OCEAN CUURKXTS 175 



described by Smyth, who worked there from iSio to 1X24. 

 The main stream runs in from the Atlantic through the Straits 

 of Gibraltar, and then in an easterly direction along the north 

 coast of Algeria, round the corner at Tunis, an.d so south, past 

 Sicily and Malta, to the Gulf of Sidra. Thence it flows alon^ 

 the Tripoli coast until it attains the harbour of Port Said. 

 After this its direction is northerly -along the Levant, and so 

 along the south coast of Asia Minor, its direction now bein^ 

 westerly. It now runs past Crete on both sides, then north- 

 west into the Ionian Sea. In the Adriatic the current has a 

 circular counter-clockwise direction, up (northerly) along the 

 Dalmatian coast, down (southerly) along the Italian coast. 



The main current runs north-west in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 

 west through the Gulf of Genoa, finally completing the circle 

 by a south-westerly run along the Spanish coast. 



Although Smyth's description of the counter-clockwise 

 current is, in the main, correct, there are sundry points of 

 detail which do not quite fit in with the general scheme. The 

 currents in the Mediterranean are to a large extent pure drift 

 currents i.e., dependent on the wind and so vary from place 

 to place. Nearly a century after Smyth's observations, the 

 Danish investigation steamer Thor traced this current, which 

 contained Atlantic plankton, along the north coast of Africa, 

 in the general direction indicated by Smyth, as far as the Nile 

 Delta. 



The counter-clockwise current in the Adriatic has already 

 been mentioned. The northerly current is noticeable off the 

 Ionian Islands ; off Corfu a branch is given off towards Cape 

 San Maria di Leuca, but the main stream runs up past Cape 

 Glossa. Along the whole coast of Albania and Dalmatia the 

 general tendency is to the north-west. The current is deflected 

 by the Istrian peninsula, and then runs along the east coast of 

 Italy to the Straits of Otranto, where it unites with the currents 

 running westerly from Corfu and Fano. 



In the JEgean Sea the prevailing wind in summer is a 

 strong northerly one (the Meltemia), and this produces on the 



