438 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CURRENTS. 



which, however, it may be said to be exceedingly difficult at all times to 

 estimate and allow for correctly. 



(438.) Alo7ig the S.E. Coast of Nova Scotia the currents are irregular, 

 and are said to be one of the principal causes of the frequent wrecks on 

 Sable Island. These currents are rendered inconstant and irregular, both 

 in strength and direction, by local and distant winds ; but the general 

 tendency is well known to be to the Westward and South- Westward, at 

 an average rate of about 12 miles a day, for vessels find no difficulty in 

 working to windward in that direction, anywhere to the Northward of the 

 Gulf Stream ; and hence it is that many of the vessels wrecked on Sable 

 Island were supposed to have been well to the Eastward of its position 

 when they ran on shore. 



Sable Island has been famous for its wrecks, which greater knowledge 

 and consequent caution have rendered less frequent. Its position and 

 formation are remarkable, as it lies apparently in the strength of the Arctic 

 Current. Its dangerous character is greatly increased by the prevalent 

 Fogs, which are dense and very constant. As is well known, it is a mere 

 sandbank, about 21 miles in extent. East and West, consisting of two 

 parallel ridges of sand blown above the sea-level, enclosing a shallow 

 lagoon, and forming a curve convex to the Southward, showing the direc- 

 tion of its principal growth. From each end extend long " bars " or 

 shoals, that to the West for 21 miles, and that to the East 17 miles, the 

 whole extending over an area of 63 miles, E.S.E. and W.N.W., within 

 the 10-fathoms line. The Westerly winds and current, tending in the 

 same direction, are constantly wearing away the West end, and adding to 

 the East, by drifting the sand of which it is formed, and that which it 

 it brings, to leeward. Of the lighthouses established on it since 1880, two 

 have been washed away, and in 1890 the third was being rapidly under- 

 mined by the waves ; their present positions are given in the Light Book. 



The wrecks have usually occurred from the effects of the S.W. current 

 which we are now considering, and which, though irregular in its action, 

 has usually some effect on a ship's course ; added to this, as previously 

 shown (408), the Gulf Stream is here found with much diminished force, 

 and consequently there are some anomalies in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Sable Island. The best account we have of the streams is that 

 given by Mr. Darby, who was superintendent of the establishment here. 



Mr. Darby has said, " On the South side of Sable Island, the current, 

 in shoal water, with prevailing South and S.W. winds, sets rapidly East- 

 ward until it reaches the end of the N.E. bar. It then unites and blends 

 with the St. Lawrence Stream, which passes the bar in a S.S.W. direction, 

 and runs strongest in April, May, and June. I have sufficient reason for 

 believing that the Gulf Stream, on the parallel of 42° 30', running E.N.E., 

 occasions the St. Lawrence Stream, then running S.S.W. , to glide to West- 

 ward. The strength of this stream has never been noticed, and three- 

 fourths of the vessels lost on Sable Island have been supposed to be to the 

 Eastward of the island, when, in fact, they were in the longitude of it. 



" Easterly, Southerly, and S.S.W. winds set a rapid current along shore 

 in shoal water, to W.N.W. and N.W. ; that is, along the shore of the 

 Western end of the island, but not the Eastern nor middle, as there the 



