Chapter VII: Front Matter (7)

Several mechanical projectors have at different times proposed to give motion to boats, and even to ships, by means of circular rowing, or paddles placed on the circumference of wheels to be turned constantly on each side of the vessel; but this method, though frequently tried, has never been found so effectual as to encourage a continuance of the practice. I do not know that the reason has hitherto been given. Perhaps it may be this, that great part of the force employed contributes little to the motion. For instance, (fig. 12) of the four paddles a, b, c, d, all under water, and turning to move a boat from X to Y, c has the most power, b nearly though not quite as much, their motion being nearly horizontal; but the force employed in moving a, is consumed in pressing almost downright upon the water till it comes to the place of b; and the force employed in moving d is consumed in lifting the water till d arrives at the surface; by which means much of the labour is lost. It is true, that by placing the wheels higher out of the water, this waste labour will be diminished in a calm, but where a sea runs, the wheels must unavoidably be often dipt deep in the waves, and the turning of them thereby rendered very laborious to little purpose.

Among the various means of giving motion to a boat, that of M. Bernoulli appears one of the most singular, which was to have fixed in the boat a tube in the form of an L, the upright part to have a funnel-kind of opening at top, convenient for filling the tube with water; which, descending and passing through the lower horizontal part, and issuing in the middle of the stern, but under the surface of the river, should push the boat forward. There is no doubt that the force of the descending water would have a considerable effect, greater in proportion to the height from which it descended; but then it is to be considered, that every bucket-full pumped or dipped up into the boat, from its side or through its bottom, must have its _vis inertiæ_ overcome so as to receive the motion of the boat, before it can come to give motion by its descent; and that will be a deduction from the moving power. To remedy this, I would propose the addition of another such L pipe, and that they should stand back to back in the boat thus, figure 13, the forward one being worked as a pump, and sucking in the water at the head of the boat, would draw it forward while pushed in the same direction by the force at the stern. And after all it should be calculated whether the labour of pumping would be less than that of rowing. A fire-engine might possibly in some cases be applied in this operation with advantage.

Perhaps this labour of raising water might be spared, and the whole force of a man applied to the moving of a boat by the use of air instead of water; suppose the boat constructed in this form, figure 14. A, a tube round or square of two feet diameter, in which a piston may move up and down. The piston to have valves in it, opening inwards to admit air when the piston rises; and shutting, when it is forced down by means of the lever B turning on the centre C. The tube to have a valve D, to open when the piston is forced down, and let the air pass out at E, which striking forcibly against the water abaft must push the boat forward. If there is added an air-vessel F properly valved and placed, the force would continue to act while a fresh stroke is taken with the lever. The boat-man might stand with his back to the stern, and putting his hands behind him, work the motion by taking hold of the cross bar at B, while another should steer; or if he had two such pumps, one on each side of the stern, with a lever for each hand, he might steer himself by working occasionally more or harder with either hand, as watermen now do with a pair of sculls. There is no position in which the body of a man can exert more strength than in pulling right upwards. To obtain more swiftness, greasing the bottom of a vessel is sometimes used, and with good effect. I do not know that any writer has hitherto attempted to explain this. At first sight one would imagine, that though the friction of a hard body, sliding on another hard body, and the resistance occasioned by that friction, might be diminished by putting grease between them, yet that a body sliding on a fluid, such as water, should have no need of, nor receive any advantage from such greasing. But the fact is not disputed. And the reason perhaps may be this--The particles of water have a mutual attraction, called the attraction of adhesion. Water also adheres to wood, and to many other substances, but not to grease: on the contrary they have a mutual repulsion, so that it is a question whether when oil is poured on water, they ever actually touch each other; for a drop of oil upon water, instead of sticking to the spot where it falls, as it would if it fell on a looking-glass, spreads instantly to an immense distance in a film extremely thin, which it could not easily do if it touched and rubbed or adhered even in a small degree to the surface of the water. Now the adhesive force of water to itself, and to other substances, may be estimated from the weight of it necessary to separate a drop, which adheres, while growing, till it has weight enough to force the separation and break the drop off. Let us suppose the drop to be the size of a pea, then there will be as many of these adhesions as there are drops of that size touching the bottom of a vessel, and these must be broken by the moving power, every step of her motion that amounts to a drop's breadth: and there being no such adhesions to break between the water and a greased bottom, may occasion the difference.

So much respecting the motion of vessels. But we have sometimes occasion to stop their motion; and if a bottom is near enough we can cast anchor: where there are no soundings, we have as yet no means to prevent driving in a storm, but by lying-to, which still permits driving at the rate of about two miles an hour; so that in a storm continuing fifty hours, which is not an uncommon case, the ship may drive one hundred miles out of her course; and should she in that distance meet with a lee shore, she may be lost.

To prevent this driving to leeward in deep water, a swimming anchor is wanting, which ought to have these properties.

