4tHi PASSAGES OVEB THE ATLANTIC. 



directly to show the same thing, and to place the opinion almost out of th,. 

 category of conjecture, for this is the very point upon which the advan- 

 tages of the new route from the United States to the Line are based. 



The following abstract was made by Lieutenant Maury in the earlier 

 editions of his " Sailing Directory" (in 1855), and showed the average 

 number of days that it took from lat. 30° N. to the Equator, in the several 

 crossings, by 86 vessels : — 



East of 16° 24 days from the mean of 6 vessels. 



6 



14 



22 



19 



6 



7 

 6 



M 

 )» 



Thus, the farther the place of crossing the parallel of 30° is to the West, 

 so is the average passage thence to the Equator diminished. East of the 

 meridian of 19°, the average passage, as far as the data of these tables 

 may be rehed on, is about 24 days. To the West of 19° the ratio of 

 decrease as to length of passage, according to this showing, is most 

 rapid. 



The passage to the Line from England and the English Channel ought 

 not, on the average, to be as long by several days as it is from the United 

 States. In the first place, the distance from the Land's End is not so 

 great by two or three days' sail ; and, in the next place, the winds are 

 fairer. Vessels bound to the Line from any of the Atlantic ports of the 

 United States have to sail close-hauled most of the way, but from Europe 

 they go free. 



If the performance of the ships whose abstract logs I have, which fur- 

 nish the data for these tables, be a fair specimen of what ships generally 

 do on this route, and I suppose it is rather above than below, it would 

 apjear that the average passage the year round to the Line from England 

 and the English Channel is 36 days ; the months giving the longest 

 averages, such as they are, being January and March 47 days, August 46, 

 and June 39. The first two are evidently too long, their averages being 

 determined from only two or three passages each. The average to the 

 Line from the United States has been brought down from 41 to 31 days ; 

 and the average from the British Isles and English Channel can be, I am 

 encouraged to believe, reduced to less than the American average. 



In the meantime, the route which I venture to recommeud — not, how- 

 ever, without some misgivings, arising from the want of more ample data 

 — is the same, very nearly, for all vessels from whatever part of Europe. 



They should aim, whenever the wind will allow the option, to cross the 

 parallel of 30° N., between the meridians of 25° and 30° W., but should 

 not contend with adverse winds for it ; having reached this crossing, 

 their course thence is due South for the Line, between the same meridians. 

 In summer and fall they should enter the Southern hemisphere about the 

 meridian of 30°, but during the rest of the year they will generally not be 



