Hebrides. 1t
| had probably been in the water for
nine months and some days, so that it
had been borne along at, as near as
! possible, five and half miles a day.
Perhaps the bottle might have been ly-
| ing where 1t was found for a consider
able time, but the possibility is that it
was found soon after reaching the is
lands.
In 1897 Captain Milne had sent to
him from Norway a similar message to
that picked up at Uist 1t was thrown
overheard from the Eclipse during the
homeward voyage of 1896 at point as
near as possible half way across the
Atlantic. Then again three years ago
another Eclipse bottle was picked up
at Egedesmunde, in Disko bay, on the
west coast of Greenland. The curious
thing about this message, however, was
that it was thrown overheard from the
whaler when she was away to the
south and east of Cape Farewell. This
bottle must have been carried in a
northwesterly direction to double the
promontory and then northerly to
reach Disko. Why one bottle consigned
to the water to the west of Cape Fare
well should travel almost due east, and
ultimately be picked up on the Scotch
coast, and another, thrown over
board to the southeast of the cape,
should seek it's way up the coast of
Greenland is a mystery which only
those well versed in the study of ocean
currents may be able to explain.