Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 1 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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To The East Of The Port Of Boston, And On The Meridian Of Halifax,
In Latitude 41 Degrees 25 Minutes, And Longitude 67 Degrees, The
Current Is Near 80 Leagues Broad.
From this point it turns suddenly
to the east, so that its western edge, as it bends, becomes the
western limit of the running waters, skirting the extremity of the
great bank of Newfoundland, which M. Volney ingeniously calls the
bar of the mouth of this enormous sea-river.
The cold waters of
this bank, which according to my experiments are at a temperature
of 8.7 or 10 degrees (7 or 8 degrees R.) present a striking
contrast with the waters of the torrid zone, driven northward by
the Gulf-stream, the temperature of which is from 21 to 22.5
degrees (17 to 18 degrees R.). in these latitudes, the caloric is
distributed in a singular manner throughout the ocean; the waters
of the bank are 9.4 degrees colder than the neighbouring sea; and
this sea is 3 degrees colder than the current. These zones can have
no equilibrium of temperature, having a source of heat, or a cause
of refrigeration, which is peculiar to each, and the influence of
which is permanent.
From the bank of Newfoundland, or from the 52nd degree of longitude
to the Azores, the Gulf-stream continues its course to east and
east-south-east. The waters are still acted upon by the impulsion
they received near a thousand leagues distance, in the straits of
Florida, between the island of Cuba and the shoals of Tortoise
Island. This distance is double the length of the course of the
river Amazon, from Jaen or the straits of Manseriche to Grand Para.
On the meridian of the islands of Corvo and Flores, the most
western of the group of the Azores, the breadth of the current is
160 leagues. When vessels, on their return from South America to
Europe, endeavour to make these two islands to rectify their
longitude, they are always sensible of the motion of the waters to
south-east. At the 33rd degree of latitude the equinoctial current
of the tropics is in the near vicinity of the Gulf-stream. In this
part of the ocean, we may in a single day pass from waters that
flow towards the west, into those which run to the south-east or
east-south-east.
From the Azores, the current of Florida turns towards the straits
of Gibraltar, the isle of Madeira, and the group of the Canary
Islands. The opening of the Pillars of Hercules has no doubt
accelerated the motion of the waters towards the east. We may in
this point of view assert, that the strait, by which the
Mediterranean communicates with the Atlantic, produces its effects
at a great distance; but it is probable also, that, without the
existence of this strait, vessels sailing to Teneriffe would be
driven south-east by a cause which we must seek on the coasts of
the New World.
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