The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1906-03-15
VOYAGES OF BOTTLES.


Every day for several years past hun
dreds of bottles have been thrown over
board from vessels of all kinds and ma
tIonaliticS with the object of testing the
direction ana strength of the countless
currents which flow like SO many de
vlous rivers through the seas. Before
each bottle IL dispatched on its unknown
Journey. says Tlt-BitS, the skipper, who
luuS does marine science good service,
places i'll 1t Il note of the exact place
whence it is dispatched. with the date
ana also printed note in half Il dozen
languages. asking the person who may
PICK 1t up to report to the photographic
bureau at Washington the time aud
whereabouts of its recovery. Thus each
message, with Its securely cOrlled con
tents. fares forth on its voyage of ocean
survey, and by its wanderlngs maps the
currents OF the ocean.
or two bottles thrown over in mid
ocean at the same time. one was picked
upon the coast of Dcyohshire. while the
other dritcd &. fur-away Florida. caclt
beng caught hy different current aud
drifting thousands Of miles away from
us Fellow. In curious contrast was tn"
wandering of three bottles thrown over
board from the Dago 500 miles east of
Newfoundland. and all recovered during
the same week within "A short distance ot
- ~
the llebridcs
Another bottle was started ON it's jour
ney from the Nautilus when close to the
canary islands. Traycrsing the great
tropical ocean in the trade wind belt, IT
went COursing along between the islands
Of the Wndward group, across The
Caribbean sea to the coast of Belize, al
most within the Mexican gulf. For 1876
days It thus pursued its solitary way be-
lore II was ruuIp1 and rnEtnpI IuN-
ing covered 400 miles at an average
speed OF nearly ten miles day. Even
thlS remarkable record of travel was
ecllpScd 10y a bottle which was thrown
mp hy the sea at Shetland Il few years
ago. and of which tragic story is told,
On October IL, 1890, the captain oi the
sup buckingham was murdered by
coolie OFF the Shetland coast. Unable To
attract attention from the shore, the
mate proceeded on the voyage to New
ork. where the murderer was given into
custody, and from there to the Bermll-
das, where he wrote an account of the
tragedy and committed il to the sea. by
Il most singular coincidence this bottle,
with It's tragic message, was carried 10y
the sea currents back from the Bermu-
das to shetland, nearly 5000 miles away,
and two and half years later was res
'ued almost on the very spot where the
murder which IL recorded was committed
For nearly three years another bottle
was roaming over the seas before it
came To its rest. On September | II was
pitched overheard from the Bremerha-
ven several hundred miles eust Of New
fouudland; it was carried into the south
cru edge of the Gulf stream, drifted
away beyond the Azores. then, curyiug
70 the southwest of the coast of Africa
it crossed the Atlantic. coming to its
haven on the shore of Il small island in
the West Indies, just north of Hayti. Ii
had yoyneed, rs nearly rs could be eSti-
mated, 1900 miles in 99i days averag-
ling distance of about four ana half
miles in tweuty-four hours
\ bottle thrown overheard from the
steamship Sutherland. ON March IL,
1897, drfted 1000 knots before Ii was
recovered, Isl days later, another record
maker was picked up on March III. 1898
having covered 400 knots roughly. 5lO5
miles in a little over sixteen mputbs.--
New York sun.