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5.— ACEOSS THE EQUATOB. 



It is probable that there has been more discussion upon the route from 

 the British Isles to the Equator, and on the best meridian for crossing the 

 Line, than upon any other passage. And yet the results of these inquiries 

 as to this, the great highway of the ocean, have served to confirm in a 

 great degree the opinions published in the early days of navigation, before 

 any of the modern improvements and appliances had been brought to bear 

 upon it. 



The directions given by M. D'Apr^s de Mannevillette, in his great 

 " Neptune Orientale," published nearly a century and a half since, might 

 be followed now without losing much of the advantages which deep study, 

 and extensive inquiry into data lately acquired, would give to the ship- 

 master. 



Captain Maury, at the time of the publication of his "Wind and Current 

 Chart," in 1849, first advocated a more Westerly crossing of the Equator 

 than had been before pursued. This arose from looking at the voyage 

 from the opposite side of the Atlantic to that on which all previous sailing 

 directions had been composed. The configuration of the land about the 

 Equatorial portion of the Atlantic is peculiar, and causes the difficulties 

 of a trans-equatorial voyage. The Eastern point of the continent of South 

 America, Cape San Eoque, the " great bugbear," as Maury calls it, and 

 the land about Pernambuco, lying in the strength of the S.E. Trade, and 

 the consequent strong current to leeward which runs past it, were con- 

 stantly the dread of the older mariners, whose ships made so much leeway, 

 and were incapable of sailing on a wind as our modern clippers do. But 

 from the improvements in ships and their rig and management, much that 

 was formerly insuperable is now quite practicable, and many of the diffi- 

 culties of clearing Cape San Eoque have vanished upon later inquiry. 



The other difficulty which also combines with Captain Maury's argu- 

 ment, is the intervening belt of Calms and Monsoons (extending nearly 

 across the ocean between the Trade Winds), which has a triangular form, 

 the base lying upon the African coast, between Cape Verde and the Equator, 

 and gradually getting narrower to the Westward, and therefore by crossing 

 it well to the Westward it is traversed in a shorter distance, and the de- 

 taining effects are much less experienced. 



The work of Captain Maury, although it has done good service, must 

 now to a great extent give place to the more recent works of Captain 

 Toynbee, published by our own Meteorological Office.* In these the 



• (1). Charts of Meteorological Data for Square 3, Lat. 0°— 10°N., Long. 20°— 3(yW. ; 

 and Remarks to accompany the Monthly Charts, which show the Best Routes Across 

 the Equator for each month, &c. 1874. 



(2). Charts of Meteorological Data for the Nine 10° Squares of the Atlantic, which lie 

 between Lat. 20°N. and 10° S., and extend from Long. 10° to 40° W., with accompany- 

 ing Remarks, ending with the Best Routes Across the Equator. 1876. ' 



