INFLUENCE OF THE GULF STREAM UPON CLIMATES. 57 



the white hne in the middle shows the axis of the gale, or the line 

 of minimum barometric pressure. There are many other instances 

 of similar gales. 



Now what should attract these terrific storms to the Gulf 

 Stream ? Sailors dread storms in the Gulf Stream more than they 

 do in any other part of the ocean. It is not the fury of the storm 

 alone that they dread, but it is the " ugly sea" which these storms 

 raise. The current of the stream running in one direction, and 

 the wind blowing in another, creates a sea that is often frightful. 



In the month of December, 1853, the fine new steam-ship San 

 Francisco sailed from New York with a regiment of United States 

 troops on board, bound around Cape Horn for California. She was 

 overtaken, while crossing the Gulf Stream, by a gale of wind, in 

 which she w^as terribly crippled. Her decks were swept, and by 

 one single blow of those terrible seas that the storms there raise, 

 one hundred and seventy-nine souls, officers and soldiers, were 

 washed overboard and drowned. 



The day after this disaster she was seen by one vessel, and 

 again the next day, December 26th, by another, but neither of 

 them could render her any assistance. 



When they arrived in the United States and reported what they 

 had seen, the most painful apprehensions w^ere entertained by 

 friends for the safety of those on board. Vessels were sent out 

 to search for and relieve her. But which way should these ves- 

 sels go ? where should they look ? 



An appeal was made to know what light the system of re- 

 searches carried on at the National Observatory concerning winds 

 and currents could throw upon the subject. 



73. The materials that had been discussed were examined, and 

 a chart was prepared to show the course of the Gulf Stream at 

 that season of the year. (See the limits of the Gulf Stream for 

 March, Plate V.) Upon the supposition that the steamer had been 

 completely disabled, the lines a h were drawn to define the limits 

 of her drift. Between these two lines, it w'as said, the steamer, if 

 she could neither steam nor sail after the gale, had drifted. 



By request, I prepared instructions for two revenue cutters that 

 were sent to search for her. One of them, being at New London, 

 was told to go along the dotted track leading to c, expecting 

 thereby to keep inside of the line along which the steamer had 



