EENNELL'S CUEEENT. 309 



vessels crossing the Bay, on their course to the Southward, trusting 

 bHndly to the course set to clear all danger, even at night, while the 

 insidious force of the Easterly Current has set them many miles to the 

 Eastward of their supposed position. Disasters have occurred here, both 

 by day and night, to all kinds of vessels, from the small coaster, with its 

 imperfect appliances, to the British man-of-war with every aid to naviga- 

 tion at its disposal, and this within the last few years. 



Some have considered that these losses might be due to local attraction 

 of the compass, but numerous observations by officers of the French navy 

 and others have established the fact that no such irregularity in the devia- 

 tion exists hereabout. 



Captain C. MacMahon, of the Clan Line steamer Clan MacArthur, in 

 the Standard of March 13th, 1893, remarks : — " The interest which has 

 been aroused by the late wrecks about Cape Finisterre and on the coast 

 of Portugal is, by pubHc inquiry, demanding the cause of these disasters. 



"There can be no doubt that the primary cause is bad weather and 

 overcast sky, when crossing the Bay, preventing commanders of vessels 

 getting sun or stars to fix their position or correct their compasses by. 

 The secondary cause is the difference of opinion among nautical men about 

 the amount of indraught into the Bay caused by the Easterly Atlantic 

 current and increased' by Westerly winds and gales. To this is added the 

 leeway a vessel makes. To get an approximate value of the combined in- 

 draught and leeway is of the utmost importance. A most favourable 

 instance occurred with this vessel on her present voyage for testing the 

 indraught and leeway at its maximum point. 



" We left Liverpool on the 16th ult. Until 6 a.m. on the 19th we had 

 strong Southerly and South-Westerly gales, with high seas, Westerly 

 swells, and overcast weather. The wind shifted to N.N.W. on the 19th, 

 so that we got a good position by observation at noon, lat. 44° 24' N., 

 long. 9° 49' W. From this position, a straight line due South true passes 

 23 miles West of Cape Finisterre (90 miles South) and 12 miles West of 

 the Burlings. It was blowing a fresh gale at the time, with a high sea and 

 Westerly swell. 



"At 9.32 p.m. on the 19th, Cape Finisterre bore S. 83° E. true, distant 

 12 miles. I had allowed 8°, or three-quarters of a point, for leeway and 

 indraught to make a true South course. In other words, since noon, in a 

 90 miles run, with an allowance of three-quarters of a point for all causes, 

 I was set towards the land 11 miles, passing Finisterre 12 miles West 

 instead of 23 miles. This, I think, was a fair test of the maximum in- 

 draught and leeway about Finisterre." 



EXPERIMENTS ON EENNELL'S CUEEENT. 



(260.) Inset into the Bay of Biscay.— ^. Bottle fi'om tlie Lady Louisa, bound to 

 St. Michael's, in lat. 45°, long. 13^ 45', February 2nd, 1830, wag found on the coaat 

 of Lit, in the province of Bayonne, October 14th, in the same year. 



Channel Sounclitiys into the Bay. — A Bottle from the brig IIoj)e, irom HavannaJa, 

 March 31st, 1838, in lat. 50" 10', long. 9^ 43' ; wind strony from the Eastward for 

 three days ; was found on June 1st, 1838, on the coast of Rochefort, having pro- 



