424 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CURRENTS. 



Some more recent examples may also be given, and reference should also be 

 made to the Drift diagram, page 297. 



A bottle dropped from the steamer Sardinimi, October 31st, 1889, in lat. 

 56° 6' N., long. 17^ 24' W., was picked up in February, 1890, in lat. m" 28' N., 

 long. 18° E., on the coast of Norway, havmg drifted about 1,250 miles to 

 N.E. by N. i N. 



A bottle dropped from the steamer Satiirnina, June 27th, 1889, ha lat. 50" 16' N., 

 long. 34° 17' W., was picked up on the beach near Carnsore Point (Ireland), on 

 February 13th> 1890, having drifted about 1,080 miles to E. ^ S. 



On September 1st, 1887, a bottle paper was set adrift off Hull, Massachusetts, 

 and was picked up on the beach near San Fernando, Cadiz, February 28th, 1892. 

 The great circle distance from port to port is 2,975 miles, but its probable drift 

 was nearer 4,000 miles, even if it had not made the circuit of the Atlantic. 



Another good example of this drift is shown by the track of the schooner 

 W. L. White, lumber laden, which was abandoned Eastward of Delaware Bay, 

 March 13tli, 1888, and ultimately drifted right across the Atlantic, and went ashore 

 on Haskeir Island, one of the Hebrides, January 23rd, 1889. The most remark- 

 able feature is the zigzag track she followed in mid-ocean, between lat. 44° and 

 51° N., long. 33° and 44° W., from the beginning of May till the end of October. 

 Previous to this time she followed a course about E.N.E., at an average rate of 

 about 32 miles a day, and subsequently she moved East and N.E., 1,260 miles in 

 84 days, an average of 15 miles a day ; but during the long interval of six months 

 she remained within this comparatively small area, drifted back and forth by the 

 Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current, and tossed about by the varying winds, a 

 constant menace to navigation along the greatest highway of ocean commerce in 

 the world. During these six months alone she was reported by 36 vessels, three 

 of which sighted her in a single day. In her cruize of 10 months and 10 days she 

 traversed a distance of more than 5,000 miles, was reported 45 times, and how 

 many more vessels passed dangerously near her at night and in thick weather it 

 is impossible even to estimate. 



The schooner Twenty-one Friends, found abandoned, March 24th, 1885, about 

 160 miles Eastward of Chesapeake Bay, was drifted to lat. 51° 30' N., long. 

 27° 40' W., in ^ months, or a distance of 2,130 miles to E.N.E, Thence she 

 drifted to the Eastward and South-Eastward towards the North coast of Spain, 

 and was last reported on December 4th, 1885, about 130 miles N.N.E. of Cape 

 Finisterre, having drifted 3,525 miles in 8 months and 10 days. 



On December 8th, 1887, a gigantic raft of timber left the Bay of Fundy, in tow 

 of a steamer for New York. It consisted of about 27,000 baulks of timber, each 

 50 to 100 feet in length, bound with chains into a raft 560 feet long, 65 feet wide, 

 and 38 feet deep, drawing Vd^ feet water, and estimated to weigh 11,000 tons. 

 On December 18th, a Hurricane was encountered about 40 miles S.S.W. from 

 Nantucket South Shoal lightvessel, and the raft got adrift. It rapidly broke up, 

 and the logs drifted away to the Eastward, gradually spreading over a fan-shaped 

 area between lat. 30° and 40° N., though many logs were reported to the North- 

 Westward of the Azores in May, 1888. 



On June 12th, 1B88, a spruce log drifted ashore at the island of Fayal, in the 

 Azores. On September 4th, 1888, a vessel passed through a number of floating 

 logs, about 100 miles Northward of Madeira.* 



• Current Floats. — In the summer of 1889, the United States Coast Survey steamer 

 Blake set adrift a number of floats between Cape Hatteras and George Shoals. They 

 consisted of a weighted staff, carrying five glass tubes, each enclosing the usual docu- 

 ment. Any person finding one of these at sea was requested to remove only one of 

 these tubes, and then set the float adrift agaiu. 



