NORTH SEA 



NORTHUMBERLAND 



containing stones and fragment* of rocks and 

 minerals derived from the land, along with cal- 

 careous fragments of shells and other organisms. 



The salinity of the water of the North Sea 

 varies between 1-023 and 1-027, the lightest at.-i 

 occurring in the southern part and in the Skager- 

 rack, where fresh water comes from the Baltic, and 

 the densest water at the bottom in the deep water 

 off Norway. The mean temperature of the air 

 over the North Sea in summer is ationt 00 F., and 

 in winter alMiut 345', the range throughout the year 

 being alxntt 34" from .'il to (>5 J F. Except in the 

 siiiunii-r months, the temperature of the surface 

 water is higher than that of the air, the mean 

 1 temperature of the surface water in Rummer l>eiiig 

 about 58, and in winter about 42 F. The winds are 

 variable over the North Sea, the most prevalent 

 being from the south-west, and the currents are 

 chiefly dependent on the direction of the wind ; 

 fogs, mists, and rain occur at all seasons. 

 The great tidal wave of the Atlantic advancing 

 from the west is divided into two portions on 

 striking the British Islands : the one entering 

 the North Sea round the Orkneys and through 

 the 1'entlfuul Firth, the other coming up the 

 English Channel. Captain Tizard, K.N., who has 

 made a special study of the tides in the North Sea, 

 says: 'The former undulation seems to run along 

 the east coast of Britain like a wave along a break- 

 water, and makes it successively high-water along 

 the coast from 1 hincansbay Head to Orfordness ; 

 the latter undulation runs along the coast* of 

 France, Belgium, Germany, &c., and finally ends 

 at the Scaw. As the distance from the coast 

 increases, the rise and fall seems to diminish until 

 it is prolmble that in the centre of the sea there is 

 verv little if any. Captain Hewitt found one spot 

 midway between the Iliiti-li and Dutch coasts 

 whore there was no rise and fall. The tidal streams 

 do not dejtend on the times of high and low water 

 at the diflercnt |M>rts, but seem to l>e more dependent 

 on the position where the maximum rise and fall 

 takes place, running towards that spot when the 

 tide is rising there and away from it when falling 

 there ; I have not worked it all out yet, but cer- 

 tainly on the east coast from St Abb's Head to the 

 W*M the stream is always running to the south- 

 ward when the tide is rising in the Wash and to 

 the northward when falling there. From Cramer to 

 the Downs the tide is affected greatly by the un- 

 dulation from the Channel, and the two undulations 

 seem to pass through each other ; but there is a 

 very curious fact in connection with the two tides 

 v'i/. all the light-vessels in the North Sea affected 

 by the Channel tide rotate with the hands of a 

 clock, and all affected by the tide round the Orkneys 

 rotate against the hainis of a clock.' 



The North Sea has Keen from the earliest times 

 one of the most important highways of the world, 

 and is surrounded by some of the most prosperous 

 commercial nations, famous for their maritime ex- 

 ploits. The fisheries of the North Sea are among 

 the most important in the world, providing em- 

 ployment for thousands of fishermen from the sur- 

 rounding countries ; all the varieties of food-fishes 

 aliound, as well as edible molluscs and crustaceans, 

 such as oysters, mussels, lobsters, crabs, and 

 shrimps. The value of these fisheries depends to 

 a great extent upon the abundance of the fauna 

 and Horn living on the sea-floor, all the various 

 groups of invertebrates bring met with in great 

 profusion in the North Sea, while the surface 

 waters swarm with algn% Mich as diatoms, &c., 

 which sometimes form extensive floating Iwinks. 



See North Sea Pilot and Admiralty publications : Kino 

 xf*dition zur fhyiirnhuh-rhemiflifn und l.inloiiitrhtn 

 Untrrntckung dtr Xurtlut im Sommer lift (Berlin, 

 LOTS), 



Northumberland, the most northern county 

 of Kngland, separated from the lowlands of Scot- 

 land by the Tweed, and from the county of Durham 

 by the Tyne and Dei went. The (icrman Ocean 

 Inmnds it on the E., and the county of Ciiml.ei- 

 land, with a part of Hoxburghshire". on the \V. 

