138 A TEXTBOOK OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



Taylor. This vessel was run down by the German steamer 

 Trave on June 22, 1892, in 40 19' N. Lat. and 68 33' W, 

 Long., and cut into two parts. The two parts drifted in an 

 entirely different direction, and at first sight it seems inex- 

 plicable why they should have behaved in this extraordinary 

 fashion. The stern drifted to the north and stranded on 

 August 7 on the United States coast near Cape Porpoise ; 

 the bow went to the south-west and sank on August 28 off the 

 entrance to Delaware Bay. The cause of this difference in 

 the drift is undoubtedly to be attributed to the influence of the 

 wind . The bow was deep in the water and not much influenced 

 by the wind; the stern, on the contrary, was high out of the 

 water, and consequently moved under wind pressure. Except 

 for two occasions (June 27 to 30 and July 27 to 29), when there 

 was a gale from the south-west, the bow drifted solely under 

 the influence of the cold Labrador Current. The influence of 

 this current is also noticeable in the case of the stern, which, in 

 spite of the prevailing south-west wind, drifted, not to the 

 north-east, but more to the north. 



A case of different drift of drift-bottles set free at the same 

 time has also been noted. Ten drift-bottles were set free north 

 of St. Paul's Island (i 44' N. Lat., 27 16' W. Long.), of 

 which two were subsequently found one after 377 days, on 

 the east coast of Nicaragua (Central America) ; the other 196 

 days after, not far from Sierra Leone, on the African coast. 

 The difference in the drift here is not attributable to the 

 influence of wind, but to the fact that the bottles were set free 

 close to the junction of the west-going Equatorial Current and 

 the east-going Guinea Stream. Drifting wrecks or derelict 

 vessels are easily recognisable, and since they are a danger to 

 navigation their presence is usually recorded in the ship's log- 

 book, together with the locality and date of observation. They 

 are then reported to the Admiralty or Hydrographic Office of 

 the reporting vessel, and, in the case of the North Atlantic, 

 arrangements had been made, prior to the outbreak of war in 

 1914, for their destruction. 



