THE ST. GEORGE'S CHANNEL. 467 



high barometer over the British Isles. To the Northward of this area of 

 high barometer there are correspondingly persistent Westerly winds, and 

 it therefore follows that under such circumstances sailing vessels, bound 

 for ports in the North Sea and the Baltic, can, with great advantage, take 

 a route to the North of Scotland. On this route, too, there is plenty of 

 sea room, and little or no danger of collision. Favourable conditions for 

 taking this route can be readily determined in mid-ocean, and if Easterly 

 or Southerly winds are encountered to Eastward of the 40th meridian, 

 with a high and steady barometer, there should be no hesitation in 

 shaping a course to the North of Scotland, instead of attempting to take 

 the usual route by way of the Channel, where Easterly winds are then 

 likely to prevail.* 



3.— TO AND FROM THE ST. GEORGE'S CHANNEL.f 



" Many shipmasters have been bewildered in St. George's Channel, 

 especially in thick weather, from ignorance of the tides and want of 

 experience ; some, we are sorry to add, from want of due consideration ; 

 and others from not allowing for the indraught into the bays on the 

 Welsh coast (in which the two lightvessels are placed to remove some of 

 this latter danger). 



" The writer of the following hints and observations begs to be under- 

 stood as laying no claim to merit in their compilation ; his only motive 

 being to assist and advise the stranger, and those who, from want of 

 experience, have acquired only a slight knowledge of this dangerous 

 navigation." 



Special caution as to the effects of the Tides seems necessary to be 

 inculcated of late. Some most lamentable shipwrecks have recently 

 occurred on the banks off the S.E. coast of Ireland, by vessels leaving 

 Liverpool under what ought to have been favourable circumstances. The 

 unthinking hardihood of the commander who will place his ship's keel on 

 a special course as if it were a groove, which, if most accurately kept, will 

 just shave clear of destruction, and without taking into account the 

 numerous causes which will horse him off his course, such as bad steerage, 

 leeway, heave of the sea, and, above all, the set of the tides — cannot be too 

 strongly deprecated. And yet, as above said, some losses have occurred 

 which have most certainly arisen from a culpable neglect of all these 

 particulars, and been attributed to charts or local magnetic attraction 

 unadjusted, or, indeed, anything but the real cause — the thoughtlessness 

 of the sailor. On pages 288 — 289 are some brief remarks on the Tidal 

 Streams of the St. George's Channel, which will do to remind the sailor 

 of what is said in more extended works. 



Another point of caution most important is, the character of the Lights 



• United States Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, May, 1888. 



t " General Instructions and Admonitions for Sailing Vessels bound from Liverpool 

 and other Western Ports to the Atlantic Ocean, and for Eetuming from the Ocean to 

 ihe same," by Captain Thomas Midgley, of Liverpool. 