1. It should have a surface so large as, being at the end of a hauser in the water, and placed perpendicularly, should hold so much of it, as to bring the ship's head to the wind, in which situation the wind has least power to drive her.

2. It should be able by its resistance to prevent the ship's receiving way.

3. It should be capable of being situated below the heave of the sea, but not below the undertow.

4. It should not take up much room in the ship.

5. It should be easily thrown out, and put into its proper situation.

6. It should be easy to take in again, and stow away.

An ingenious old mariner, whom I formerly knew, proposed, as a swimming anchor for a large ship, to have a stem of wood twenty-five feet long and four inches square, with four boards of 18, 16, 14, and 12, feet long, and one foot wide, the boards to have their substance thickened several inches in the middle by additional wood, and to have each a four inch square hole through its middle, to permit its being slipt on occasionally upon the stem, and at right angles with it; where all being placed and fixed at four feet distance from each other, it would have the appearance of the old mathematical instrument called a forestaff. This thrown into the sea, and held by a hauser veered out to some length, he conceived would bring a vessel up, and prevent her driving, and when taken in might be stowed away by separating the boards from the stem. Figure 15. Probably such a swimming anchor would have some good effect, but it is subject to this objection, that lying on the surface of the sea, it is liable to be hove forward by every wave, and thereby give so much leave for the ship to drive.

Two machines for this purpose have occurred to me, which, though not so simple as the above, I imagine would be more effectual, and more easily manageable. I will endeavour to describe them, that they may be submitted to your judgment, whether either would be serviceable; and if they would, to which we should give the preference.

The first is to be formed, and to be used in the water on almost the same principles with those of a paper kite used in the air. Only as the paper kite rises in the air, this is to descend in the water. Its dimensions will be different for ships of different size.

To make one of suppose fifteen feet high; take a small spar of that length for the back-bone, AB, figure 16, a smaller of half that length CD, for the cross piece. Let these be united by a bolt at E, yet so as that by turning on the bolt they may be laid parallel to each other. Then make a sail of strong canvas, in the shape of figure 17. To form this, without waste of sail-cloth, sew together pieces of the proper length, and for half the breadth, as in figure 18, then cut the whole in the diagonal lines a, b, c, and turn the piece F so as to place its broad part opposite to that of the piece G, and the piece H in like manner opposite to I, which when all sewed together will appear as in fig. 17. This sail is to be extended on the cross of figure 16, the top and bottom points well secured to the ends of the long spar; the two side points d, e, fastened to the ends of two cords, which coming from the angle of the loop (which must be similar to the loop of a kite) pass through two rings at the ends of the short spar, so as that on pulling upon the loop the sail will be drawn to its extent. The whole may, when aboard, be furled up, as in figure 19, having a rope from its broad end, to which is tied a bag of ballast for keeping that end downwards when in the water, and at the other end another rope with an empty keg at its end to float on the surface; this rope long enough to permit the kite's descending into the undertow, or if you please lower into still water. It should be held by a hauser. To get it home easily, a small loose rope may be veered out with it, fixed to the keg. Hauling on that rope will bring the kite home with small force, the resistance being small as it will then come end ways.

It seems probable that such a kite at the end of a long hauser would keep a ship with her head to the wind, and, resisting every tug, would prevent her driving so fast as when her side is exposed to it, and nothing to hold her back. If only half the driving is prevented, so as that she moves but fifty miles instead of the hundred during a storm, it may be some advantage, both in holding so much distance as is saved, and in keeping from a lee-shore. If single canvas should not be found strong enough to bear the tug without splitting, it may be doubled, or strengthened by a netting behind it, represented by figure 20.

The other machine for the same purpose, is to be made more in the form of an umbrella, as represented, figure 21. The stem of the umbrella a square spar of proper length, with four moveable arms, of which two are represented C, C, figure 22. These arms to be fixed in four joint cleats, as D, D, &c. one on each side of the spar, but so as that the four arms may open by turning on a pin in the joint. When open they form a cross, on which a four-square canvas sail is to be extended, its corners fastened to the ends of the four arms. Those ends are also to be stayed by ropes fastened to the stem or spar, so as to keep them short of being at right angles with it: and to the end of one of the arms should be hung the small bag of ballast, and to the end of the opposite arm the empty keg. This, on being thrown into the sea, would immediately open; and when it had performed its function, and the storm over, a small rope from its other end being pulled on, would turn it, close it, and draw it easily home to the ship. This machine seems more simple in its operation, and more easily manageable than the first, and perhaps may be as effectual[32].

