that often prevails to the Westward of Scilly. 193 
the 2d of February, at 3 in the afternoon, it appeared that 
she had been set two whole degrees of longitude to the west 
of the reckoning, since the 30th at noon ; that is, in the 
course of 51 hours. (Here it may be proper to remark, that 
I have, throughout, reckoned according to sea time ; that is, 
the day commences at noon.) 
On the 3d of February, at noon, the time keepers shewed 
a further set, of 23 minutes of longitude, more than the 
reckoning gave, in the interval since the last observation, 
which was 45 hours ; so that, since the 30th of January, 4 days 
only, the ship had been carried by the current, no less than 
two degrees and twenty-three minutes ; and since the 27th, 
when the gale began, 2 0 32' of longitude ; amounting, in these 
parallels, to ninety-nine marine miles. But here, the current 
appears to have totally left them ; and it is very probable, 
that it even ceased before the time of observation, on the 3d : 
for the succeeding observations of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 10th, 
and 11th, although the strong westerly gales continued, come 
so near the longitude by the reckoning (deduced from the 
observation of the 3d) that the differences, which are some- 
times to the east, and at other times to the west, may be 
with more propriety ascribed to errors of the log, than to a 
current; as may be seen by the two tracks on the chart. 
We may therefore conclude, that the current did not cease at 
the very point of time, when the observation of the 3d was 
taken, but probably some time before. 
It appears then, that the Atlas experienced a westerly cur- 
rent, from a point about 24 leagues to the WSW of Scilly, (if 
not earlier) to four degrees of longitude west of the meridian 
