504 PASSAGES OVER THE ATLANTIC. 



through it ; and by keeping mid-channel, there is little fear of being be- 

 oalmed. When clear of the Canaries, a course may be shaped to make 

 Bonavista, as before directed. 



The passage between the Islands and Gape Verde is generally and very 

 properly adopted by vessels trading to the Western Coast of Africa ; for, 

 by running to the Westward of St. Antonio, they have again to make 

 Easting in that tract of sea, which, lying contiguous to the Southern limit 

 of the N.E. Trade Wind, is so often disturbed by calms, squalls, thunder, 

 lightning, and heavy rain. 



The currents between the coasts of Great Britain and the Cape Verde 

 Islands are now so well known, that it is almost superfluous to make any 

 further remarks upon them, excepting that their velocity is by no means 

 exaggerated ; and the dangerous effects which they have upon vessels, 

 between the Bay of Biscay and the Capes Nun and Bojador, on the African 

 coast, cannot be too strongly impressed upon the minds of those who have 

 charge of valuable lives and property (see pages 319 — 320). 



Those passing Bonavista in the months of June, July, August, and 

 September, should not be too anxious to make Easting ; for they will lose 

 the Trade Wind soon after passing the parallel of the Island of St. Jago, 

 and, after a short interval of calm, fall in with the S.W. wind and its 

 usual accompaniments of heavy squalls and rain. On the further progress 

 the vessel makes to the Southward and Eastward, the S.W. winds gene- 

 rally become variable to the Westward, and the squalls not so frequent. 



At this season of the year it is advisable to give St. Anne's SJioals a 

 berth of 150 miles to the Eastward, as the sea sets in so heavily upon the 

 coast, between these shoals and Cape Palmas, that making Southing when 

 near the land, in these months, is attended with much difficulty. 



From October to April or May, the weather in this tract is generally 

 fine, and the nights cool, beautifully serene and clear, with heavy dews ; 

 and in these months a more direct track may be pursued from Bonavista 

 to the Southward and Eastward, than that above mentioned. In the 

 influence of the Trades, the breeze is generally steady from N.N.E. and 

 N.B., and the sea smooth, occasionally, however, interrupted by Tornados, 

 which, in the neighbourhood of Cape Verga and Sierra Leone, blow with 

 terrible fury. Such is their violence, that it is frequently necessary to 

 keep the ship directly before them, under a foretopmast staysail only. 



Between the Cape Verde Islands and the coast, the currents in the 

 above tracks are variable, but mostly found running to the Southward, and 

 seldom exceeding 1 mile an hour (generally from half to three-quarters of 

 a mile), until hauling up for St. Anne's Shoals. At about 120 miles to the 

 Westward of these, I 'have several times found them setting about E.S.E. 

 by chart, fully 1^ mile in the hour. 



The sea between the meridian of 20° W. and the bank of soundings ex- 

 tending from the African coast, is perhaps the most luminous part of the 

 Atlantic Ocean. In the very dark gloomy nights of the wet season, with 

 a strong breeze of wind, and when not one solitary star is visible, nothing 

 can exceed, no pen can describe, the awful grandeur and magnificence of 

 the scene. The whole surface of the sea appears as one vast sheet of liquid 

 tire ; and the ship, sailing at the rate of 6 or 7 knots through the water, 