Vessels are sometimes retarded, and sometimes forwarded in their voyages, by currents at sea, which are often not perceived. About the year 1769 or 70, there was an application made by the board of customs at Boston, to the lords of the treasury in London, complaining that the packets between Falmouth and New-York, were generally a fortnight longer in their passages, than merchant-ships from London to Rhode-Island, and proposing that for the future they should be ordered to Rhode-Island instead of New-York. Being then concerned in the management of the American post-office, I happened to be consulted on the occasion; and it appearing strange to me that there should be such a difference between two places, scarce a day's run asunder, especially when the merchant-ships are generally deeper laden, and more weakly manned than the packets, and had from London the whole length of the river and channel to run before they left the land of England, while the packets had only to go from Falmouth, I could not but think the fact misunderstood or misrepresented. There happened then to be in London a Nantucket sea-captain of my acquaintance, to whom I communicated the affair. He told me he believed the fact might be true; but the difference was owing to this, that the Rhode-Island captains were acquainted with the gulf-stream, which those of the English packets were not. We are well acquainted with that stream, says he, because in our pursuit of whales, which keep near the sides of it, but are not to be met with in it, we run down along the sides, and frequently cross it to change our side: and in crossing it have sometimes met and spoke with those packets, who were in the middle of it, and stemming it. We have informed them that they were stemming a current, that was against them to the value of three miles an hour; and advised them to cross it and get out of it; but they were too wise to be counselled by simple American fishermen. When the winds are but light, he added, they are carried back by the current more than they are forwarded by the wind: and if the wind be good, the subtraction of 70 miles a day from their course is of some importance. I then observed it was a pity no notice was taken of this current upon the charts, and requested him to mark it out for me, which he readily complied with, adding directions for avoiding it in sailing from Europe to North-America. I procured it to be engraved by order from the general post-office, on the old chart of the Atlantic, at Mount and Page's, Tower-hill; and copies were sent down to Falmouth for the captains of the packets, who slighted it however; but it is since printed in France, of which edition I hereto annex a copy.

This stream is probably generated by the great accumulation of water on the eastern coast of America between the tropics, by the trade-winds which constantly blow there. It is known that a large piece of water ten miles broad and generally only three feet deep, has by a strong wind had its waters driven to one side and sustained so as to become six feet deep, while the windward side was laid dry. This may give some idea of the quantity heaped up on the American coast, and the reason of its running down in a strong current through the islands into the bay of Mexico, and from thence issuing through the gulph of Florida, and proceeding along the coast to the banks of Newfoundland, where it turns off towards and runs down through the Western Islands. Having since crossed this stream several times in passing between America and Europe, I have been attentive to sundry circumstances relating to it, by which to know when one is in it; and besides the gulph weed with which it is interspersed, I find that it is always warmer than the sea on each side of it, and that it does not sparkle in the night: I annex hereto the observations made with the thermometer in two voyages, and possibly may add a third. It will appear from them, that the thermometer may be an useful instrument to a navigator, since currents coming from the northward into southern seas, will probably be found colder than the water of those seas, as the currents from southern seas into northern are found warmer. And it is not to be wondered that so vast a body of deep warm water, several leagues wide, coming from between the tropics and issuing out of the gulph into the northern seas, should retain its warmth longer than the twenty or thirty days required to its passing the banks of Newfoundland. The quantity is too great, and it is too deep to be suddenly cooled by passing under a cooler air. The air immediately over it, however, may receive so much warmth from it as to be rarefied and rise, being rendered lighter than the air on each side of the stream; hence those airs must flow in to supply the place of the rising warm air, and, meeting with each other, form those tornados and water-spouts frequently met with, and seen near and over the stream; and as the vapour from a cup of tea in a warm room, and the breath of an animal in the same room, are hardly visible, but become sensible immediately when out in the cold air, so the vapour from the gulph stream, in warm latitudes is scarcely visible, but when it comes into the cool air from Newfoundland, it is condensed into the fogs, for which those parts are so remarkable.

The power of wind to raise water above its common level in the sea is known to us in America, by the high tides occasioned in all our sea-ports when a strong north-easter blows against the gulph stream.

The conclusion from these remarks is, that a vessel from Europe to North-America may shorten her passage by avoiding to stem the stream, in which the thermometer will be very useful; and a vessel from America to Europe may do the same by the same means of keeping in it. It may have often happened accidentally, that voyages have been shortened by these circumstances. It is well to have the command of them.

But may there not be another cause, independent of winds and currents, why passages are generally shorter from America to Europe than from Europe to America? This question I formerly considered in the following short paper.

On board the Pennsylvania Packet, Capt. Osborne.

_At Sea_, _April 5, 1775._

"Suppose a ship to make a voyage eastward from a place in lat. 40° north, to a place in lat. 50° north, distance in longitude 75 degrees.

"In sailing from 40 to 50, she goes from a place where a degree of longitude is about eight miles greater than in the place she is going to. A degree is equal to four minutes of time; consequently the ship in the harbour she leaves, partaking of the diurnal motion of the earth, moves two miles in a minute faster, than when in the port she is going to; which is 120 miles in an hour.

