A conjeSIure about an under-Current at the Streights- 
Mouth^ read before the Oxford Society^ Dec. 2 1 . 
1583. by the reverend and learned Tho. S'niith D. 
D. bellow of}Azg*Co\.Oyion.andofthe R.^'ociety, 
IN the Offing between the North Foreland and South Fore- 
land it runs Ttde and half Ttde^ that is;it is either '^hhmg water 
or flood upon the fhore.in that par t of the Doivm ^thxco. hours, 
which is grofly fpeaking the time ot half a tide, before it is 
fo, off at }ea, ( For the flux and '>''fux of the fea is not made 
exa<9:Iy twice in 24 hours, but, as it appears by accurate 
obfervation, it requires an overplus of almoft 50 y.amnts.) 
The reafon of this diverlity of tides, I take to be from 
the meeting of the two jeas in that narrow ftrt^ght. 
Oftentimes when the '^vind has blown hard at N.E. or at 
W. or W and by S. there has hapn'd an alteration of the 
tides in the ri'ver of Thames , which ignorant people have 
miftakingly lookt upon as a frodigy 
It is a moft certain O/^/^r'z/^i'f/^?/^, tnat where it flows tide and 
half tide^ tho the tide of flood runs aloft, yet the tide of 
mns under foot, tha| is, clofe by the^r^^/iW 5 andfo atihettde 
of el^l^, it will/^?^^ Irnder foot, as that great and experienc'd 
Sea-Commander , * Sr. Henry Mamwarmg words it. Upon 
this fuppofition I fhall humbly offer a conjecturt to this learn- 
ed Society f oncerning the mediterranean Sea, after I have premi- 
fed this brief hiftory of it,as containing certain matter of fa(i. 
There is a vaft draught of 'water poured continually out oi 
the ^tlaTt^uk^ into the Mediteranean , the mouth or entrance 
of which between Cafe Sf artel OV Sprafy as the jea-men call it, 
and Cape Trafalgar , may be near 7 leagues wide, the current 
fetting flrong into it, and not loofing its force till it runs 
as far as Mala^^, which is about 20 leagues within the Stretghts. 
By the benefit of this Current, tho the wind be contrary, if 
it does not over blow. Ship eafily turn into the gmt^ as they 
term the narrow paj] age, which is about 10 miles in length. 
At the end of which are two Towjas , Gibraltar on the 
(tf} Seamans diftion p, io5. 
coaft 
