47 8 Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinburgh. [sess. 
Tidal Currents of the North Sea. By Alexander 
Buchan, LL.D., F.R.S. 
(Read February 20, 1899.) 
In the article “ Tides ” in the Encyclopaedia Britannica , Professor 
George Darwin, quoting Sir George B. Airy, remarks that the 
tides of the North Sea present a very remarkable peculiarity. Along 
the eastern coast of England as far as the mouth of the Thames, 
the tide-wave, coming from the Atlantic round the Orkney 
Islands, flows towards the south. Thus, on a certain day, it is high 
water in the Moray Eirth at 11 a.m., at Berwick at 2 p.m., at 
Flamborough Head at 5 p.m., and so on to the entrance to the 
Thames. Thus, on the day supposed, it will be high water off the 
Thames at 11 p.m., the tide having travelled in twelve hours from 
the Moray Firth. 
It is further stated that the North Sea is considerably deeper 
on the English side than on the German side ; so much so, that 
the tide-wave coming from the north runs into a deep bay of deep 
water, bounded on the west side by the Scottish and English coasts 
as far as Newcastle, and on the east side by the great Dogger 
Bank. As far as the latitude of Hull, the English side is still the 
deep one; and though a species of channel through the shoal 
there allows an opening to the east, yet immediately on the south 
of it is the Wells Bank, which again contracts the deep channel to 
the English side. 
It is not stated here that the deeper water of the North Sea 
close to the Scottish and English coasts determines the course of 
the southward tidal flow to be close to these coasts ; but for that 
course taken, no other cause is suggested. 
In the Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland for 
1896 there appeared a paper by Dr Fulton, scientific super- 
intendent to the Board, on “The Currents of the North Sea and 
their relation to Fisheries.” 
The method employed in collecting information regarding the 
currents of the North Sea was substantially that regularly used 
