BETWEEN ENGLAND AND THE CANARY ISLANDS. 321 



another, of only 12 miles; and in a very well kept East India ship's 

 journal, 170 miles in nine days to Madeira, or 19 miles per day. The 

 direction of the stream likewise varies, but is commonly more toward the 

 South than the East, after passing the mouth of the Strait. 



" Near the coasts of Spain and Portugal, commonly called the Wall, 

 the Current is always very much Southerly, owing, perhaps, to the falling 

 in, obliquely on the shore, of the great mass of water brought by the S.E. 

 Current ; which can lun off only toward the South, and round Cape St. 

 Vincent toward the Strait's mouth. Amongst the Canary Islands, and 

 between them and the coast of Barbary, the Currents are less regular. 



" It may be taken for granted that the whole surface of that part of the 

 Atlantic Ocean, from the parallel of 40° to 45° at least, and to 300 to 400 

 miles off shore, is in motion toward the mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar. 



" According to what has been said, in the course of the above remarks, 

 it must be expected that a ship, sailing in the usual track to Madeira or 

 the Canaries, will be carried to the South-Eastivard, at the rate of 16 miles 

 per day ; that is, even if she has a fair wind, she will be carried by the 

 Current 150 or 160 miles to the South-Eastward, in the course of a voyage 

 to Madeira or the Canaries ; and, consequently, on a ^S'.^. by S. course, 

 will be carried 80 or 90 miles to the Eastward of her intended port. If 

 we suppose a S.E. course, the error in easting will be no less than 109 

 miles ; which distance, if they are bound to Tenerife, would carry them to 

 AUegranza or Forteventura ; and, if intending to make Allegranza, would 

 place them on shore on the coast of Barbary. The French and Spaniards 

 report that their ships have often made Allegranza when they supposed 

 themselves on the line toward Tenerife. It must be added that, if a ship 

 had a long passage, the error would be greater in proportion, and might 

 possibly amoimt to 200 miles of easting. 



" It would seem advisable, therefore, that every ship going to the 

 Canaries, or intending to sail between those islands and the mainland of 

 Africa, if without timekeepers, should, to every day's reckoning, add ten 

 miles of easting. This would, in the first instance, prevent them from 

 deceiving themselves as they went forward ; in like manner, as it is better 

 to set a clock forward at once, than to charge one's memory continually 

 with its being too slow. Ten miles does not seem too much as a cautionary 

 measure, as a ship has very lately been carried 99 miles to the East in 

 eight days in that track. What would not have been the error had she 

 had even a moderately long passage?" 



The preceding description of the Currents between the English Channel 

 and the Canary Islands was corroborated, 1826, by Captain E. H. Newby, 

 in the Napoleon schooner, which left Dartmouth on the 21st of July, and 

 was set to the Eastward of her reckoning, while crossing the Bay of Biscay, 

 1° 21' of longitude in 48 hours. On Monday, the 25th of the same month, 

 the entrance of Eibadeo bore S.W. by compass, about 15 miles, and the 

 vessel was then in aboat 6° 55' W. 



The effect of the Easterly Current was proved by the bearings of a re- 

 markable mountain inland, and some whitish cliffs on the shore ; and 

 Captain Newby says, the schooner was setting to the Eastward as fast &s 



N. A. 0. ^ . 42 



