THE GVUF STEBAM. 411 



from the edge of the reef ; at Bahia Honda, sometimes 10 miles ; and at 

 Sand Kay, from 10 to 15 miles. Some years (as in the winter of 1856-7) 

 there was very little of this current. The Gulf Stream usually runs stronger 

 on the Cuban side. In one case, in 1852, two vessels bound East passed 

 the Tortugas, and separated about 100 miles in twenty-four hours, one 

 captain knowing this current and the channel, while the other kept in the 

 Westerly or counter-current. The tide below the Quicksands and Tortugas 

 sets flood N.N.E., and ebb S.S.E., differing from the Charts." 



Lieutenant Pillsbury, U.S.N., remarks on this counter-current as fol- 

 lows : — " Along the Florida Eeefs the neutral zone which borders the 

 Northern edge of the Stream probably begins in the vicinity of ' The Elbow,' 

 near Carysfort Eeef, and gradually widens until off Eebecca Shoal, where 

 it extends from 15 to 20 miles outside the 100-fathoms line. It is narrowest 

 at high declination of the moon, at which time it probably begins at some 

 point to the Westward of 'The Elbow.' The direction of the current in 

 this zone is ordinarily tidal in its character, but it is easily overcome by 

 an abnormal current caused by difference in atmospheric pressure within 

 and without the Gulf." 



(402.) But this counter-current, also, is felt on the Cuban side some- 

 times, probably all the way from the Bahama Old Channel. Of this we 

 have several instances from the communications of Captain Livingston and 

 others. The most singular of these, however, is that of Captain Loudon, 

 of the brig Perry, on returning, in the latter part of November, 1827, from 

 New Orleans to Liverpool. Captain Loudon had made the Iron Hills in 

 Cuba ; shortly after noon he tacked ship to the Northward and Westward 

 about 8 or 9 miles off shore ; next day he kept beating to windward, as 

 near to the middle of the strait as he could judge, and without sighting 

 the land on either side, the wind then blowing a fresh gale from the North- 

 ward ; and he continued beating in the same manner until about 8 a.m. of 

 the second day, when, by reckoning, he ought to have been near the Salt 

 Kays ; but obtaining a lunar observation, it showed, to his astonishment, 

 his longitude to be to the Westward of 83°. Supposing his observation to 

 be erroneous, he took a second set of lunar distances, which gave a similar 

 result. StiU, however, doubtful, he stood on, and in a short time after- 

 ward gained soundings on the Tortugas Bank ! The Northerly gale had 

 now abated, and he worked his vessel in, on soundings, to the Northward 

 of the Dry Tortugas. With a favourable wind he ran through the Tortugas 

 Channel ; but as light and baffling winds succeeded, he made for the Stream 

 as it became dusk, and with such winds got through the strait in the two 

 following days, having, on his way, found the current very rapid along the 

 Martyrs or Florida Eeefs. Captain Loudon justly remarked, that so extra- 

 ordinary a circumstance, of which he was positively certain, ought to be 

 generally known. 



"Masters of vessels from Vera Cruz, &c., to Havana, often lengthen 

 their voyage by keeping away too much to the Southward after rounding 

 the Dry Tortugas, fearful of being carried away to the Eastward of Havana 

 by the strength of the Florida Stream. Some have fetched in about the 

 Port of Honda, the Cock's Comb, and one vessel even as low as Cape 

 Antonio." — Lieutenant John Evans. 



