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Pwht ITL — Fifteenth Annual Report 



dilation in the North Sea (which we have seen at this period to have 

 been very marked) appears to be confined to water derived from the north. 

 This conclusion must, however, be looked upon as tentative, because the 

 experiments hero were limited to November and January, and sufficient 

 time has, perhaps, scarcely yet elapsed to show the ultimate course of all 

 the bottles. It has also to be borne in mind that in January the usual 

 course of the water was for a time reversed ; although this circumstance 

 might have been expected to favour the escape of surface water to the 

 south by the Channel. 



Of those put away on 1st November, nine were recovered, in a bunch, 

 so to speak, all on the 29th of the same month, in the neighbourhood of 

 Yarmouth, Norfolk. Eight of these were set adrift 47J miles E. J S. of 

 Grimsby ; they had therefore moved directly southwards distances ranging 

 from about 59 to 67 miles in the twenty-nine days. The other was put 

 away 46 miles N.E. by E. J E. of Cromer, Norfolk ; it had therefore 

 moved in a south-westerly direction about 50 miles. The effective wind 

 at Yarmouth during November blew strong from the N.E. f E ; and at 

 Helder from N.E. \ E. It is of interest to note that another drifter of 

 this lot was picked up on 6th April 1897, at Thorupstrand, Thisted, Den- 

 mark. It indicates that the surface water, driven back by the exceptional 

 wind conditions, resumed its usual course later. This is also shown by 

 the fact that one of the lot put away on the same day, not far distant, 

 namely, 57 miles E. J S. of Cromer, was found on 2nd April 1897, 

 thirty miles east of Hantsholm, Denmark. 



Seventeen have been up to the present recovered of the second series set 

 adrift on 3rd January, all but one on the English coast ; two on the 15th 

 January, and all the others between the 20th and 26th January. The two 

 found on the 15th were put away 52 miles E. J S. of Grimsby, and were 

 picked up on the coast of Yorkshire between Flamborough Head and Filey. 

 They had therefore drifted in a north-west direction, contrary to the usual 

 course, for over 60 miles in twelve days. Four others, set adrift 43 miles 

 Jtf.E. by E. of Cromer, Norfolk, were found on 23rd, 24th, and 26th 

 January, west of Cromer, Norfolk, 45 to 48 miles from where they were 

 immersed ; these had been carried west by south. Three put away 57 

 miles E. \ S. from Cromer were found on 22nd and 24th January a little 

 south-east of Cromer ; they had therefore been carried westwards for 

 about sixty miles. Two, put in 51 miles E. by N. f N. of Lowestoft, 

 were found still further to the south of Cromer, on 22nd January, having 

 drifted westwards for about 65 miles ; and five, set adrift 32 miles N. by 

 W. of the Hook of Holland, were found on 20th and 21st January in the 

 neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, having been carried in the seventeen 

 days about 90 miles in a north-west direction. But on 5th April 1897, one 

 of those set adrift 32 miles off the Hook of Holland was picked up seven 

 miles west from the Skaw, Denmark ; showing as in the previous cases a 

 northerly movement of the surface water. 



The person who returned one of the bottles on the 24th January 

 informed me that "a terrific E.N.E. gale had been raging from the 21st," 

 and this helps to account for the unusual course taken by the drifters in 

 the above cases. On referring to the Daily Weather Report issued by 

 the Meteorological Office, it will be found that at Helder in the Nether- 

 lands, at Yarmouth, and at Spurn Head, Yorkshire, the winds from the 

 3rd to the 7th January were blowing from the S.W., S., S.E., and 

 E.S.E., gentle and moderate ; on the 8th and 9th they blew strong from 

 the east, and they continued almost always from the east, north-east, and 

 east-north-east, moderate or fresh, until the 21st, when they blew strong 

 from N.E. and E.N.E. On the 23rd a heavy N.N.E. gale sprang up over 



