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XXIV. On the Effect of zvesterly Winds in raising the Level of 
the British Channel. In a Letter to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph 
Banks, Bart. K. B. P. R. S. By James Rennell, Esq. F. R. S. 
Read June 22, 1809. 
Dear Sir, 
In the “ Observations on a Current that often prevails to the 
t( Westward of Stilly” which I had the honour to lay before 
the Royal Society many years ago, I slightly mentioned, as 
connected with the same subject, the effect of strong westerly 
winds, in raising the level of the British Channel ; and the 
escape of the super-incumbent waters, through the Strait of 
Dover, into the then lower level of the North Sea. 
The recent loss of the Britannia East India ship. Captain 
Birch, on the Goodwin Sands, has impressed this fact more 
strongly on my mind ; as I have no doubt that her loss was 
occasioned by a current, produced by the running off of the 
accumulated waters ; a violent gale from the westward then 
prevailing. The circumstances under which she was lost, 
were generally these : 
In January last she sailed from her anchorage between 
Dover and the South Foreland (on her way to Portsmouth), 
and was soon after assailed by a violent gale between the west 
and south-west. The thick weather preventing a view of the 
lights , the pilot was left entirely to the reckoning and the lead ; 
and when it was concluded that the ship was quite clear of 
