prevails to the westward of the Scilly Islands. 18,5 
facts, converge, as it were, to one point: that is, in the proof, 
that the waters of the Atlantic flow into the Bay of Biscay, 
along the north coast of Spain. 
It would seem that the north-westerly current, by Scilly, 
did not, at least in many cases, balance the easterly current 
round Cape Ortegal, and the land of Finisterre. * The loss of 
His Majesty’s frigate, Apollo, with most of her convoy, may 
surely be attributed to the operation of this current. Captain 
(afterwards Commissioner) Wallis, assured me, that after 
having made, as he supposed, ample allowance for clearing 
Finisterre, yet, in the night, he had a very narrow escape from 
shipwreck. Very many others have been brought into the 
same kind of danger : so that the land of Finisterre, were it 
not discernible at a considerable distance ; and its offing clear 
of rocks and shallows ; and moreover, situated in a finer cli- 
mate, would prove a kind of Scilly, to mariners. 
I have not been able to obtain any proofs, on record, con- 
cerning the course of the current, round the Bay of Biscay. I 
formerly collected some information from a French com- 
mander respecting it. He said, that the setting of the current 
along the coast of France, to the north and north-west, was 
a fact well understood ; and even acted on by many, in the 
choice of the tack, on which the current gave the greatest 
advantage, with dead winds. 
One circumstance, and that a very striking one, in respect 
* Nor, admitting an equal rate, in both places, could it well be. For the current 
enters the Bay of Biscay, in an east direction, but goes off from it, nortb-west. So 
that, if a ship was carried fifty miles to the NW. from Ushant, she would only have 
made about thirty five westing : but in the other case, she would be carried the whole 
fifty, eastward towards the Bay, and Cape Finisterre. 
Bb 
MDCCCXV. 
