Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-07-19
BOTTLES THAT TELL A STORY.
Set Adrift by Mariners, They Give the
Paths of Ocean Currents.

Valuable information regarding
ocean currents is obtained by means Of
bottles-inanimate scientific messen~
gers that drift with the flotsam of the
North Atlantic, sometimes following a
straight line, sometimes zig-zagging
across the green water, at other times
travelling in semi-circle.
Ordinary bottles they are, cooked
and sealed with wax or pitch. Beer,
vinegar, or catsup they may have con-
tanned, for there are no official bottles
like those the prince of MANAGE used
to throw into the sea years ago They
are dropped into the ocean by mari
ners and contain forms furnished by
the United States photographic Office,
which seeks enlightenment on all sub
jects dealing with the science of navi-
cation. These bottles papers, as they
are called, are printed in seven Ian
guages, and have blank spaces for the
name of the vessel from which the bot
tie was cast and the vessel which pick
ed it up, as we'll as dates and the lat
itude and longitude of the starting and
finishing points of the voyage.
If a man finds a bottle on the beach
and follows directions, he mails the
paper to the photographic Office,
whose experts trace the path followed
by the bottle, delineating' this path on
the map which forms a part of the
regular pilot chart given to navigators
who furnish marine data to the office.
star on the map marks the point at
which the bottle was cast adrift, cir
Gle the nninf n nd
Der is attached to indicate the order in
the accompanying chronological list
The drift is shown as following the
shortest possible route, except in the
case of bottles whose path is made to
conform to certain extent to the ac-
cepted knowledge of ocean circulation.
In equatorial and tropical regions,
where trade winds prevail, the drift is
westerly, all bottles finding their way
to the Windwerd islands, the Bahamas
of the shores of the Caribbean or the
Gulf of Mexico.
North of the fcrtieth parallel. or, to
be more explicit. north Of the latitude
of New York. bottles are driven by pre-
vailing westerly winds in an easterly
or east by northeast direction, going
western shores of Great Britain or the
coast Of France. Between the two main
drifts, or between the Florida Peninsu-
Ia and New York, according to expla-
natory notes of the bottle chart, lies a
debatable region, crossed by many sail
ing and steamship routes, and within
which in all probability are cast as
many bottle papers as in other por-
tons of the ocean. The recovery of
such bottles is, however, rare, the rec
ords of the photographic Office fur
nishing but fourteen since 1885,
Confirmation of the circulatory
movement was obtained through the
courses taken by bottle papers Nos. 122
and AS. with drifts of 1920 and $3.50
miles in 4S3 and 1886 days, respectively
at the rate of GA and 6 miles a day. No
12G was cast loose by the German
steamship Paranagua not far from
Cape Finisterre, travelled down the
Portuguese and west African coasts to
about the twentieth parallel, and then
moved across in a half-circle to the
Caribbean, landing on one of the West
Indian islands. No. AS started about
midway between Nova Scotia and
France. The bottle took a circular
course which carried it southeast to
Africa thence westward to point
north of San Domingo.
An interesting record of long drift
is found in the bulletin of the Arctic
Club of America. dated January 30. A
buoy that was driven ashore on No
venlber 8. 1908, at Soeroe, Denmark.
contained notice to the effect that it
had been set adrift on July "a, 1900.
near Cape Bathurst, point of Cana
dian territory that, juts out into the
Arctic Ocean.