CURRENC

Compiled by Staff Commander Thomas A.H Arrows indicate direction of Currents. Iceberg limits:

The Currents in the Arabian Sea in South-west Monsoon are regular in direction, their velocity depending much on the force of wind and local circumstances. The general course of the current in the middle of the sea is about East, inclining to S.E. as it nears the western coast of India; its velocity varies from half a mile to 2 miles per hour.

On the Eastern coast of Africa the current sets along the coast to the N.N.E. at a velocity of 2 to 4 miles per hour, passes through the channel between Sokótra and the North-east point of Africa at a rate of 1 to 2 miles per hour, pursuing a course Northerly and Easterly, until it impinges on the Arabian coast about Ras Kosaïr, whence it takes a North-easterly course along that coast to Rás-al-Hadd, at a velocity of half to 1 miles per hour.

To the south of Sokótra, at a distance of about 150 miles, is a great whirl of current, caused possibly by the interposition of the island; or, it may be, that shoal water exists at that spot; this eddy commences about the parallel of Rás Hafún, strikes off to the Eastward, as far as the 55th meridian, then turns to the Southward, to the 5th parallel, whence it again curves up to the North-eastward, forming a complete whirl. At the Northern limit the velocity is very great, being 4 to 5 miles per hour, while at its Southern extreme it is only to one mile per hour. A heavy confused sea is created by this whirl. Care should be taken to avoid the strongest portion of the current in making the coast of Africa from the Eastward, by keeping well to the Southward.

Little is known of the currents at this season close to the Northward of Sokótra, but there is said to exist a whirl similar to, but of less magnitude than that South of the island. Horsburgh remarks that the currents on the North side run with the prevailing breezes to the North-Eastward, but, when the wind moderates, an almost equally strong current runs in the opposite direction. This most probably applies to within a few miles of the land.

Throughout the S.W. Monsoon, or from June to September inclusive, the water runs out of the Red Sea, while from November to May the contrary is the case. During the S. W. Monsoon, the current on the Arabian side of the gulf of 'Aden runs to the