"This motion in a ship and cargo is of great force; and if she could be lifted up suddenly from the harbour in which she lay quiet, and set down instantly in the latitude of the port she was bound to, though in a calm, that force contained in her would make her run a great way at a prodigious rate. This force must be lost gradually in her voyage, by gradual impulse against the water, and probably thence shorten the voyage. Query, In returning does the contrary happen, and is her voyage thereby retarded and lengthened?"[33]

Would it not be a more secure method of planking ships, if, instead of thick single planks laid horizontally, we were to use planks of half the thickness, and lay them double and across each other as in figure 23? To me it seems that the difference of expence would not be considerable, and that the ship would be both tighter and stronger.

The securing of the ship is not the only necessary thing; securing the health of the sailors, a brave and valuable order of men, is likewise of great importance. With this view the methods so successfully practised by Captain Cook in his long voyages cannot be too closely studied or carefully imitated. A full account of those methods is found in Sir John Pringle's speech, when the medal of the Royal Society was given to that illustrious navigator. I am glad to see in his last voyage that he found the means effectual which I had proposed for preserving flour, bread, &c. from moisture and damage. They were found dry and good after being at sea four years. The method is described in my printed works, page 452, fifth edition[34]. In the same, page 469, 470[35], is proposed a means of allaying thirst in case of want of fresh water. This has since been practised in two instances with success. Happy if their hunger, when the other provisions are consumed, could be relieved as commodiously; and perhaps in time this may be found not impossible. An addition might be made to their present vegetable provision, by drying various roots in slices by the means of an oven. The sweet potatoe of America and Spain is excellent for this purpose. Other potatoes, with carrots, parsnips and turnips, might be prepared and preserved in the same manner.

With regard to make-shifts in cases of necessity, seamen are generally very ingenious themselves. They will excuse however the mention of two or three. If they happen in any circumstance, such as after shipwreck, taking to their boat, or the like, to want a compass, a fine sewing-needle laid on clear water in a cup will generally point to the north, most of them being a little magnetical, or may be made so by being strongly rubbed or hammered, lying in a north and south direction. If their needle is too heavy to float by itself, it may be supported by little pieces of cork or wood. A man who can swim, may be aided in a long traverse by his handkerchief formed into a kite, by two cross sticks extending to the four corners; which, being raised in the air when the wind is fair and fresh, will tow him along while lying on his back. Where force is wanted to move a heavy body, and there are but few hands and no machines, a long and strong rope may make a powerful instrument. Suppose a boat is to be drawn up on a beach, that she may be out of the surf; a stake drove into the beach where you would have the boat drawn, and another to fasten the end of the rope to, which comes from the boat, and then applying what force you have to pull upon the middle of the rope at right angles with it, the power will be augmented in proportion to the length of rope between the posts. The rope being fastened to the stake A, and drawn upon in the direction C D, will slide over the stake B; and when the rope is bent to the angle A D B, represented by the pricked line in figure 24, the boat will be at B.

Some sailors may think the writer has given himself unnecessary trouble in pretending to advise them; for they have a little repugnance to the advice of landmen, whom they esteem ignorant and incapable of giving any worth notice; though it is certain that most of their instruments were the invention of landmen. At least the first vessel ever made to go on the water was certainly such. I will therefore add only a few words more, and they shall be addressed to passengers.

When you intend a long voyage, you may do well to keep your intention as much as possible a secret, or at least the time of your departure; otherwise you will be continually interrupted in your preparations by the visits of friends and acquaintance, who will not only rob you of the time you want, but put things out of your mind, so that when you come to sea, you have the mortification to recollect points of business that ought to have been done, accounts you intended to settle, and conveniencies you had proposed to bring with you, &c. &c. all which have been omitted through the effect of these officious friendly visits. Would it not be well if this custom could be changed; if the voyager after having, without interruption, made all his preparations, should use some of the time he has left, in going himself to take leave of his friends at their own houses, and let them come to congratulate him on his happy return.

It is not always in your power to make a choice in your captain, though much of your comfort in the passage may depend on his personal character, as you must for so long a time be confined to his company, and under his direction; if he be a sensible, sociable, good-natured, obliging man, you will be so much the happier. Such there are; but if he happens to be otherwise, and is only skilful, careful, watchful and active in the conduct of his ship, excuse the rest, for these are the essentials.

Whatever right you may have by agreement in the mass of stores laid in by him for the passengers, it is good to have some particular things in your own possession, so as to be always at your own command.

