480 



EXTRAORDINARY CURRENTS. 



July 



amounted to more than forty miles ; and the only way in which 

 I can account for it to my own satisfaction is, that while the 

 north-west wind was blowing, a current set to the southward 

 and eastward, for which no allowance was made, as those on 

 board could not be aware that such a current might be found, 

 its existence not being known. A south-east current was not to be 

 expected thereabouts ; for the general set of the waters is north- 

 erly, excepting near the land, and they thought themselves in* 

 the offing. But currents are very uncertain and treacherous in 

 most places. Unusual winds, peculiar seasons affecting the 

 weight of the atmosphere, and those powerful interrupters of all 

 order — earthquakes, have immediate effect upon the great 

 ocean, as well as upon small bodies of water, though not 

 always so visibly. 



Scarcely four months had elapsed since that tremendous 

 earthquake, which destroyed so many towns in Chile, had 

 altered the movements of the Pacific Ocean upon all the ex- 

 tent of coast which reaches from latitude forty-five to the 

 parallel of twenty-five. Even in July, the land about Concep- 

 cion was scarcely considered to be at rest, and recovered, as it 

 was said, from those awful convulsions. Can it then be consi- 

 dered improbable that the currents of that sea should have 

 taken unusual directions, and betrayed even cautious seamen, 

 such as Captain Seymour and Mr. Macdonald (the master) 

 were well known to be. So much care and judgment had always 

 been shown in conducting the Challenger, and she had visited 

 so many places in the Atlantic, in the Pacific, and among the 

 South Sea Islands, that of all the King's ships at that time in 

 commission, those who sailed in her (unconnected even with her 

 management) thought her one of the last that would end a 

 voyage disastrously.^ The surprising manner in which the 

 hull of the Challenger held together, and so long resisted 

 heavy shocks, reflects infinite credit upon her architect (Hayes), 

 and upon the dockyard where she was built. 



* This I have heard from several persons who were wrecked in the 

 ship, whose opinions I have reason to respect. 



