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SECTION IL 



GENEEAL OBSEEVATIONS ON THE WINDS, TIDES, AND 



CUEEENTS; AND ON THE DIFFEEENT PASSAGES 



OVEE THE NOETH ATLANTIC OCEAN. 



-:o: 



1.-GENERAL REMARKS ON THE WINDS. 



(1.) This book is intended as an introduction to the series which describes 

 the six great Oceans, and of which it forms the first volume ; it therefore 

 includes some topics which are common to them all, though only inciden- 

 tally touched upon in the other volumes. In the preliminary chapters, 

 some general remarks on Ocean Meteorology are given at greater length 

 than some might consider necessary in a work like this ; but as the greater 

 number of sailors commence their labours in the North Atlantic Ocean, 

 they are given here for the benefit of those who take more than a passing 

 interest in subjects which so much affect the courses of their daily life. 



This science of Ocean Meteorology, whether as regards the phenomena 

 of the atmosphere or of the sea, has been greatly elevated in importance 

 of recent years, especially since the time when the Conference at Brussels, 

 in 1853, led to the establishment of the Meteorological Department, and 

 to the co-operation of numerous allied institutions. But, once for all, it 

 must be to Captain Maury that we should attribute the merit of initiating 

 the topic in its modern phase. 



Since the development of the telegraphic system, which has enabled 

 observers to rapidly collect and co-ordinate the various meteorological data 

 from distant but connected stations, some remarkable results have been 

 arrived at, which will be more fully entered into in the next section. 



(2.) As the sailor deals not with speculation, but applies the facts of 

 Nature to his use, the mode in which the whole mass of the atmosphere is 

 interchanged and mingled is important to him only as a field of observation 

 which he enjoys with the rest of mankind. The present object being 

 practical utility, the Theories of the Winds will be only briefly alluded to 

 here, leaving the reader to those numerous and voluminous works now 

 extant on these subjects for a more full elucidation of them.-' j 



* These and other subjects are more fully alluded to and described in a • Text-book 

 of Ocean Meteorology," compiled from the Sailing Directories for the Oceans of the World, 

 by A. G. Findlay, F.E.G.S., and edited by Staff-Commander W. E. Martin, R.N. 

 Published by R. H. Laurie. 



The scientific aspects of Ocean Meteorology are well treated of in Part II. of the Annual 

 Report, 1885, of the Chief Signal Officer to the War Department of the United States, 

 entitled "Recent Advances in Meteorology," by William Ferrel, M.A., Ph. D. ; also iu 

 " A Popular Treatise on the Winds," by the same author, 1889. 



N. A. 0. H 