1. Good water, that of the ship being often bad. You can be sure of having it good only by bottling it from a clear spring or well and in clean bottles. 2. Good tea. 3. Coffee ground. 4. Chocolate. 5. Wine of the sort you particularly like, and cyder. 6. Raisins. 7. Almonds. 8. Sugar. 9. Capillaire. 10. Lemons. 11. Jamaica spirits. 12. Eggs greased. 13. Diet bread 14. Portable soup. 15. Rusks. As to fowls, it is not worth while to have any called yours, unless you could have the feeding and managing of them according to your own judgment under your own eye. As they are generally treated at present in ships, they are for the most part sick, and their flesh tough and hard as whit-leather. All seamen have an opinion, broached I supposed at first prudently, for saving of water when short, that fowls do not know when they have drank enough, and will kill themselves if you give them too much, so they are served with a little only once in two days. This is poured into troughs that lie sloping, and therefore immediately runs down to the lower end. There the fowls ride upon one another's backs to get at it, and some are not happy enough to reach and once dip their bills in it. Thus tantalized, and tormented with thirst, they cannot digest their dry food, they fret, pine, sicken and die. Some are found dead, and thrown overboard every morning, and those killed for the table are not eatable. Their troughs should be in little divisions, like cups, to hold the water separately, figure 25. But this is never done. The sheep and hogs are therefore your best dependance for fresh meat at sea, the mutton being generally tolerable and the pork excellent.

It is possible your captain may have provided so well in the general stores, as to render some of the particulars above recommended of little or no use to you. But there are frequently in the ship poorer passengers, who are taken at a lower price, lodge in the steerage, and have no claim to any of the cabin provisions, or to any but those kinds that are allowed the sailors. These people are sometimes dejected, sometimes sick, there may be women and children among them. In a situation where there is no going to market, to purchase such necessaries, a few of these your superfluities distributed occasionally may be of great service, restore health, save life, make the miserable happy, and thereby afford you infinite pleasure.

The worst thing in ordinary merchant ships is the cookery. They have no professed cook, and the worst hand as a seaman is appointed to that office, in which he is not only very ignorant but very dirty. The sailors have therefore a saying, that _God sends meat and the devil cooks_. Passengers more piously disposed, and willing to believe heaven orders all things for the best, may suppose, that, knowing the sea-air and constant exercise by the motion of the vessel would give us extraordinary appetites, bad cooks were kindly sent to prevent our eating too much; or that, foreseeing we should have bad cooks, good appetites were furnished to prevent our starving. If you cannot trust to these circumstances, a spirit-lamp, with a blaze-pan, may enable you to cook some little things for yourself; such as a hash, a soup, &c. And it might be well also to have among your stores some potted meats, which if well put up will keep long good. A small tin oven, to place with the open side before the fire, may be another good utensil, in which your own servant may roast for you a bit of pork or mutton. You will sometimes be induced to eat of the ship's salt beef, as it is often good. You will find cyder the best quencher of that thirst which salt meat or fish occasions. The ship biscuit is too hard for some sets of teeth. It may be softened by toasting. But rusk is better; for being made of good fermented bread, sliced and baked a second time, the pieces imbibe the water easily, soften immediately, digest more kindly, and are therefore more wholesome than the unfermented biscuit. By the way, rusk is the true original biscuit, so prepared to keep for sea, biscuit in French signifying twice baked. If your dry peas boil hard, a two-pound iron shot put with them into the pot, will by the motion of the ship grind them as fine as mustard.

The accidents I have seen at sea with large dishes of soup upon a table, from the motion of the ship, have made me wish, that our potters or pewterers would make soup-dishes in divisions, like a set of small bowls united together, each containing about sufficient for one person, in some such form as fig. 26; for then when the ship should make a sudden heel, the soup would not in a body flow over one side, and fall into people's laps and scald them, as is sometimes the case, but would be retained in the separate divisions, as in figure 27.

After these trifles, permit the addition of a few general reflections. Navigation, when employed in supplying necessary provisions to a country in want, and thereby preventing famines, which were more frequent and destructive before the invention of that art, is undoubtedly a blessing to mankind. When employed merely in transporting superfluities, it is a question whether the advantage of the employment it affords is equal to the mischief of hazarding so many lives on the ocean. But when employed in pillaging merchants and transporting slaves, it is clearly the means of augmenting the mass of human misery. It is amazing to think of the ships and lives risqued in fetching tea from China, coffee from Arabia, sugar and tobacco from America, all which our ancestors did well without. Sugar employs near one thousand ships, tobacco almost as many. For the utility of tobacco there is little to be said; and for that of sugar, how much more commendable would it be if we could give up the few minutes gratification afforded once or twice a day by the taste of sugar in our tea, rather than encourage the cruelties exercised in producing it. An eminent French moralist says, that when he considers the wars we excite in Africa to obtain slaves, the numbers necessarily slain in those wars, the many prisoners who perish at sea by sickness, bad provisions, foul air, &c. &c. in the transportation, and how many afterwards die from the hardships of slavery, he cannot look on a piece of sugar without conceiving it stained with spots of human blood! Had he added the consideration of the wars we make to take and retake the sugar islands from one another, and the fleets and armies that perish in those expeditions, he might have seen his sugar not merely spotted, but thoroughly dyed scarlet in grain. It is these wars that make the maritime powers of Europe, the inhabitants of London and Paris, pay dearer for sugar than those of Vienna, a thousand miles from the sea; because their sugar costs not only the price they pay for it by the pound, but all they pay in taxes to maintain the fleets and armies that fight for it.

