NAVIGATION 289 



obliged to lay in the dangerous roadsteads usually several miles 

 away from the nearest dry land. 



The approach to the harbour of Churchill, if aided by a few 

 beacons and lights, would be comparatively safe, as the channel 

 of approach is fairly deep and wide. Once inside the points of 

 the mouth, the harbour extends up stream about a mile, and has 

 an average width of half a mile, with a couple of shallow places 

 in the upper part that might easily be removed by dredging; 

 the general depth of the. harbour being from four to four and a 

 half fathoms. 



Some knowledge of the currents is desirable in discussing the 

 navigability of Hudson strait and Hudson bay, for on them 

 depend largely the character and amount of ice met with in 

 these northern waters. Observations on the drift of the ice 

 that covers the Arctic seas point to a general law governing 

 the currents. This law, briefly stated, is, that no matter what 

 the size, shape or direction of one of these northern bodies of 

 water may be, the direction of flow of the current will be such 

 that one facing with it will have the land on the right hand. 

 This may be differently stated by saying that with bodies of 

 water having a general north-and-south trend, the current will 

 flow north on the east side and south on the west, while in east- 

 and-west bodies the direction of flow will be west on the north 

 side and east on the south side. This law has been found to 

 apply to the waters of Hudson strait and Hudson bay as well 

 as to those of the more northern bays and straits visited on the 

 Neptune. The mere statement of this law is made here, as the 

 discussion of the causes producing it, be they due to the earth's 

 motion or wind action, is outside the province of this report. 



The current from the eastward along the northern side of 

 Hudson strait was known to the early navigators of those 

 waters, who took advantage of it when passing through the 

 strait from the Atlantic. The presence of icebergs in the north- 



