574 SUPPLEMENTARY REMARKS ON WINDS, ETC. 



KEPORTED DANGERS around the Azores .— From time to time 

 circumstantial announcements have been made of rocks and reefs lying 

 around and far away from the islands, many of which have since been 

 sought for unsuccessfully. Still, it is advisable to exercise caution, 

 considering the volcanic nature of this region, where islands have been 

 forced up from great depths, and afterwards disappeared. The following 

 are the reports most worthy of notice. 



KoTUSOFF OR St. Mary Bank. — In 1816, the officers of the Russian vessels Kutusoff 

 and Suwaroff, sailing in company, when in about lat. 35° N., long. 28° W., observed 

 ripples and a change of colour in the water. They took several casts of the lead, 

 finding bottom at 110 to 127 fathoms, over an extent of about 10 miles East and West, 

 and thought there were rocks awash on its eastern part, though fio breakers were seen. 



Captain Andrew Livingston, whose statements are always reliable, also reported 

 a bank in this vicinity. He says: — " On our passage, in 1819, from Havana to 

 Barcelona, we passed over white water, apparently a shoal, to the south-westward 

 of St. Mary's. The captain would not allow the vessel to heave-to in order to 

 sound ; but I have no doubt in my mind of its being a very extensive bank of soundings. 

 I should not be surprised if it turned out that the bank we passed over was connected 

 with the Kutusoff Bank, which lies about 1 degree to the S.W. of the one we passed 

 over. We were some hours crossing the bank.'' Capt. Livingston considered its 

 position was lat. 35° 53' N., long. 27° 19' W., from satisfactory observations. 



TuLLOCH Rocks were originally reported by Captain William TuUoch, of the brig 

 Equator, in 1808, and since that date others are stated to have seen them, though they 

 have been searched for in vain by surveying vessels. The accounts given are so 

 circumstantial and corroborative, that they lead to the conclusion these rocks may have 

 been volcanic in their origin, and afterwards disappeared. 



Captain TuUoch, when his crew gave the alarm of breakers, found he could not 

 weather them, and, as a last resource, passed through them. From aloft he counted 

 distinctly twenty-one heads of rocks, none of which appeared to have much water over 

 them, and two of them showed occasionally above water in the wash of the sea. Their 

 extent, the captain thought, did not exceed half a mile North and South, and was still 

 less East and West. They bore E.N.E., by compass, from the highest rock of the 

 Eormigas, then in sight, distant about 10 miles, and appeared very black below water. 



Mr. Ferguson, mate of the sbS^^ Ayrshire, gave their situation as about 9miles E.N. E., 

 by compass, from the Formigas. Captain J. Henderson, ship Fortesque, stated that 

 he saw Tulloch Rocks, April 17th, 1829, when breakers were observed for half a mile 

 East and West. The greater Formiga and breakers in one bore W.S.W., by compass, 

 the former about 12 miles, and the latter 6 miles distant. 



However, this reef was not found by Captain Wilkes, U.S.N. , in 1838; and Captain 

 Vidal, R.N., sought minutely for it. On three subsequent trials, no signs of shoal 

 water or soundings were obtained. Captain Vidal remarks that " seeing the difficulty 

 there is in discovering small rocks beneath the surface of the ocean, we by no means 

 presume to assert that Tulloch Reef does not exist, but we entertain a very decided 

 opinion that it will not be found in the position assigned to it." 



Volcanic Disturbances Between St. Michael's and Terceira. — In 1719 and 

 1720, severe submarine eruptions occurred about midway between St. Michael's and 

 Terceira ; the various accounts are conflicting as to the precise position, but it was 

 supposed to occupy the situation of the island which had previously appeared in 

 1538 and again in 1638. One account states that in 1719 a volcano appeared at 15 

 leagues to the westward (? N. W.) of St. Michael's, forming an island 10 miles in circum- 

 ference, which disappeared in 1723. M. S^gur Dupeyron, from documents found in the 

 French colonial archives, stated that at the end of 1720 a volcano broke out at 28 

 leagues off St. Michael's towards Terceira, ejecting large quantities of pumice and form- 

 ing two shoals ; jets of boiling water were thrown upwards of 120 ft. high. The 



