THE GULF STREAM. 205 
in the course of the current to the Yucatan Passage. The average 
- bottom temperature at 400 fathoms was 45°, and, as off Charleston,* in 
— 300 fathoms, 55°. The temperature at 300 fathoms, off the George’s 
Bank, was found in July to be 40°; and this last was the temperature 
that we found at the same depth just north of Hatteras and the Gulf 
Streain. 
“] have stated that the surface temperatures did not show a cold 
wall inside the stream; but the bottom temperatures give a narrow 
cold section close to the 100-fathom curve all along the course of the 
stream from Hatteras to Florida. Soon after leaving the Straits of 
Florida there is a division of the stream shown by the bottom temper- 
atures, part following the coast and the remainder branching off to the 
eastward. - - - 
“We found that 3 knots wasa general average to aliow for the whole 
stream. This would give a greater velocity at some central point. Be- 
tween the Bahamas and Florida the average was exactly 3 miles per 
hour; but for a distance of 15 miles in the axis of the stream it was as 
high as 5.4 miles per hour. To the northward of the Bahama banks, 
and to the eastward of the stream, there was a slight current setting 
southeast. _We found the direction of the current in the stream very 
much affected by the wind, sometimes inclining it to the east, then to 
the west.t 
“In the latter part of June, 1881, we were hove to, some 50 miles east 
of the Gulf Stream, off Charleston, where we experienced a current of 3 
miles per hour, setting southeast; wind blowing a gale from southwest.t 
“The sudden rise of the plateau off Charleston, together, probably, 
with the meeting of the arctic and warm currents, creates a remarkable 
disturbance at this point. - - - 
*About 80 miles from Charleston a Jine was run parallel to the coast, along the 
axis of the Gulf Stream. 
Bottom | 
| — 
- | Surface | 
einer | tempera- | persue | tempera- Nature of bottom.) 
ture. | ture. | 
| Degre es. | Degrees. Degrees. 
957 83 83 50 No specimen 
| 291 83 83.5 45 Fine sand. 
| 274 | 83.5 8355 44.5 | Coarse sand. 
288 87.5 83.5 45 No specimen. 
265 S4 83.5 45 Coarse sand. 
t Inshore of the Gulf Stream, though a southerly current was distinetly traced in- 
side the 100-fathom line, yet the temperature of the water towards the shore was 
but little cooler than that of the stream itself; the same is found to be the case if 
we examine the temperature sections of the eastern edge of the Gulf Stream. The 
stream itself seems to be mainly characterized by its velocity and by its color. 
$On the southern side of the Gulf Stream Commander Bartlett observed immense 
quantities of gulf-weed; this is also blown into Narragansett Bay in considerable 
quantities, covered with clusters of floating barnacles, 
