50 



rait. The waters are carried at first to the 

 nort h-west, and passing into the Gulf of Mexico 

 through the strait which is formed by False 

 Cape and Cape St. Antonio, follow the bendings 

 of the Mexican coast, from Vera Cruz to the 

 mouth of t he Rio del Norte, and thence to the 

 mouths of the Missisippi, and the shoals to the 

 west of the southern extremity of Florida. 

 Having made this vast circuit to the west, the 

 north, the east, and the south, the current takes 

 a new direction towards the north, and throws 

 itself with impetuosity into the Gulf of Florida. 

 I there observed, in the month of May, 1804, 

 in the 26th and 2 7th degrees of latitude, a cele- 

 rity of eighty miles in twenty-four hours, or five 

 feet every second, though at this period the 

 north wind blew with great violence. At the 

 end of the Gulf of Florida, in the parallel of 

 Cape Cannaveral, the Gulf-stream, or current 

 of Florida, runs to the north-east. It's rapidity 

 resembles that of a torrent, and is sometimes 

 five miles an hour. The pilot may judge, with 

 some certainty, of the error of his reckoning, and 

 of the proximity of his approach towards New 

 York, Philadelphia, or Charlestown *, when he 



* The enrrent of Florida flows at greater distances from the 

 coasts of the United States, as it advances towards the north. 

 It's position being exactly marked in the new maritime charts, 

 the navigator finds the longitude of the vessel to half a degree, 

 when he is on the brink of the current, where the eddy 



