SWIRLS OF THE SEA 



37 



river in the sea that sometimes flows at the rate 

 of two or three miles an hour and flows for 

 several thousand miles before disintegrating. 

 The violet-blue Gulf Stream of the Atlantic 

 is a typical example. It starts in the central 

 Atlantic somewhere off the coast of Brazil, 

 passes northwest into the Gulf of Mexico, 

 thence up the North American coast and across 

 toM'ard Europe. In the Florida Pass it is fifty 

 miles wide and very swift ; at Hatteras it broad- 

 ens and slackens; on the Banks it spreads out 

 fan-like, is met by the cold Arctic currents and 

 pushed eastward toward Great Britain and 

 France.* A disintegrated remnant of it is 

 drawn in upon and down the coast of Spain, 

 back to its original starting point, thus making 

 that great pool in the Atlantic called the " Sar- 

 gasso Sea." It was this enormous slow-moving 

 eddy — the great Gulf Swirl — that so fright- 

 ened the companions of Columbus by its drifts 

 of weed gathered and held in the central por- 

 tion of the pool. Long after the passing of 



* There are those who deny that the Gulf Stream 

 passes as far north as England or that it reaches Europe 

 at all. It undoubtedly dissipates to a great extent at or 

 near the Banks of Newfoundland, but that its warmth 

 and waters reach and influence Great Britain and be- 

 yond is still believable. 



Ocean 

 current a. 



The Gulj 

 Stream. 



