The Washington times., 1903-10-28
STEEL CHANNEL BUOY
CROSSES THE ATLANTIC
Has Drifted From Some
Port on American Coast.
SEEN OFF IRISH COAST
Steamer Which Reported It to BaIti-
more Has Seen 1t Three
Times.

BALTIMORE. Md. Oct pa large
steel can buoy of the type used TO mark
steamship channels on the United
States coast that has drifted 5000 miles
across the Atlantic to near England
was sighted October by the Johnston
line steamer Quernmore. which arrived
in pot last week from Liverpool
Since the buoy broke adrift from it's
mornings on the Atlantic coast il must
have consumed a year in crossing the
ocear. and. strange To relate this same
buoy has been seen three times. always
a little farther to the eastward by the
officers Of the Quernmore. The buoy
was formerly marked B60. but the letter
and numbers have been washed of by
the seas
May Follow Gulf Stream.
When the buoy got rar enough out to
sea to be picked up by the Gulf Stream
q journey TO Great Britain was inevita-
bic. as il was unable to get out OF the
river Of the Atlantic Ocean. The proba-
bilities are that it will fellow the Gulf
Stream down past. Spain and East
Africa over to the West Indian Islands
and the Gulf OF Mexico.
Its exact position when seen from the
Quernmore was in 81 degrees % minutes
north and 16 degrees 90 minutes west,
about 400 miles off the coast of Ireland.
The Navy Department keeps a record
Of all objects seen adrift at sea, and
only twice in five years has a voyage
been recorded that compares with that
OF the buoy seen from the QuernmOre.
One was the Cape Canso buoy. This
broke adrift from it's station or Nova
Scotia and drifted nearly into the Eng
lish Channel The buoy was a little
more than a year in making the trip.
Shippers OF vessels were often puzzled
70 hear the bell far out at sea. The
buoy was sighted thirteen times. and
was last seen 600 miles off England. IL
averaged drift of ten miles a day.
A tree green with foliage and stand
ilg upright. was seen adrift at sea, OF
the mouth Of the Chesapeake Bay, lit
tie more than a year ago.
Bleached by Sun.
Later the steamer Sidra came into
port and reported the trunk and limb
OF a tree adrift on the other side OF the
Atlantic The body OF the tree had been
bleached by the sun and was covered
with barnacles. 1t evidently reached the
sea by being washed down from some
Atlantic Coast river I'm freshet.
EOL lHt UNt ~ reach It's pV1illDli
across the ocean it must have been
drifting about the ocean for nearly two
years When this odd derelict went
adrifts it was picked I'D by the Gulf
Stream and carried uD the coast past
Newfoundland. Then fl WAS swept three
thousand miles across the Atlantic 70
the vicinity OF the English Channel
Next the Gulf Stream carried it south
past the coast Of France and Spain and
the northwest coast Of Africa. journey
OF 5000 miles Here il drifted out of the
Gulf Stream and went into the center OF
the so-called Saragossa Sea. in the mid
die Atlantic Ocean.
1t followed the track Of the famous
derelict Fannie f. Wolston. which was
adrifs nearly four years and wandered
9.i15 miles She was LOO days CROSSING
and recrossing her tracks and travelling
around in circles. She was sighted
forty-four times and crossed her own
track twelve times.