KiNAHAX — Tidal Cayrcnts and Wind-icai'es. 451 



S.E. Coast of Ikelajtd. 



To illustrate the foregoing, the following statistics on the south- 

 east of l7'eland (Charts xiv. and xv.),* are given, as this coast has been 

 carefully examined, and the results mapped. 



The area contained in these charts includes the south coast between 

 Brattan Head and Carnsore Point, and the south-east coast between 

 Carnsore Point and TV'icklow Head. On the south coast the normal 

 set of the in-coming tidal current is about west to east, on the south-east 

 coast from about south to north ; while on the south coast the more 

 prevailing heavy winds are from about the south-west, and on the south- 

 east coast from about the north-east. f Commencing towards the south- 

 west, we find that at Tramore Bay, the eastward tidal diiftage has piled 

 up a ridge enclosing a lagoon called the Back Strand. This ridge having 

 grown eastward, until its farther progress was stopped by the rock- 

 bound coast of Brownstone Head. Such a coast is not easily denuded, 

 and seems to force the di'iftage seaward in all cases ; allowing the 

 mouth of a lagoon or river to remain permanent, the growth of a 

 ridge being thus stopped. 



We next meet with the estuary called "Waterford Harbour ; here 

 a lagoon could not form, for although the eastward driftage has 

 attempted to bar it across, yet on account of the large efflux of water 

 from the Suir, Barrow, and Nore, and the rock-bound shore of Hook 

 promontory, which prevents the channel from moving eastward, the 

 detritus carried in by the tidal wave is carried out again to sea during 

 ebb tides. East of Waterford Harbour is a large bay extending S.W. 

 and N.E., bounded on the !N'.W. by Hook promontory, and on the 

 S.E. by the Saltee islands and Crossfarnoge Point. Here the main 

 tidal current, when it passes Hook Point sends a secondary current 

 to the N.E. to Bannow Bay ; while between Hook and the Saltees, 

 other secondary currents branch off running N.E. to the sound 

 between the north Saltee and the mainland, where they turn to the 

 N.W. into Ballytiegue Bay, forming a counter-tide, which meets the 

 tide from Bannow Bay at the Keeragh islands. The current that 



* Admiralty Chart, Sheet xiv., from Brattin Head to Wexford, surveyed by 

 Commissioner Frazer, M.R. I. A., 1847 ; and Sheet xv., from Wexford to Wicklow, 

 surveyed by CominissioniT Frazer, in 1844, and in part re-surveyed by Staff-Com- 

 missionrr J. R Eepr, in 1873. 



t Winds from the S. W. do not affect the S.E. coast ; winds from the south do in- 

 directly, as they pile up water in the Irish Sea, while the winds that blow from the 

 S.E. have the greatest effect on the driftage. On this S.E. coast from Carnsore to 

 Wicklow, the trees lean to the N.E., as the prevailing winds (from the S.W.) have 

 full power across the low lands of the Co. Wexford. Althoiigh these winds have 

 such an effect on the trees, they have no effect on the denudation of the coast, the 

 wind-waves generated not acting on this coast line. This accounts for the most 

 effective wind- waves being due to winds that come in an opposite or transverse direc- 

 tion to that of the prevailing winds. 



