PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY OP THE GULP OP MAINE 901 



to the Bay of Fiindy, on the Nova Scotian side; two were from the New Brunswick 

 side of the Bay of Fundy; and three were from the southern side of Grand Manan; 

 totaling 9 per cent of the number set out. These drifts so closely reproduce (in their 

 regional distribution) the recoveries of bottles set afloat farther out along this same 

 line the year before (line A; fig. 181) and off Cape Ann in 1923 (fig. 176) that most 

 of them, no doubt, followed a uniform route, at least in their journey northward 

 toward the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. 



It is evident that most of the bottles from line E moved offshore from the time of 

 their release, otherwise more strandings would have been reported from the coast 

 line to the southward. However, the fact that one of them was recovered at Nan- 

 tucket, a second on the outer shore of Cape Cod, and a third at Beachwood, Me. (Nos. 

 1702, 1712, and 1731; intervals, respectively, of 138, 121, and 34 days), makes it 

 probable that they followed a southeasterly course at first. Negative evidence to 

 the same effect results from the fact that only two bottles from this line were found 

 anywhere along the coast of Maine between Seguin Island and the Bay of Fundy, 

 contrasting with the considerable number of recoveries from Nova Scotia. Had the 

 set been eastward along the coast of Maine, such as would be represented by a 

 straight fine between the points of release and recovery, a considerable number of 

 recoveries might have been expected along that 140-mile sector, where the tide draws 

 strongly into the numerous bays, bringing in large amounts of drift of all kinds. It 

 is fair to assume, also, that the route across the gulf was about as long for series E as 

 for the Cape Ann series, because three of the latter were reported from Nova Scotia 

 after intervals as brief as any from the northern lines; one, namely from Yarmouth, 

 in 60 days; another from Port Maitland in 64 days; and one from Cockerwifc Pas- 

 sage in 65 days (p. 875). However, it seems that the Cape Elizabeth groups swung 

 east before reaching the Cape Ann line, because so many more of the former reached 

 Nova Scotia than of the latter; i. e., that on the whole the two groups of bottles 

 followed different routes until they converged toward the eastern side of the gulf. 



The repetition, from year to year, of drifts most easily reconcilable with an anti- 

 clockwise eddying set argues strongly in favor of the prevalence of this type of cir- 

 culation around the southern side of the basin of the gulf. Only one drift (No. 1773) 

 from the two series so far launched off Cape Elizabeth (series A and E) has been 

 hard to reconcile with this; because, if the date of recovery is correctly stated, its 

 time interval from the offing of Cape Elizabeth to Grand Manan (56 days) is smaller 

 than for any other bottle that crossed from the western side of the gulf to the Bay 

 of Fundy. Granting it a direct journey, this means a daily rate of 2.7 miles, or at 

 least 4.7 miles if it followed the eddying route, which is more hkely. 



The time intervals between the dates of release and recovery for bottles drift- 

 ing from the oflSng of Cape Elizabeth to Nova Scotia averaged considerably shorter 

 in 1923 (56 to 111 days; average 75 days for line E) than in 1922 (75 to 146 days; 

 average 103 days for line A). Taken at its face value, this difference would point 

 either to a more rapid rate of travel or to a more direct route, which in this case 

 would mean veering more directly eastward. It seems more likely, however, that the 

 difference is not as significant as it might appear, but that the discovery of the 

 bottles and the local interest aroused thereby stimulated a closer scanning of the 

 Nova Scotian shores in 1923, so that the bottles were found soon after they stranded, 

 37755—27 26 



