90 THE OCEAN 



these things has a definite meaning and the 

 mariner or pilot can read and understand them 

 as readily as you can read and understand an 

 ordinary printed page. Upon these ocean 

 charts are plotted the- various courses for sail- 

 ing vessels and steamers from port to port, the 

 tracks of storms and the ocean currents. In 

 addition there are symbols and numbers in- 

 dicating the areas of winds and calms and 

 the direction of prevailing winds; the regions 

 of fogs, storms and rains; the magnetic vari- 

 ation of the compass ; the location oi icebergs 

 and ice-fields; the location and drift of dere- 

 licts ; the location of drifting buoys, logs, spars 

 and other objects; the weather and storm sig- 

 nals of the various countries bordering the seas 

 covered by the charts, as well as much other 

 information of value to sailors. 



On these charts, as well as on those charts 

 which show the principal sailing routes from 

 one port to another, the land and the various 

 harbours are on a very small scale and by 

 these charts alone sailors could never find their 

 way into the various ports. In order to do this 

 they must have coastwise and harbour charts, 