With great esteem, I am, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

FOOTNOTES:

[30] This letter and the annexed paper on the Gulph stream, are taken from the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, in which they were read December 2, 1785. _Editor._

[31] The motion of the vessel made it inconvenient to try this simple experiment at sea, when the proposal of it was written. But it has been tried since we came on shore, and succeeded as the other.

[32] Captain Truxton, on board whose ship this was written, has executed this proposed machine; he has given six arms to the umbrella, they are joined to the stem by iron hinges, and the canvas is double. He has taken it with him to China. February, 1786.

[33] Since this paper was read at the Society, an ingenious member, Mr. Patterson, has convinced the writer that the returning voyage would not, from this cause, be retarded.

[34] See the Paper referred to, Vol. I. p. 376. _Editor._

[35] See Vol. II. p. 104. _Editor._

_Plate VII. Vol. II. page 197._

A
CHART
of The
_GULPH STREAM_.

_Published as the Act directs, April 1, 1806, by Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, Paternoster Row._]

_Remarks upon the Navigation from Newfoundland to New-York, in
order to avoid the Gulph Stream on one hand, and on the other the
Shoals that lie to the Southward of Nantucket and of St. George's
Banks._

After you have passed the banks of Newfoundland in about the 44th degree of latitude, you will meet with nothing, till you draw near the Isle of Sables, which we commonly pass in latitude 43. Southward of this isle, the current is found to extend itself as far north as 41° 20′ or 30′, then it turns towards the E. S. E. or S. E. ¼ E.

Having passed the Isle of Sables, shape your course for the St. George's Banks, so as to pass them in about latitude 40°, because the current southward of those banks reaches as far north as 39°. The shoals of those banks lie in 41° 35′.

After having passed St. George's Banks, you must, to clear Nantucket, form your course so as to pass between the latitudes 38° 30′ and 40° 45′.

The most southern part of the shoals of Nantucket lie in about 40° 45′. The northern part of the current directly to the south of Nantucket is felt in about latitude 38° 30′.

By observing these directions and keeping between the stream and the shoals, the passage from the Banks of Newfoundland to New-York, Delaware, or Virginia, may be considerably shortened; for so you will have the advantage of the eddy current, which moves contrary to the Gulph Stream. Whereas if to avoid the shoals you keep too far to the southward, and get into that stream, you will be retarded by it at the rate of 60 or 70 miles a day.

The Nantucket whale-men being extremely well acquainted with the Gulph Stream, its course, strength, and extent, by their constant practice of whaling on the edges of it, from their island quite down to the Bahamas, this draft of that stream was obtained from one of them, Captain Folges, and caused to be engraved on the old chart in London, for the benefit of navigators, by

B. FRANKLIN.

_Note_, The Nantucket captains who are acquainted with this stream, make their voyages from England to Boston in as short a time generally as others take in going from Boston to England, viz. from twenty to thirty days.

A stranger may know when he is in the Gulph Stream, by the warmth of the water, which is much greater than that of the water on each side of it. If then he is bound to the westward, he should cross the stream to get out of it as soon as possible.

