REMARKS ON .CURRENTS. 207 



the Hebrides, or Orkneys, as well as on the different 

 shores of the continent of Europe * ; and various 

 articles belonging to vessels wrecked in Davis' 

 Straits, or thrown overboard from vessels on the 

 passage thither, have, by the same influence, been 

 conducted to the shores of Britain and the adjacent 

 islands. Thus, a bottle thrown overboard off Cape 

 Farewell, on the 24th of May 1818, from the Alex- 

 ander, (one of the ships lately employed under 

 Captain Ross in search of a north-west passage,) 

 was picked up on the island of Bartragh in the 

 Bay of Killala, on the 17th of March 1819, ha- 

 ving floated across the Atlantic at the rate of about 

 four miles a-day f. 



But as some very light substances might be drift- 

 ed across the Atlantic by the prevailing westerly 

 winds, instead of being conducted by the current, it 

 may be of moment to mention, that among the dif- 

 ferent articles known to have drifted from Davis' 

 Straits into the neighbourhood of Britain, were 

 some casks and shakes f , which, from the marks 

 upon them, were found to have belonged to the 

 Royalist and London, two Hull whalers, that were 

 wrecked between the latitudes of 61° and 62 '^j and 



• Quarterly Review, No. 36. p. 441. — (Note, J 



t Idem, No. 41. p. 255. 



J For convenience in stoAvage, empty casks are sometimes 

 taken to pieces, and the staves closely packed up in a cylin- 

 drical form, constituting what are called shakes or packs. 



