22 : The Atlantic 



draw together, it is rather lost in the southern portion, for South 

 Africa and the tip of South America trend away from each other, and 

 the base of the S is lost in the broad Antarctic waters. 



The upper or northeastern point of the S lies between Greenland, 

 Iceland and the British Isles. Then the whole Atlantic swings boldly 

 westward to match the westward bulge of the Iberian peninsula and Af- 

 rica and the westward retreat of the North American shore forming a 

 broad gulf between Nova Scotia and the West Indies. Then the curve 

 to the east to round the eastward projecting coast of South America. 

 The narrow constriction of the S at its middle point comes between 

 Cape Verde, the most western point of Africa, and Cape Sao Roque, 

 the most eastern point of South America. Beyond this on the eastern 

 shore, the eastern curve of the African coast into the Gulf of Guinea 

 seems to preserve the shape of the S and on the west the falling away 

 to the west of the east coast of South America below Sao Roque also 

 suggests this form. As we have already noted the southern portion 

 of the Atlantic S degenerates and the base is missing. 



However imperfect the S, it helps us to understand and remember 

 facts about the Atlantic that otherwise would seem puzzling. For 

 example, that the east coast of North America is nearly in north-and- 

 south line with the West coast of South America and lies between 

 1,000 and 3,000 miles to the west of the easternmost point of South 

 America. The 8oth meridian west longitude just grazes the east coast 

 of Florida and passes over the extreme western tip of South America. 

 Practically all of South America lies East of this meridian. Cape 

 Sao Roque lies at 35° west longitude and in the North Atlantic is just 

 halfway across the Atlantic between London which is 0° and Cape 

 Cod which is 70° west. The longest east-to-west line that can be 

 drawn in the main body of the North Atlantic is approximately that 

 from Mogador or Agadir in Morocco to Jacksonville or St. Augustine 

 in Florida, a distance of about 5,000 miles. In contrast the shortest 

 crossing, say between Freetown in Africa and Natal (near Cape Sao 

 Roque), is only 1,800 miles. 



We cannot leave this topic of the general form of the main Atlantic 

 without at least a brief mention of a very fascinating theory. This is 

 the theory of continental drift advanced earlier in this century by a 

 geologist named Alfred Wegener.* Schoolboys have often observed that 

 if the east coast of North and South America were moved east and 



* Wegener, Alfred, The Origin of Continents and Oceans, Tr. J. G. A. Sperl from 3rd 

 German edition, E. P. Dutton (1924), N. Y. 