B. FRANKLIN.

OBSERVATIONS _of the Warmth of the_ SEA-WATER, &c. _by Fahrenheit's
Thermometer, in crossing the Gulph Stream; with other Remarks made
on board the Pennsylvania Packet, Capt. Osborne, bound from London
to Philadelphia, in April and May, 1775_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date| Hour |Temp|Temp |Wind|Course|Dist-| Lat |Long | Remarks. |
| | | of | of | | |ance | N. | W. | |
| | | Air|Water| | | | | | |
|----+-------+----+-----+----+------+-----+-----+-----+------------------|
| Apr| | | | | | | | | |
| 10| | | 62 | | | | | | |
| 11| | | 61 | | | | | | |
| 12| | | 64 | | | | | | |
| 13| | | 65 | | | | | | |
| 14| | | 65 | | | | ° ′| ° ′| |
| 26| | 60 | 70 | | | |37 39|60 38|Much gulph weed; |
| | | | | | | | | | saw a whale. |
| 27| | 60 | 70 | SSE| WbS | |37 13|62 29|Colour of water |
| | | | | | | | | | changed. |
| 28| 8 A.M.| 70 | 64 | SW | WNW | |37 48|64 35|No gulph weed. |
| --| 6 P.M.| 67 | 60 | | | 34 | | |Sounded, no bottom|
| 29| 8 A.M.| 63 | 71 | N | W | 44 |37 26|66 0|Much light in the |
| | | | | | | | | | water last night.|
| --| 5 P.M.| 65 | 72 | NE | | 57 | | |Water again of the|
| --|11 dit.| 66 | 66 |NWbN| WbS | 57 | | | usual deep sea |
| 30| 8 A.M.| 64 | 70 | NE | WbN | 69 | | | colour, little or|
| | | | | | | | | | no light in it at|
| | | | | | | | | | night. |
| --|12 | 62 | 70 | | EbS | 24 |37 20|68 53|Freq. gulph weed, |
| --| 6 P.M.| 64 | 72 | ESE| WbN | 43 | | | water continues of
| | | | | | | | | | sea colour, little
| | | | | | | | | | light. |
| --|10 dit.| 65 | 65 | S | | 25 | | |Much light. |
| May| | | | | | | | | |
| 1| 7 A.M.| 68 | 63 | | | 60 | | |Much light all |
| | | | | | | | | | last night. |
| --|12 | 65 | 56 | SSW| WNW | 44 |38 13|72 2 |Colour of water |
| | | | | | | | | | changed. |
| --| 4 P.M.| 64 | 56 | | WbN | 21 | | | |
| --|10 dit.| 64 | 57 | SW | WNW | 31 | | |Much light. |
| 2| 8 A.M.| 62 | 53 | | | 18 |38 43|74 3|Much light. Thunder
| | | | | | | | | | -gust. |
| --|12 | 60 | 53 | WSW| NW | 18 | | | |
| --| 6 P.M.| 64 | 55 | NW| WSW | 15 | | | |
| --|10 | 65 | 55 | NbW| WbN | 10 | | | |
| 3| 7 A.M.| 62 | 54 | | | 30 |38 30|75 0| |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVATIONS _of the Warmth of the_ SEA-WATER, &c. _by Fahrenheit's
Thermometer; with other Remarks made on board the Reprisal, Capt.
Wycks, bound from Philadelphia to France, in October and November,
1776_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date |Hour|Hour|Temp|Temp |Wind|Course|Dist-| Lat |Long | Remarks |
| |A.M.|P.M.| of | of | | |ance | N. | W. | |
| | | | Air|Water| | | | | | |
|-----+----+----+----+-----+----+------+-----+-----+-----+---------------
| Oct | | | | | | | | | |Left the capes |
| 31| 10 | | 76 | 70 |SSE | EbS | 135 |38 12|70 30|Thursday night,|
| --| | 4 | | 71 | | | | | |Oct 29, 1776 |
| Nov | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1| 10 | | | 78 |WSW | E½N | 109 |No ob|68 12| |
| --| | 4 | 71 | 81 | | | | | | |
| 2| 8 | | 71 | 75 | N | | | | |Some sparks in |
| --| 12 | | | 78 | | | 141 |ditto|65 23|the water these|
| --| | 4 | 67 | 76 | | | | | |two last nights|
| 3| 8 | | | 76 | NW | ESE½E| | | | |
| --| 12 | | | 76 | | EbS | 160 |37 0|62 7| |
| --| | 4 | 70 | 76 | | | | | | |
| 4| 9 | | 68 | 76 | | NbE | | | |Ditto. |
| --| | 1 | | 76 | | | 194 |36 26|58 8| |
| --| | 4 | 68 | 76 | | | | | | |
| --| | 8 | | 78 | | | | | | |
| 5| 8 | | 68 | 76 | | NE | | | |Ditto. |
| --| 12 | | 70 | 75 | | | 163 |35 21|55 3| |
| --| | 4 | | 75 | | | | | | |
| --| | 8 | | 75 | | | | | | |
| 6| 8 | | | 76 |EbN | S50E | | | | |
| --| 12 | | | 77 | | | 7 |35 33|53 52| |
| 7| 8 | | | 78 |SEbE| N30W | | | | |
| --| 12 | | | 77 | | | 108 |36 6|52 46| |
| --| | 4 | | 77 | | | | | | |
| 8| 9 | | 75 | 77 |SbE | N49E | | | | |
| --| 12 | | | 77 | | | 175 |38 2|50 1| |
| --| | 4 | | 77 | | | | | | |
| 9| 9 | | 75 | 77 | | | | | | |
| --| 12 | | 75 | 70 | SW | N33E | 175 |39 39|46 55| |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVATIONS MADE ON BOARD THE REPRISAL, CONTINUED.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Date.|Hour|Hour|Temp|Temp |Wind|Course|Dist-| Lat |Long |Remarks. |
| |A.M.|P.M.| of | of | | |ance | N. | W. | |
| | | | Air|Water| | | | | | |
|-----+----+----+----+-----+----+------+-----+-----+-----+---------------
| Nov | | | | | | | | | | |
| 9 | | 4 | | 71 | | | | | | |
| 10 | 8 | | 70 | 68 | | | | | | |
| -- | 12 | | | 64 | E |N 17 E| 64 |40 39|46 27| |
| 11 | 8 | | | 63 | | | | | | |
| -- | 12 | | | 61 |S E |N 8 E | 41 |41 19|46 19| |
| 12 | 8 | | 56 | 59 | | | | | | |
| -- | | 4 | | 69 |NNW |N 80 E| 120 |41 39|43 42| |
| 13 | all day | | 68 | E |S 82 E| 69 |41 29|42 10| |
| 14 | 8 | | 70 | 70 | |N 74 E| 111 |42 0|39 57| |
| -- | |Noon| | 72 |ESE | | | | | |
| -- | | 4 | | 71 | | | | | | |
| 15 | 8 | | 61 | 69 | | | | | | |
| -- | |Noon| | 68 |WSW |N 70 E| 186 |43 3|35 51| |
| -- | | 4 | | 67 | | | | | | |
| 16 | |Noon| 65 | 67 |S W |N 67 W| 48 |43 22|34 50| |
| -- | | 4 | | 63 | | | | | | |
| 17 | 8 | | | 63 |ESE |N 19 E| 56 |44 15|34 25| |
| 18 | all day | | 65 |SbW |N 75 E| 210 |45 6|29 43|Some gulph weed|
| 19 | |Noon| 65 | 64 |S W |N 80 E| 238 |45 46|24 2| |
| 20 | 8 | | | 62 | N |S 80 E| 155 |45 19|20 30| |
| -- | | 4 | | 60 | | | | | | |
| 21 | 9 | | | 62 | S |N 88 E| 94 |45 22|18 17| |
| 22 | 10 | | 60 | 62 |SSW |S 89 E| 133 |45 19|15 19| |
| 23 | |Noon| | 61 |WSW |S 86 E| 194 |45 6|10 35| |
| 24 | | do.| | 60 |NNE |N 78 E| 191 |45 46| 6 10| |
| 25 | | do.| | 60 |N E |S 76 E| 125 |45 4| 3 23| |
| 26 | | do.| 56 | 60 | E |N 73 E| 31 |45 13| 2 20| |
| 27 | | do.| | 58 | | | | | |Soundings off |
| 28 | | do.| 54 | 56 | | | | | | Bellisle. |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

