Mb 



PaH III. — Fifteenth Annual Report 

 i 



and lltb December; a note from the person who found one of them 

 stating — what is continued by the meteorological records — that it had 

 been blowing a gale from the south-east for several days before. 



Some of the bottles from the other station, about 165 miles west of the 

 Shetlands, in lat. 60° 2' N. long. 7° 4' W., were found in Norway. 

 They were set adrift on the 6th of August ; two were picked up on 11th 

 and 21st December on the east side of the northern part of Shetland. 

 Before this three were found on the coast of Norway, two on the 30th 

 November, 116 days after they had been set adrift, and one a little later, 

 on 3rd December. One of the former was found on the Island of 

 Hitteren, S. Trondhjem, about 510 miles distant, and the other, still 

 further north, on the Island of Gjoring, near Kolvreid, N. Trondhjem, 

 over 700 miles from the point where it was thrown into the sea. The 

 third was found on the south-west side of Haramsoen Island, S. Sond- 

 maer, near Aalesund, Romsdal, and, therefore, to the south of the others. 



The results of the 'Research' drifters agree with the results derived 

 from a study of the others. The general course taken was eastward, with 

 a tendency southward in the region of the Orkneys, and northward in the 

 region of the northern part of the Shetlands ; but deviations obviously 

 occurred,- owing in all probability to variations in wind influence. The 

 case where three bottles were carried directly south from about ninety 

 miles north of the Shetlands is the most anomalous. The meteorological 

 observations taken twice daily at the nearest station (Flugga, North Unst, ; 

 at the north of Shetland) show that during August northerly winds pre- 

 vailed. At the hours when the observations were made (9 a.m. and 9 

 p.m.) the wind blew from the north on twenty-one occasions and from be- 

 tween N. and N.E. and N. W. on twelve occasions ; from the south it blew 

 once, from the west on four occasions, and from between S.W. and S.E. 

 on nineteen occasions. It is probable that the bottles thrown into the 

 sea at the most north-westerly station, on 4th August, have been carried 

 towards the north of Norway ; none have yet been returned to me. 



The particulars respecting other bottles set adrift in the area being 

 dealt with give general results of the same kind. Of five thrown 

 overboard from a fishing-boat on 30th April 1895, 20 miles south- 

 east of Lerwick, one was found on the 31st August, that is, after 123 

 days, two miles north of Aalesund, Romsdal, Norway, a distance of 250 

 miles from the point where it was set adrift. Its course had, therefore, 

 been north-east. 



Another put away on 22nd April 1896, twenty-six miles east of Lerwick, 

 was found on 23rd August, after exactly the same interval ( of 123 days, three 

 miles south of Hanstholm in Denmark, 357 miles distant, and in a south- 

 easterly direction. Three of ten set adrift on 31st October 1896, at 

 Suleskerry, about 32 miles to the west of the Orkneys, were found on 

 the 6th, 9th, and 1 4th November on the west coast of the Orkney Isles, 

 and a fourth was picked up on 4th January 1897 on South Ronaldshay. 

 The former had travelled at the rate of about 5 geographical miles a 

 day in a south-east direction ; the wind during the time they were afloat, 

 as shown by the observations at Wick and Fair Isle, being mostly from 

 the north and from the west. Other two drifters put away on the 3rd 

 November 1896, eight miles south-east of Start Point, Orkney, were found 

 on the east coast of Shetland, two on the 14th, and the third on the 22nd 

 December ; they had, therefore, travelled between sixty and eighty miles 

 in a N.N.E. direction in a little over forty days. The wind records at Fair 

 Isle show that during the period they were ailoat, there were strong winds 

 in November from the south and south-west, while in December, from 

 the 1st to the 14th, there were almost continuous strong winds from the 

 south-east and gales from S.S.E. and E.S.E., which lasted for four days. 



