THE GULF STREAM A CAUSE OF STORMS. 69 



invigorated and refreshed with the genial warmth 

 about him, he realizes out there at sea the fable of 

 Antaeus and his mother Earth. He rises up and 

 attempts to make his port again, and is again, per- 

 haps, as rudely met and beat back from the north- 

 west ; but each time that he is driven off from the 

 contest, he comes forth from this stream, like the 

 ancient son of Neptune, stronger and stronger, until, 

 after many days, his freshened strength prevails, 

 and he at last triumphs, and enters his haven in 

 safety though in this contest he sometimes falls to 

 rise no more, for it is terrible." 



The power of ocean currents in drifting vessels 

 out of their course, and in sweeping away great 

 bodies of ice, is very great; although, from the fact 

 that there is no ]and to enable the eye to mark the 

 flow, such drifts are not perceptible. One of the 

 most celebrated drifts of modern times, and the 

 most astonishing on account of its extent, was that 

 of the Fox in Baffin's Bay in the year 1857, a some- 

 what detailed account of which will be found in a 

 succeeding chapter. 



The Gulf Stream is the cause of many of the most 

 furious storms. The fiercest gales sweep along with 

 it, and it is supposed that the spring and summer 

 fogs of . Newfoundland are caused by the immense 

 volumes of warm water poured by it into the cold 

 seas of that region. We are told that Sir Philip 

 Brooke found the temperature of the sea on each 

 side of this stream to be at the freezing-point, while 



