The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1899-09-23
FORCE OF OCEAN CURRENTS.


Interesting Experiments by the Ma
val II. Rcaphic Office.
Washington 31.-The naval
photographic i has prepared an
interesting accossnt of the operations
of the so-called "bottle feet" during
the last year. There is no way of as
certaining the exact number of bot
ties cast adrift during that period, but
it is thought to be n thousand or more,
thus showing that only a comparative
ly small percentage of those released
are recovered. A great majority of
those that were picked up and sent
back to Washington were found on
the coasts bordering the Atlantic. This
undoubtedly was the result of the bot
ties being thrown overheard in the
Atlantic by captains leaving ports in
this country.
The map prepared by the hydro
graphic Office shows that with one or
two exceptions all bottles cast adrift
in the Atlantic between Florida and
Halifax, within n few hundred miles
of the coast, took a northwesterly
course, winding up on the English or
French coast.
The most remarkable drift of these
bottles in recent years occurred last
fall. A messenger, known officially on
the chart of the department as No. &c,
was thrown overheard from the Ham
burg-American liner First Bismarck
on May i, 1898, about $50 miles south
west of Cape Race and recovered, ac-
cording to the letter of t~ransmittal
from the United States consul at Ham
burg on August ], 1898, in the vicinity
of Gluckstadt, on the Elbe. The dis
lance travelled is 2.40O miles, and as the
bottle was at sea n~inery-two days this
gives it a daily average of ~twenty-six
miles. This is far in excess Of any
similar drift hitherto reported to the
photographic office, the nearest APP
proach to it being q daily average of
twenty-one miles, which was attained
by a bottle thrown overheard on De-
cember rs, 1895, about 200 miles from
the point at which No. &c was dropped
into the sea, and recovered on March
rs, 1896, on one of the Shetland isl
-ands. One of the bottles recovered
last year had been a1oat since October
Is, 1893, while another, also recovered
last year, had been drifting since Au-
gust, 1894, having covered 1900 mile
at an average of one mile q day.
In the early history of the investiga-
ton of ocean currents by this system
a bottle was known to remain afloat
for ten years. This is the most re-
markable achievement of this kind on
record.
Occasionally bottles are fished out
of mid-ocean, the discoveries some
times thinking that they may contain
messages from persons in distress. An
examination of the various drifts Of
bottles last year shows that near the
equator the velocity OF the ocean u
rents is much greater than in higher
ATTITUDES.
Instances are on record of q bottle
having moved thousands of miles in
opposition to the direction of the pre-
vailing wind. No cases, however, have
been reported to the photographic Of
flee of bottles proceeding in opposi-
ton to the direction of the current,
so it would seem that the theory that
thefss9snf the currents is stronger
tbs. ST the wind is the right one.
1t e. 40 unusual thing for a bottle
to make a complete circuit of an ocean.
One dropped overheard in the vicinity
of Cape Verde Islands could do this
by crossing the Atlantic, entering the
Gulf of Mexico by the Strait of Yucca
tan, emerging again through the
Strait Of Florida, thence drifting
northward and eastward of the gulf
stream to the neighborhood of the
Azores and then back again to its
starting point in the Cape Verde ISL
ands. The length of time occupied in
a drifting voyage Of this character
could hardly be less than two years,
covering in the round trip about 49,
600 miles.