268: SABLE ISLAND—MACDONALD, 
miscaleulate their position with reference to this Island, to which 
fact is attributable many of the wrecks. 
Capt. Darby, a former Superintendent of the Island, in a. 
letter to Blunt’s coast pilot, with regard to the strength of this. 
polar current, says: 
“The most of the wrecks occurring here arise from error in 
longitude. JI have known vessels from Europe that had not, 
made an error of half a degree in their longitude until they came. 
to the banks of Newfoundland, and from there in moderate 
weather and light winds have made errors from 60 to 100: 
miles.” 
It is difficult to understand how that the commanders of 
vessels making voyages to and from this country for so many 
years, should be apparently so ignorant of the strength of these. 
currents, unless as it would seem they have periods. of compara- 
tive quiescence and activity. 
Then again we have a third current, a portion of the polar 
current, which, becoming detached at the southern end of Labra-. 
dor and sweeping through the Strait of Belle Isle, is jomed by 
the vast flow of the St. Lawrence, and forms what is known as. 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence current. This combined current skirts 
the east side of Cape Breton, passes south and _ strikes obliquely 
in the vicinity of Sable {sland, that portion of the polar current 
which is deflected westward by contact with the Banks of New- 
foundland. 
We will refer to this oblique current again.— 
From ocean currents we will consider another of nature’s great, 
forces shown in the transporting power of ice. 
This great polar current skirting the coast of Greenland and 
Labrador is constantly bringing its. great ice rafts. laden with 
rock, sand and gravel from the north to the margin of the Great 
Bank, where meeting the warm waters of the Gulf Stream they 
deposit their burdens, the finer portion of which being carried 
forward by the current is distributed along the line of the. 
impinging stream. 
To learn something of this transporting power we will refer 
to the evidence of those Arctic navigators who have minutely: 
chronicled their observations. 
