THE GULF STKEAM. 373 



observed that the little shining spiracles were confined to the sides of 

 the vessel and her wake, and that the waves, when they broke into foarn 

 did not (as in other parts of the ocean) sparkle. 



" The colour of the water in the Sea of Mexico is of a dark indicro, 

 darker or more intense than that of the ocean generally ; the colour of the 

 sea in the Florida Channel is a fine blue, not so dark as that of the Sea of 

 Mexico, or of the ocean generally." 



8. THE GULF STREAM. 



(354.) The following description of the Gulf Stream is founded on a 

 Paper by the late A, G. Findlay, F.R.G.S.,* with which we have incor- 

 porated much later information from various sources, but chiefly from the 

 Reports of the United States Coast Survey.f There is much that is 

 apparently contradictory in the observations of the various explorers, 

 tending to show, that like most other terrestrial phenomena, this great 

 Ocean Current is subject in its course to various vicissitudes, both in velocity 

 and direction. The whole subject is fraught with many difficulties. 



In the section on Passages to and from the West Indies, hereafter, are 

 some remarks for the use of vessels being navigated within its influence, 

 within and near the Strait of Florida. 



(355.) The Florida or Gulf Stream has received more attention, has 

 been the subject of more speculation, and has served as the basis of more 

 theories than all the other Currents of the Ocean collectively. Although 

 modern research, conducted with all refinement, in contradistinction to 

 the imperfect observation of the passing seaman in former years, has shorn 

 it of much of the grandeur and magnitude with which it was formerly 

 invested, still it is a mighty and majestic Current, well worthy of all the 

 laborious investigation which the philosopher and mariner have bestowed 

 upon it. 



The investigations carried out by the United States Government sur- 

 veyors have dissipated all preconceived notions of its enormous magnitude ; 

 these were commenced in 1845, and when the fiirst reports on the nar- 

 rower portion, at the commencement of the stream, were published, sub- 

 sequent to 1855, they were so startling as to be received almost with 

 incredulity. But the subsequent most careful measurements of its Depth, 

 Velocity, Temperature, and other collateral features, down to the present 

 time, have tended to confirm, to some extent, the statement first made by 

 Commander Craven in 1855, that the narrowest is the shallowest part of 



• See Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. xiii., 1869, pp. 102 112, 



" On the Gxilf Stream," by A. G. Findlay ; and the Journal of the Royal United Service 

 Institution, vol. xiv., 1870. 



t See the Annual Reports of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, especially 

 that for 1890, Appendix 10 of which consists of a description of the Gulf Stream, by 

 Lieutenant J. E. Pillsbury, U.S.N., being an account of his exploratiooa daring five 

 years, when in command of the steamer Blake. 



