130 THE OCEAN RIVER 



West Indies and Bahamas Islands. The Antilles Current, as it 

 it called, rejoins the Florida Current north of the Bahamas. 



Pillsbury's painstaking study of the fluctuating pulse of the 

 River was specially useful to merchant vessels plowing their 

 way against the Stream; and if it were more generally known it 

 would probably save amateur yachtsmen considerable time in 

 their races to Havana, Nassau, and Bimini. It was found, for 

 instance, that the fastest part of the Stream is nearer to Ha- 

 vana than to Key West, but by the time it arrives at Miami it 

 has shifted to the westward side. It is about 11 miles east of 

 Fowey Rocks Light, near Miami, or less than one-third of the 

 way across. 



That the speed of the River was continually changing had 

 been known in a vague manner for a long time. Even the expe- 

 rienced navigator frequently found his vessel set by a greater 

 current than he expected; but at other times he might find 

 virtually no drift in a place where he usually made allowance 

 for several knots. The careful measurements made from the 

 Blake showed that these changes were not due to any tempera- 

 mental vagaries of the River but that they seemed to follow a 

 distinct pattern, which depended on the position of the moon. 

 The current reaches its maximum about three hours after the 

 moon's transit, or highest point in the heavens, and thus a 

 slight increase of up to P/z knots in flow at the Stream's axis 

 comes at Florida ports about two hours after mean low water. 

 Changes also take place during the lunar month. Just after low 

 declination, when the moon is nearly over the equator, the 

 current near Miami has a tendency to flow faster in a nar- 

 rowed stream and in a more easterly direction, whereas at high 

 declination, when the moon is most distant from the equator, 

 the current is broader and runs more closely parallel to the 

 axis. 



Using these observations, Pillsbury gives the following ad- 



