368 OBSEEVATIONS ON THE CURRENTS. 



when lying-to in the Archibald, for the night, off Cape Antonio, also found 

 himself, next morning, off Cape Corrientes. 



Captain Monteath stated : — " In the months of May, 1814 and 1815 

 (two voyages in which I was chief mate of the ship Prince Regent from 

 Kingston) ; in June, 1817, in the ship Fame ; and in April and December, 

 1820, in the ship Mary; between Grand Cayman Island and Cape 

 Antonio, I invariably found the current setting strong to the Eastward, or 

 E.S.E. ; and I have heard it generally remarked that vessels shaping a 

 course from the Caymans for Cape Antonio have found themselves off', or 

 even to the Eastward of, Cape Corrientes : this has, in the above cases, 

 invariably happened to myself." 



Captain Dunsterville has said, " I am firmly established in an opinion, 

 from twelve years observation, that not only are the Winds and the 

 Weather on the West India station influenced by the change of the moon, 

 but the Currents also ; and it is frequently found that, if the waters run 

 to the Eastward, it is at the change and full of the moon." 



On this subject Captain Livingston says, "It is a prevailing opinion 

 with many, that the moon governs entirely the Currents among the West 

 India Islands. No doubt the moon has some effect on them, but the 

 Winds have a still more powerful influence. 



" It is rarely, indeed, on the North side of the island of Jamaica that 

 there is a Westerly Current when the North and N.W. winds prevail ; the 

 Current then always, or almost always, sets to the Eastward. 



" On the South side of Cuba, when the wind is Westerly, which it often 

 is, you are always certain of a reflowing current round Cape Antonio. 

 This is easily accounted for ; as when the fresh Trade Wind ceases, and 

 the Westerly wind sets in, the barrier, which confined the waters in the 

 Mexican Sea, is in some degree removed, and they seek to regain their 

 level as well by the Channel of Yucatan as by the Strait of Florida." 



Between the Isle of Pines and the main land of Cuba is a strong North- 

 Easterly indraught, generally running from 1 to 1^ mile an hour, and 

 which has caused the loss of many vessels on St. Felipe Kays and the 

 dangerous bank stretching therefrom to the Westward. 



In the Windward Channel of Jamaica, the Current generally sets with 

 the wind to leeward or S. W^ ; yet both here and at Jamaica it is variable. 

 Some have affirmed that, when a Current runs to leeward on the South 

 side of Jamaica, there is frequently one setting Eastward on the North 

 side ; and, at other times, no current is to be perceived ; also that, when 

 a lee current runs on the North shore, the same circumstances may be 

 perceived on the South shore as were before observed on the North. 



(344.) Current Bottles. — The following records, though old, of the drift 

 of Bottles within the limits of the Caribbean Sea, will prove of interest : — 



Caribbean Sea to Yucatan. — A Bottle from H.M.S. Chanticleer, in lat. 15=" 29', 

 long. 76° 3', to the Southward of Jamaica, at noon February 23rd, 1831, was 

 picked up on April 20th following, upon the Eastern coast of Yucatan, after 

 having traversed a distance of nearly 700 miles, at the rate of 28 miles per day. 



Serranilla to Yucatan. — A Bottle from a boat belonging to H.M. surveying-ship 

 Thunder, at anchor under Serranilla West Kay, March 10th, 1834, was picked up 



