Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1912-01-12
OCEAN CURRENTS.
Bottle Voyages an Aid to Study
of Direction and Movement.
KNOWLEDGE IMPERFECT YET.
Various Causes Contribute to Making
Destination of Corked Messages Un-
certain-Two Hundred Such Papers
Found Annually.


certain-Two Hundred Such Papers
Found Annually
The officer of n vessel who while at
sea steps to the rail and hurls well
corked bottle overheard in which there
is slip of paper is not bent on a ro-
mantic venture. Instead of request
for letter of acknowledgment and
possibly an acquaintance from the sea-
side maiden who might find it, perhaps
year later, that slip of paper contains
the names of the vessel and its master.
the date and the latitude and longi-
tude at which the bottle began its voy-
age. Below this there are blank spaces
for the name of the finder, the date,
locality and the postoffice address.
z At the bottom of the slip, printed in
eight different languages, are these
instructions: THE finder of this Will
please send it to any United States
consul or forward i: direct to the hy-
geographic office Washington d. c."
The whole operation represents a
little step in great task upon which
work has uninterruptedly gone for
ward for many years. 1t is one means
of determining the direction and
movement of the great as well as the
smaller. currents of the ocean, and 1t
Will perhaps be due to the continual
varying Of the latter currents that
this task may never be ended
There has been Il knowledge of the
existence of ocean currents since ships
began TO traXerse the oceans, but until
the early - seventies 1t was limited.
Mariners knew that on the west coast
OF Europe, there was force which
tended to carry them southward and
that on the east coast of North Ameri-
ca similar force which carried them
northward, but they knew neither the
true set nor direction.
1t was the object to determine the di-
rection and rate OF flow in originating
this system of bottle voyages, says the
Washington Star.
In 1896 the voyage of the United
States ship Challenger showed that
there are two kinds of ocean currents,
permanent and semipermanent By
the use of specially constructed ap-
3
permanent currents possessed drift
or movement far below the surface.
while the temporary currents affected
the surface waters only. This is shown
decidedly in the movement of the bot
ties. The bottles following Il regular
stream or permanent current will
move nearly twice as fast as those
traversing Il semipermanent current.
There are twenty-seven permanent
currents in the oceans of the world,
and there are nearly as many more of
the semipermanent variety existing at
one time. Several causes tend to orig
mate and maintain these drifts. Uni
formly. directed winds have the great
est influence, and differences of tenn
peratures, storms, polar ice and eddies
each have some effect, creating usual
ly the currents of semipermanent va
riety.
When bottle is thrown overheard
in midocean it is not always possible,
therefore, to forecast its landing place
unless it be launched in the midst of
the great currents, such as the gulf
stream. A Semipermanent current
formed on the edge of the main cur
rent by either of the above causes may
grip it and whir it off to some distant
part of the ocean. where it may drift
into another and entirely different part
of the ocean. About 2GO bottle papers
annually reach the hydrogra phc office
III Washington. On Il liberal estimate
this means that about 10 per cent OF
those thrown overheard are recovered
There are three causes which tend
to produce an element of uncertainty
in the tale told by these bottles of the
rate of flow of any ocean current
drifting into 4 temporary current pro-
duced by stormy winds, being carried
around an eddy and the length Of
time they may lie on an unfrequented
shore before being picked up. The
great number of bottles thrown over
board, however, almost entirely elimi-
mates these defects, since the average
rate of drift of the majority is nearly
the same.
The greatest drift of any bottle vet
reported to the photographic office was
that of one thrown overheard from the
steamship Fuerst Bismarck on May |,
1898. According to the letter of trans
initial from the United States consul at
Hamburg. 1t was recovered at Gluck-
stadt. on the Elbe. Aug /, 1898. Hav-
ing been thrown overheard opposite
Cape Race. on the Newfoundland
coast. the distance covered was 2.4O0
miles, giving 26.1 miles as the lowest
possible estimate Of the average drift
per day. or little over one knot per
hour. 1t is supposed that preponder-
ance Of westerly gales helped the bot
tie along.
Jewel Weighs 243 Pounds.
Jewel exDerts throurhout the world