Historical Introduction 3 



June all of a sudden we were in so cold a fog that it seemed like 

 January and the sea was extremely cold too. [Translation.] 



In 1590 John White took a trip from Florida to Virginia. In order to 

 stay within the Gulf Stream, he reported, one had to stand far out to sea, 

 because along the coast there was a countercurrent — ' eddy currents setting 

 to the south and southwest' (Kohl, 1868). This was the first mention of 

 counter currents on the shoreward side of the Gulf Stream. 



The seventeenth century saw the colonization of the Atlantic coast of 

 North America, and the Gulf Stream was of course traversed countless 

 times at various latitudes. A number of studies of ocean currents were 

 pubhshed at this time, works of most varied quaUty. Varenius (in 1671 ; 

 2d ed,, 1681) published a very comprehensive description of the surface 

 currents then known, and Isaac Vossius (1663) postulated a complete 

 circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean, turning in an ocean-wide clock- 

 wise motion. The first chart showing the Gulf Stream was Kircher's, 

 published in 1665 (3d ed., 1678); and the next was a current chart by 

 Happelius, in 1685 (see Kohl, 1868). In addition to showing certain true 

 features, these charts display certain extraordinary phenomena — for 

 example, two distinct surface currents which cross over each other; and 

 a great whirlpool off the Lofoten Islands, the legendary Maelstrom. The 

 reader can find some of these charts reproduced in PUlsbury's (1891) 

 account of his studies. On the whole, these charts were far superior to the 

 theories advanced to explain them. Vossius contended that a great moun- 

 tain of water was formed each day at the equator by the heat of the sun, 

 and that this water mass was carried westward and broke upon the 

 American shore, and then flowed along the coasts in the form of currents. 

 Kircher, it is true, suggested that the trade winds contributed to the ocean 

 circulation, but he also enumerated other, fantastic, causes. Even well- 

 informed men like Kepler had curious ideas about the causes of ocean 

 currents. Kepler beHeved that because the water is only loosely attached 

 to the earth it could not keep up with the diurnal rotation and hence fell 

 behind, the result being the westward drift of the Equatorial Current 

 (Kohl, 1868, p. 87). 



These various theories were, at least, honest attempts to explain physical 

 phenomena by an as yet poorly developed physics. In addition, there were 

 advanced fantastic theories that enjoyed a certain popularity. An example 

 is Merula's statement (Kohl, 1868, p. 63): 



At the North Pole one finds four large islands . . . between which 

 are four deep and broad channels. The water flows together near 

 the Pole, but at the Pole itself is a great Black Rock, 33 leagues 



