280 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



I may instance one extraordinary case of a heavy object being 

 carried away seaward in the teeth of the waves. Some years ago 

 the heavy wood and iron door of the sewer outfall at Torre Abbey 

 was trawled up by a Torquay fisherman, Enoch Stockman, off 

 Meadfoot Sands, and towed back to Torquay. The incident came 

 under my notice, as Samuel Stockman was dredging with me at the 

 time, and called my attention to his son having got hold of some- 

 thing heavy. Having asked Enoch Stockman to let me have his own 

 account in writing, he has sent me the following note : — " I cannot 

 tell how many years ago, I cannot tell in what month, I caught the 

 shout (sic). I believe the Grreat Rock was a sail breadth open in 

 the Thatcher. We were just abreast of the sinker, shagstone 

 drawing inside Dyer's quarry." The important facts are that 

 Stockman trawled the " shout," which he estimated at some seven 

 feet square, from the bottom of the sea, some 2500 yards from its 

 point of derivation. The average course followed by the outfall 

 door to the point where it was trawled was from about N. W. to S. E. 

 The waves that set it in motion must assuredly have come in from 

 about the opposite direction. 



The observations recorded above indicate bottom currents in 

 Torbay that vary greatly in direction. I venture to suggest that 

 such currents may be caused by wind-formed currents in the 

 English Channel of varying depth and intensity. Winds from any 

 point north of E. by S. have a sea-drift before striking the mouth 

 of Torbay, of about 40 miles and under. Winds from any point 

 between E. by S. and S.E. have a drift of 145 to 190 miles. 



Thus, two easterly gales of equal intensity will be accompanied 

 by currents of short or long drift, according as they blow from 

 points north of E. or south of E. The gale with the longest sea- 

 drift will create a deeper current than that with the shorter drift, 

 both on account of the greater time during which it acts on the 

 water, and on account of the heavier seas raised in the greater dis- 

 tance traversed by the wind, the deeper wave-hollow allowing the 

 wind to act on the water at a greater depth below the level of re- 

 pose. Now, it is clear that the depth of a current entering a bay 

 is of great importance in respect to the action brought to bear on 

 an object lying on the bottom. If such a current be deep enough 

 to affect the bottom directly, the motion imparted to the object will 

 be in the direction of the main current ; but if the current be not 