_A Journal of a Voyage from the Channel between France and England
towards America._

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | |Therm. AM|Therm. PM| | | |Varia-| |
| | | |---------|---------| | |Dis- |tion | |
|Date|Latit.|Long.|Air|Water|Air|Water|Winds|Course|tance |of the| |
| | N. | W. | | | | | | | |Needle| |
| | | | | | | | | |Miles.| West.| |
|----|------|-----|---|-----|---|-----|-----|------|------|------| |
|July| | | | | | | | | | | |
| 29 | | | 62| 57 | | | {These are taken on an} | |
| 30 | | | 62| 58 | 63| 58 | {average of 24 hours. } | |
| 31 | | | 60| 58 | 62| 62 | | | | | |
|Aug | | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1 |49 15 | 4 15| 63| 62 | 60| 64 |East |SW ½W | 60 |22° 0 | |
| 2 |48 28 | 8 58| 64| 64 | 64| 63 |E S E|WbS ½S| 174 | | |
| 3 |47 0 |12 13| 60| 67 | omitted |N E |SW bW | 160 | | |
| 4 |45 0 |15 43| 66| 66 |do.| 66 |NW bW|SW ½W | 190 | | |
| 5 |43 5 |17 25| 67| 65 | 65| 68 |N E |SW bS | 131 |20 0 | |
| 6 |41 3 |19 44| 70| 68 | 71| 69 |N E |SW ½S | 166 |16 30 | |
| 7 |38 45 |21 34| 70| 70 | 68| 70 |N E |SSW ¾W| 165 |11 30 | |
| 8 |36 42 |23 10| 72| 71 | 73| 72 |N E |SSW ¾W| 149 |11 15 | |
| 9 |35 40 |25 40| 73| 73 | 73| 74 |N E |WSW ¼S| 137 | --|--------|
| 10 |35 0 |27 0| 71| 73 | 77| 75 |N W |WSW ¾S| 76 | |Therm|Noon|
| 11 |33 51 |28 42| 74| 74 | 76| 77 |North|SW ¾W | 112 | |-----|----|
| 12 |33 30 |31 30| 76| 75 | 76| 76 |North|W ¾S | 143 | | A. | W. |
| 13 |33 17 |33 32| 76| 76 | 78| 77 |N E |W ½ S | 103 | | 77 | 78 |
| 14 |33 22 |34 31| 76| 76 | 81| 79 |S S E|W ½ N | 50 | | 81 | 79 |
| 15 |33 45 |35 0| 78| 79 | 79| 78 |W N W|SW ¼W | 35 | | 79 | 79 |
| 16 |34 14 |35 30| 79| 78 | 81| 80 |West |NW ½N | 38 | | 81 | 80 |
| 17 |35 37 |36 4| 80| 79 | 80| 78 |W S W|N N W | 75 | | 80 | 78 |
| 18 |36 7 |37 16| 80| 78 | omitted |NW bW|WNW ½N| 65 | | 80 | 79 |
| 19 |36 38 |38 0| 78| 77 | 78| 77 |W S W|NW ½W | 49 | | 79 | 77 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Journal of a Voyage, &c. continued._