342 CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN. 



about thirteen miles a-day, with the exception 

 of the third instance, which gives eight miles 

 a-day, but still in a southwest direction. It 

 has been shown, in the course of this volume, 

 that Sir Edward Parry's attempt to reach the 

 Pole failed partly from the continued set of 

 the current to the south west ward ; and, in Cap- 

 tain Buchan's voyage, that the utmost exertions 

 of the crews were inadequate to the mainte- 

 nance of their position. This south-westerly 

 current, however, does not appear to reach below 

 the parallel of Cherie Island in the east, nor 

 to extend as far as Cape Farewell in the west, 

 and certainly not beyond it ; for a southeasterly 

 current has been found to prevail there, from 

 the fact of bottles, which were thrown into the 

 sea in those parts, having been picked up on 

 the shores of Great Britain and Teneriffe ; and 

 from the casks of the William Torr whaler, 

 wrecked in Davis' Straits, having been found 

 off the Bay of Biscay, off Rockall, and at in- 

 termediate stations between this island and New- 

 foundland.* Connecting the observations in the 



* The drift of these bottles and casks is taken from a 

 " Bottle-track Chart," a very interesting and curious docu- 

 ment, which has been compiled with great care, after a labo- 

 rious collection of widely scattered facts, by Commander 

 Becher, R.N., and published in the Nautical Magazine for 

 March 1843. 



