S;]6 THE PHYSICAL GEOGKAPHY OF THE SEA. 



How passages have ^^oia Euiope 01 the United States to all ports in tlio 

 been shortened. southem hemisphere has been shortened ten days, 

 and to California a month and a half."^ Between England and her 

 golden colony in the South Seas the time required for the round 

 voyage has been lessened fifty days or more, and from Europe to 

 India and China the outward passage has been reduced ten days. 

 Such are some of the achievements that commend this beautiful 

 system of research to the utilitarian spirit of the age. 



626. The route that affords the bravest winds, the fairest sweep, 

 Fast sailing. and the fastest running to be found among ships, 



is the route to and from Australia. But the route which most 

 tries a ship's prowess is the outward-bound voyage to California. 

 The voyage to Australia and back carries the clipper ship along 

 a route which for more than 800° of longitude runs with the 

 " brave west winds" of the southern hemisphere. With these 

 winds alone, and with their bounding seas which follow fast, the 

 modern clipper, without auxiliary power, has accomplished a 

 greater distance in a day than any sea steamer has ever been 

 known to reach. With these fine winds and heaving seas those 

 ships have performed their voyages of circumnavigation in 60 

 days. 



627. The sea voyage to California, Columbia, and Oregon is 

 The longest voyage, the lougcst voyagc iu the world — longest both 

 as to time and distance. Before these researches were extended 

 to the winds and currents along that route, the average passage 

 both from Europe and America to our northwest coast was not 

 less than 180 days. It has been reduced so as to average only 



* ''During the last year [1859] the 8th edition of Maury's Sailing Directions, in 

 two quarto volumes, has been published at the Observatory in Washington. It af- 

 fords abundant evidence of the activity, to which allusion has already been made, in 

 this field of research, and with regard to which all geographers feel the most live- 

 ly interest. 



" Official tables have been received from San Francisco, showing the vessels that 

 have arrived at that port during the year, with the length of passage. Of those ar- 

 riving direct, via Cape Horn, 124 were from the Atlantic ports of the United States, 

 and 34 from Europe. Of these 124, 70 are known to have had the Wind and Cur- 

 rent Charts on board; their aA'erage passage was 135 days, which is 11 days less 

 than the average of those from the United States, and 24 days less than the average 

 of those from Europe without the Charts. When these researches commenced, the 

 general average was 180 days from tho. United States, and 183 from Europe to Cal- 

 ifornia." — Journal American GforrapJdral SocietTf. 



