THE CAEIBBEAN SEA. 353 



touDd to have been N. 61° W. 108 miles. Surprising current; measured 

 log lines and log glasses which are correct, so there is no doubt that the 

 cuxrent has carried the ship the distance noted. . ■■ . 



7.— THE CUBRENTS OF THE COLOMBIAN OR CARIBBEAN SEA, 

 THE GULF OF MEXICO, ETC. 



(320.) We have previously mentioned (302) that the combined streams 

 of the North and South Equatorial Currents impinge upon the Eastern 

 side of the Caribbee Islands, and some part passing to the Westward 

 through the channels between them causes the Westerly Drift through 

 the Caribbean Sea, which is not so persistent as it is in the Ocean to the 

 Eastward, as will be presently explained. We first give particulars of the 

 currents in the channels between the islands, and then proceed to describe 

 those within. 



(321.) In all the passages of the Windward Islands a Westerly surface 

 inflow prevails to a greater or less extent, but in those on the Northern 

 side of the Caribbean Sea there is no fixed current. In addition to this 

 flow there is a large volume of water entering all the passages from the 

 break of the waves. 



Mr. E. Strachan, in his observations upon the Meteorological Office 

 Current Charts, 1872, states that the Westerly Current, which enters the 

 Caribbean Sea, has a rate of 37 to 46 miles a day North of Trinidad, but 

 the rate decreases in the other passages as the latitude increases, and in 

 lat. 17° N. it is only 12 miles a day. 



In Grenada Passage, between Trinidad and Grenada, according to the 

 Spanish Derrotero de las Antillas, &c., the Current has been found to set 

 nearly West; on the South side half a point Southerly, and on the North 

 side half a point Northerly, its velocity being from 1 to 1^ and 2 miles per 

 hour. Commander Heyerman, U.S.S. Yantic, January 28th, 1888, in pro- 

 ceeding from lat. 11° 59' N., long. 60° 52' W., to Port of Spain, Trinidad, 

 found a current of 2| knots an hour setting W. 1° S. 



Observations taken in February, 1889, by the United States Coast 

 Survey steamer Blake, tended to show, however, that there was no per- 

 manent Westerly current in this passage, but that the surface currents 

 were variable, with an under-current setting out to the Eastward, at a 

 considerable depth. This deep under-current was also found in the passages 

 to the Northward. Between Tobago and Barbados the mean direction of 

 the surface current was North, although the Trades were blowing with a 

 force of 2 to 7 Beaufort Scale. 



Between Grenada and St. Vincent, among the Grenadines, the Currents 

 are devious ; but the general inset appears to be W. by N. 



In St. Lucia Passage, between St. Vincent and St. Lucia, the Current 

 Bets in from the Eastward, but runs more Northerly ; and within, on the 



N. A. 0. 46 



