460 CURRENTS AND WHALING. 



at least as Cape Hatteras. It is consequently of that character which 

 is generally known as polar. 



One of the strongest facts in support of the extension of this stream 

 to the farthest northern point we have named, lies in the transporta- 

 tion southward of vast masses of ice along the coast of Labrador, 

 which are met annually in May, June, and July, off the banks of 

 Newfoundland. This is a cause which affects in a most remarkable 

 manner the climates of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and causes 

 the harbours even of the latter country to remain ice-bound to a late 

 period in the year. Nor is its influence believed to be of small amount 

 in the climate of our Eastern, or that of the sea-coast of our Northern 

 States. 



The phenomena of the icebergs develope another fact in relation to 

 this current, namely, that where the influence of the current ceases to 

 be felt upon the surface, the body of its waters still continues its course 

 southwards beneath the flow of the Gulf Stream, which floats upon it 

 precisely as the fresh water of the large rivers of the New World are 

 to be seen for leagues from the shore flowing on the salt and denser 

 water beneath. The phenomenon to which we have reference is, that 

 icebergs near the Grand Banks have frequently been observed moving 

 rapidly to the southward and westward, in places where ships expe- 

 rience a current to the northward and eastward. The icebergs, float- 

 ing by the laws of specific gravity, with no more than one-tenth of 

 their mass above the surface, evidently are carried onward by a stream 

 flowing in the former direction, against whose force the action of the 

 superficial current on a part of their surface is of no avail, while ships 

 are wholly immersed in the latter, and obey its influence. 



Here then we have an instance of two currents flowing one above 

 the other, in directions almost opposite to each other. 



The Labrador Stream, besides being overspread by the waters of 

 the Gulf, the surface part of it is doubtless deflected from its flow to 

 the southward, and forced along the eastern coast till it is obstructed 

 very materially in the vicinity of George's Bank. 



The position and supposed dangers of these banks, and the narrow- 

 ness of the Labrador Stream in passing them, has prevented navi- 

 gators from taking the full advantage they might have derived from 

 their knowledge of its existence. Of the loss of time frequently grow- 

 ing out of this difficulty, I had myself an instance in a voyage from 

 Europe in the winter of 1836-37. Captain Hebberd, who commanded 

 the vessel in which I was passenger, feared that he might approach 

 too near to the shoals of George's Bank and Nantucket, and therefore, 

 when opposed by a westerly wind, made tacks that carried him within 



