The Ocean and its Wonders | Page 6

are informed that "all
deeps, fire, and hail, snow, and vapour, and stormy wind," are
"fulfilling God's word" (which information we are bound to receive as a
matter of faith if we be Christians, and as a matter of necessity if we be
men of common sense, because it is mere absurdity to suppose that the
"stormy winds," etcetera, are not fulfilling God's word--or will), we
now know, to a great extent from practical experience and scientific
investigation, that the winds blow and the waters of the ocean flow in
grand, regular, uninterrupted currents. Amongst these there are
numberless eddies, which, perhaps, have tended to fill our minds with
the idea of irregularity and confusion; but which, nevertheless, as well
as the grand currents themselves, are subject to law, and are utterly
devoid of caprice.
In regard to these matters there is much about which we are still in
ignorance. But the investigations of late years--especially those
conducted under the superintendence of Captain Maury of the
American Navy, and Doctors Carpenter and Thompson of
England--have shown that our atmosphere and our ocean act in
accordance with a systematic arrangement, many facts regarding which
have been discovered, and turned, in some cases, to practical account.
See Note 1.
A very interesting instance of the practical use to which scientific
inquiry can be turned, even in its beginnings, is given by Maury. After
telling us of the existence and nature of a current in the ocean called the
Gulf Stream, he gives the following account of the manner in which
upon one occasion be made use of his theoretical knowledge.
In the month of December 1853, the fine steam-ship San Francisco
sailed from New York with a regiment of United States troops on board,
bound for California by way of Cape Horn. She was overtaken, while
crossing the Gulf Stream, by a gale of wind, in which she was
dreadfully crippled. Her decks were swept, and, by one single blow of
those terrible seas that the storms raise in the Gulf Stream, more than in

any other part of the Atlantic, one hundred and seventy-nine souls,
officers and soldiers, were washed overboard and drowned.
The day after this disaster she was seen by one vessel, and again, the
next day, December 26th, by another; but neither of them could render
her any assistance.
When these two vessels arrived in the United States and reported what
they had seen, the most painful apprehensions were entertained by
friends for the safety of those on board the steamer. Vessels were sent
out to search for and relieve her. But where should these vessels go?
Where should they look?
An appeal was made to know what light the system of researches
carried on at the National Observatory concerning winds and currents
could throw upon the subject.
The materials they had been discussing were examined, and a chart was
prepared to show the course of the Gulf Stream at that season of the
year. Two revenue cutters were then appointed to proceed to sea in
search of the steamer, and Maury was requested to "furnish them with
instructions."
It will be observed here that the gentleman thus appealed to was at the
time engaged in his study at Washington, utterly ignorant of all that had
occurred within the previous few weeks on the stormy Atlantic, except
through the reports brought thence by ships. These reports furnished
him with meagre data to proceed upon--simply that a crippled steamer
had been seen in a certain latitude and longitude on a particular day.
But this information was sufficient for the practical man of science.
Proceeding upon the supposition that the steamer had been completely
disabled, he drew two lines on the chart to define the limits of her drift.
This his previous knowledge of the flow of the Gulf Stream at all
seasons of the year enabled him to do. Between these two lines, he said,
the steamer, if she could neither steam nor sail after the gale, had
drifted. And that she could neither steam nor sail he had good reason to
suppose from the account of her brought in by the vessels above

mentioned. A certain point was marked on the chart as being the spot
where the searching vessels might expect to fall in with the wreck.
While these preparations were being made, two ships fell in with the
wreck and relieved the crew. This, however, was not known at the time
by the anxious friends on shore. The cutters sailed on their mission, and
reached the indicated spot in the sea, where, of course, their assistance
was now unnecessary. But when the vessels that had relieved the crew
of the wreck arrived in harbour and reported where the wreck had been
last seen, it was found to be