 Among the English counties it ranks fifth in 

 to size, having an area of 1,290.312 acres. Its 

 greatest length is 70 miles and its greatest breadth 

 47 miles. The surface of the county, except near 

 the coast, is picturesquely broken into rounded and 

 conical -shaped hills ami high moot land ridges. Tlia 

 main valleys are fertile and well wooded. The 

 principal heights belong to the Cheviot Hills (q.v.), 

 and are seated in the north-west part of the comity. 

 These are Cheviot (2676 feet), Hedgehope (2348 

 feet), Cushat Law (2020 feet), Bloody Bush Kdu'o 

 (2001 feet), and Windy Gyle (19(53 feet). The 

 Simonside Hills near Kothhury attain a height of 

 1447 feet. The chief rivers are the Tyne (formed l>v 

 the confluence of two streams, the North and South 

 Tyne, a little above Hexham), the Wansbeck, the 

 Coquet, the Aln, the Ureami-h. the Till, and the 

 Tweed. In the south-west of the county are some 

 small sheets of water called the Northumbrian 

 Lakes, the largest of which is (Ireenley Lough. 

 Off the const lie a few islands Limlisfarne or Holy 

 Island, the Fame Islands, and Coquet Isle. The 



f-ology of the county is simple in its broad features, 

 he beds as a whole slope to the sea, the direction 

 of the general dip lying between south-east and 

 east; hence the oldest rocks the Silurian appear 

 in the north-west, near the bead of the Rede ami 

 Coquet, and the later formations the TriasMc and 

 Permian beds and the coal-measures near the 

 coast. The strata have lieen dislocated and broken 

 by volcanic disturbances, during which were in- 

 truded the igneous rocks. The Cheviots, which 

 cover an area of 200 sq. m., owe their origin to the 

 earlier of these upheavals. They consist chiefly of 

 andesites and porphy rites. The "Whin Sill, a great 

 sheet of basalt stretching across (he county from 

 l\\loenear Berwick to (jreenhead in Cumlierland 

 in" a series of columnar crags, was injected among 

 the sedimentary nx-ks during the later eruptions 

 which took place, it is supposed, at the close of the 

 Carboniferous period. A number of basaltic dykes 

 also cross the county. The coal measures occupy 

 the south-east part of the county, and the lead- 

 measures (belonging to the Ipper Limestone series 

 or Yoredale rocks) the south-west. 



The climate is cold, especially from March to the 

 middle of June, when the prevailing winds are from 

 the east and north-east. The winters, however, 

 are often much milder than they are in the south. 

 The average rainfall, too, except in the Cheviot 

 district, is considerably less than in the counties of 

 Devon, Dorset, Hampshire, and Sussex. North- 

 umberland contains 541 civil parishes, and, ccclc-i- 

 astically, is in the province of York. For the 

 purposes of civil government the county is divided 

 into nine wards (answering to hnndieds or wapen- 

 takes), three of which formed part of Durham till 

 1844. It comprises four parliamentary divisions- 

 the Tyneside, \Vaiislieck, Hexham, and Berwick- 

 u|mn-Tweed, returning four niemliers. The princi- 

 pal towns are Alnwick, Morpeth, Hexham, and 

 North Shields. NewcRHtle-upon-Tyne (q.v.) is a 

 city and county of itself. A large portion of the 

 county is agricultural, especially the fertile tiacts 

 along the principal valleys and near the coast. The 

 usual rotation of crops is oats, tin nips, and a small 

 quantity of potatoes, spring wheat and liarley, 

 clover and other grasses, and then pasture. Turnips 

 grow well, the cultivation of them on raised ridges 

 bring peculiar to the county, and known as the 

 Northumbrian system. The western portion of the 

 county U pastoral, the slopes of the Cheviots 



