of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



345 



English coast at Shields from W. by S. ; in September, at Buchan Ness 

 from S.W. by S., at the Bell Rock from W. \ S., at Shields from S.S.W., 

 at Yarmouth from S.W. \ W. In October, at the Bell Rock from N. 

 by W., at Shields from ST. f W., and at Yarmouth from E.S.E. In 

 November, at the Bell Rock from W. by N., at Shields from S.S.W., and 

 at Yarmouth and Helder from N.E. It will, therefore, be seen that the 

 direction of the winds were usually opposed to the southward move- 

 ment. 



Of the twelve Moray Firth drifters which were found on the south- 

 west coast of Norway and on the west coast of Sweden, one was set adrift 

 on the 9th February 1895, two on the 12th and 13th March, and all the 

 others at the beginning of August of the same year. The three first 

 mentioned were put away off the coast of Caithness ; one was found on 

 3rd October, 237 days afterwards, at Farsund, near the Naze of Norway, 

 317 miles distant; another was found, near Sfcavanger, after 181 days, 

 on 9th September, a direct distance of 270 miles ; the third was found 

 two miles south of Lysekil, near Marstrand, Sweden, on 6th September, 

 after 179 days, at a distance of 464 miles. That the first moved south 

 is shown by the fact that other drifters put away a little further north 

 next day and two days later were found in Banffshire and on the north- 

 east corner of Aberdeenshire. The wind that prevailed in the Moray 

 Firth during February was from N.N.W. ; in March, from N.N.E. at 

 Buchan Ness, N.N.W. at Bell Rock, and S.W. at Yarmouth ; in April, 

 at Buchan Ness from S.W.,at Bell Rock from W., at Shields from N.E., 

 and at Yarmouth from E. by N. The mean course of the floats was pro- 

 bably in the form of a curve bending south-east and then north-east, one 

 at least being carried into the Skagerak. 



'-•The other nine were set adrift on the 2nd and 8th August 1895; 

 eight were recovered on the south and south-west coast of Norway, and 

 one near Hallo, on the west coast of Sweden, after intervals of from 67 

 to 178 days, the direct distances varying from 282 to 490 miles. During 

 the time they were afloat the prevailing direction of the winds was as 

 follows: — August, Buchan Ness S. by W, Bell Rock W. by S., Helder 

 and Yarmouth W.S.W. ; September, Buchan Ness S.W. f S., Bell Rock 

 W.S.W., Shields S.W., Yarmouth W., Helder W.N.W. ; October, N.W. 

 or near it at most places ; November, strong from S. and S.W. 



In these cases there is little doubt the surface water was driven in 

 large part directly across in an easterly direction from the Moray Firth. 



It is noteworthy that other drifters put away a little earlier, on the 

 24th and 25th July, off the east coast of Aberdeen, Kincardine, and For- 

 farshire, were found partly further south on the east coast of Scotland 

 and partly on the coasts of Denmark and Norway. Thus, of three set 

 adrift on 24th July, eleven miles south-east of Scurdy Ness, near Montrose, 

 one was found 34 miles to the south in the Firth of Forth, in seventeen 

 days ; one after ninety days at Nymindegab, near the Horn, Denmark, a 

 direct distance of 344 miles; and the third, after an interval of 162 days, 

 near Stavanger, in Norway, a direct distance of 300 miles. Another set 

 adrift on the same day a little further north (eleven miles S.E. of Bervie) 

 was found in 21 days on the coast of Fife. Of other two set adrift also on 

 24th July, one was found in 22 days forty miles to the south, and the 

 other near Kragero, in South Norway, within the Skagerak, a direct distance 

 of 400 miles, in 196 days. These examples show, what will be proved 

 later, that the general course of the surface water on the west side of the 

 North Sea is to the south and south-east, and to the north on the east 

 side, even when, and, indeed, probably, because the prevailing wind is 

 from the south-west. 



