CURRENT PAPERS. 337 



ever are wanted to see what is the direction, and speed of the 



currents, and might be set afloat with advantage, to gather not 



only the direction of the main currents but also some of the 

 uncertain currents which have been detected. 



The majority of current papers set afloat never come back, and 

 the impression I have acquired is that one of the great, if not the 

 greatest loss of current papers, is the want of a coating on the 

 corks with hot pitch. The way it is done, I am told, is to make 

 the pitch hot and dip the neck of the bottle with the cork in it. 



Of the current papers of this year no less than twenty-seven 

 have been more than a year old when received, and one of them 

 was 2,175 days, nearly six years. It was thrown over by the 

 R.M.S. "Ormuz" on September 2nd, 1895, and found August 

 17, 1901, it is No. 684, and was thrown over in Spencer's Gulf 

 and found at no great distance from the starting point ; how it 

 was preserved does not appear. Two others are of special interest, 

 first No. 702 was thrown into the sea 18° east of Falkland Islands, 

 and landed on Stewart Island south of New Zealand, after 

 travelling 9,850 miles in 893 days, the daily rate being 11*0 miles. 

 The next is No. 659, which made a run of 9,950 miles at a daily 

 rate of 7*3 miles and landed on the south-east point of South 

 Australia. A list of six others ranging in miles travelled from 

 5,610 to 4,130 will be found further on. 



The following list of current papers shews the number I have 

 received each month and year, the greatest monthly average is in 

 October with 13 '8, next comes November with 108; and the 

 smallest number is 5*8 in September, taking the five years as a 

 comparison for the months. Of these, Captain Simpson contributed 

 forty-one which I published in pamphlet No. 2 ; the remainder 

 were collected in the Sydney Observatory service, and they have 

 brought to light m^ny most interesting and important facts 

 In connection with the circulation of the ocean and the work of 

 the Mercantile Marine, one fact although solitary bears in a 

 remarkable way on the straight drift of the current papers : 



V— Dec. 4, 1901. 



