of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



339 



of the shore, south of Duncansby Head, Caithness, was 1864 ; the number 

 set adrift in the neighbourhood of the Shetland and Orkney Isles was 

 369 ; the number on the route to Christiansund was 630; on the 

 route to Hamburg 520; and between a point 12 miles off Flamborough 

 Head and the Hook of Holland 200. Some others were put into the 

 sea off the east coast at a distance greater than 20 miles. 



The drifters which were recovered were found principally along the 

 east coasts of Scotland and England, as far south as Norfolk, and on the 

 Continent between North Holland in the south and north of the Loffoden 

 Islands, within the Arctic Circle, in the north ; between the parallels of 

 53 and 69 north latitude. They were scattered over a stretch of about 

 1700 miles of coast. The numbers found up to the end of March 1897, 

 on the various coasts are as follows : — 



East coast of Scotland, 155; England, 95; Holland, 5; Germany 

 (west coast), 4 ; Denmark, 57 ; Sweden, 6 ; Norway, 46. On the 

 Scotch coast, south of the Moray Firth, the numbers found in the 

 different counties were : — Banff, 36 ; north coast of Aberdeen, 16 ; 

 east coast of Aberdeen, 16 ; Kincardine, nil ; Forfar, 2 ; Fife, 43 ; 

 East Lothian, 36 ; and Berwick, 6. On the English coast the 

 numbers found were : — Northumberland, 25 ; Durham, 11 ; York- 

 shire, 34 ; Lincoln, 2 ; Norfolk, 23. The number found on the 

 Orkney and Shetland Isles was 11 and 21 respectively; the 

 remainder of the drifters were found in the inner parts of the 

 Moray Firth and Firth of Forth, with the exception of 6, which 

 were picked up at sea while still floating in the water. 



In order to study the movement of the drifters, a line was drawn on a 

 large chart between the place where each was set adrift and the place 

 where it was found. It was soon proved, however, that, in many cases, 

 such a line did not represent the real route taken. This was especially 

 true of those stranded on the Continental coasts, particularly Denmark* 

 Holland, Germany, and Sweden, which, in nearly all cases, must have first 

 passed down off the east coast of this country and then crossed over to 

 the other side. Before proceeding to consider the movements in detail, it 

 may be well to state here the principal conclusions derived from the 

 experiments with respect to the course of the currents. The most import- 

 ant are as follows : — 



(1) The surface Atlantic water passes southwards and eastwards from 

 the neighbourhood of the Shetlands, and eastwards from the area 

 west of the Orkneys ; it then moves southward along the east coast of 

 Scotland and England to the neighbourhood of the Wash, impinging 

 more or less on the coasts that run at an angle to it, namely, Banff 

 and Aberdeen, Fife, East Lothian, Berwick, and the east coast of 

 England, as far as the neighbourhood of Spurn Point in Yorkshire. 



(2) The movement of the surface water is then eastwards towards the 

 coast of the Continent, the main body impinging on the coast of 

 Denmark, north of the Horn. 



(3) The course is then northward to the Skagerrak, and along the 

 west coast of Norway, as far at least as the Loffodens. Sometimes 

 the water passes into the Skagerrak, to the coast of Swedeu and 

 the Christiania Fjord. 



(4) While the above movement down the western and up the eastern 

 parts of the North Sea is the regular and predominating one, it 

 may be modified by the prevalence of strong winds or gales blow- 

 ing in certain directions. These may cause the current to swerve ; 

 or, as happened at one period, to be reversed. 



