prevails to the westward of the Stilly Islands. 195 
cannot turn short round so acute a point, as that formed by the 
Cape of Carnsore : such being the nature of all currents, whe- 
ther of water, or of air. And vessels will be carried to the 
north-eastward, accordingly, whilst they continue in the 
stream of the current. The southerly current which passes 
by Dublin, enters probably into, and merges in the stream in 
question ; as the same kind of current, on the eastern side of 
England, falls into that, which passes the Strait of Dover, and 
afterwards runs along the Coasts of Flanders, Holland, &c. 
The use of being well informed, concerning these partial 
currents, in narrow seas, is obvious : since the want of such 
information may, in a moment, be fatal to a ship, and her 
whole crew. This cannot be more strongly enforced, than 
by calling to mind the circumstances under which a frigate 
was lost, with her crew, during the war, just terminated. She 
sailed either from the Downs, or the Thames, to the Helder, 
and ran in the night, under full sail, on one of the shoals, 
lying before it. Had the Commander known that there is a 
general set , or current, from the strait of Dover (i. e. at the 
back of the Goodwin Sand), along the Coast of Flanders, 
Holland, Jutland, &c., and which is estimated to be equal to 
twenty-five miles, on an ordinary passage to the Texel, he 
would not have run on, during the night : or, at least, with- 
out the precaution of sounding. 
Again, the Britannia India ship, in 1809, was lost on the 
back of the Goodwin Sand ; probably through ignorance of 
the acceleration of the same current, during a violent gale at 
west, or south-west. A pilot would be reckoned deficient, 
who did not know the direction and force of the several 
streams of tide, at all seasons, within his province. There 
Cc 2 
