Shoal on the Coast of Maryland.-The Baltic, drawing 18 feet water, Captain J. J. Comstock, is reported to have run aground on a shoal about two and a half miles due East from Winter Quarter Shoal, about eleven miles from the coast of Maryland. It is not laid down on the charts, but will be surveyed as soon as possible.

APPLIANCES FOR SAVING LIFE FROM SHIPWRECK ON THE COASTS OF DENMARK.

A notice to mariners by the Danish government states that at various places on the coast of North Jutland and on the isle of Bornholm, lifeboats are stationed for the saving of lives from shipwreck, furnished with the necessary apparatus for the purpose.

The stations are the following, viz. :—

I. On the western coast of North Jutland.

* Lifeboat. If communication with a stranded vessel in no other way can be effected, a nine yarn line will be thrown to the shipwrecked men by the aid of a rocket apparatus; hauling on board this line, a 3 inch hawser will follow, at the end of which a block is made fast, in which is the bight of a thin line. Both ends of this line are made fast on the life-chair, that with its thimble travels on the 3 inch hawser. The hawser must be made fast on board the ship as high as possible, in order that the chair, if possible, may clear the surf. By the aid of the thin line, that passes through the block, made fast on the hawser on board, the chair can be hauled to and fro from the beach, and thus the communication for the saving of the crew is effected.

↑ Rocket apparatus for carrying a line.

New Books.

THE NORTH ATLANTIC SEA-BED, Comprising a

Diary of the Voyage of H.M.S."Bulldog" in 1860, &c.,-By G. C. Wallich, M.D., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c., &c. London, Van Voorst, 1862.

There is matter of fact about deep soundings that renders them valuable in more ways than one. To the mariner they are so because they go to prove or disprove the existence of vigias, those submarine dangers which full often have disturbed his rest, and they bring out submarine banks (such as the Porcupine Bank, shown in our November number), which are valuable as giving him infallible landmarks under water. But deep soundings are essential to ocean telegraphy, a science not dreamed of in days of vigias, and hence the voyage of the Bulldog before us, and the researches of Dayman, Pullen, and a number of our officers who have gone before them, not to mention those of the Americans. Another small but valuable instalment to the general stock in the Atlantic was that of the Porcupine, recorded in our November number; but all that we have named form but a small portion of those which would be acquired were the Atlantic sounded as it should be; and the philosopher, the electrician, and the mariner must content himself with the acquisition he has already made in this subject, and wait patiently till opportunity contributes to his store.

The Bulldog's voyage before us seems to have been occasioned by the proposal for a northern route for a telegraph cable,—which some daring theorists would consign to its office amidst the perils of ice! Well, there is no accounting for visionary schemes, unless it be that different views are entertained by different individuals, some of whom witness conditions of things different from each other, and others have not the advantage of witnessing them at all. Then the officials who would have to inhabit the localities of the stations. We fear they would be something like the unhappy Dutchmen whose story is related so graphically by Lord Dufferin, on his visit to Jan Mayen. How long would they survive the period these lasted? Let the proposers try the experiment.

But the Bulldog's voyage, as related by Dr. Wallich, is replete with interest. Under the able management of her commander, Sir Leopold M'Clintock, how could it be otherwise? Arctic experience had well qualified him for his charge. And the science of the naturalist has been no less ably supplied by Dr. Wallich, who glories so much in a single specimen of one of the deep sea fauna as to make it the subject of a whole plate to itself. How all the specimens of these organic elements of the North Atlantic treated on by the Doctor were obtained-how they affect the subject of marine telegraphyhow the difficulties they were collected under were overcome-and how ably they are treated on, we must leave to a perusal of the Doctor's narrative. He is evidently so warm an enthusiast in this interesting branch of natural history, that in our desire to see this kind of nautical investigation followed up, we hope he may have ample opportunity hereafter of gratifying his wishes in following a science so much in accordance with his taste, as is displayed in the work before us.

THE

NAUTICAL MAGAZINE

AND

Naval Chronicle.

FEBRUARY, 1863.

THE STRAIT OF GIBRALTAR:* Its Winds, Tides, and Navigation.

The Strait of Gibraltar, which more properly might be called the Strait of Tarifa-this town being situated in its widest part, is the Fretum Herculeum of the ancients, by which the two seas, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, are connected. Considered physically, it is the channel of supply to that vast lake which washes parts of the shores of the three great continents of the Old World, Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is the channel through which the waters of the ocean flow to compensate for the incessant loss by evaporation, occasioned by the sun and wind, of those large quantities of water supplied by the numerous rivers tributary to it.

Considering the strait geologically, a complete correspondence of character may be perceived between the northern and southern shores. The heights and points of the Spanish coast continue in a southern direction into the strait, as if seeking on the opposite coast those points and heights projecting out there to the northward, and revealing themselves in the same character of ground; and thus suggesting the possibility of the two continents having been connected together by low land, and that the strait having been produced by some earthquake or irruption of the ocean, in conformity with the opinions of all geologists,

ancient and modern.

In reference to its hydrographic features, the strait assumes a direc

* Some valuable observations on this subject by French officers will be found in our volume for 1859.-ED.

NO. 2.-VOL. XXXII.

1

tion nearly East and West, forming a wider opening on its western side, where the waters of the Atlantic accumulate, so as to drift with greater rapidity through the narrower part by Tarifa.

Limits and Extent of the Strait.-The huge walls of the strait on the North consist of a part of the coast of Europe, and on the South of a part of that of Africa. The first, which includes that between Cape Trafalgar on the West, and Point Europa on the East, is longer and more sinuous, projecting considerably to the South, and comprahending a distance of sixty miles, including its bays. The second, limited on the West by Cape Spartel and on the East by Point Almina de Ceuta, is shorter and straighter, being only forty miles long.

The Spanish coast between Cape Trafalgar and Tarifa follows the direction (with its points) of S. 60° E., and that lying between Tarifa and Point Europa N. 63° E.; so that Tarifa occupies the vertex of an angle of 123°, by which the North shore of the strait juts out to the South.

The coast of Morocco from Cape Espartel follows the direction of N. 72° E. as far as Point Alcazar, from which it turns northward (N. 52° E.), soon to take a more easterly direction and terminate in Point Almina. And thus the African coast gives to the current of the strait its most direct course through it, which course may be considered as about W.b.S. and E.b.N.

Breadth of the Strait.-The western mouth of the strait may be considered as formed by Capes Trafalgar and Espartel, which bear from each other N. 12° W. and S. 12° E., distant apart 23 miles. The eastern mouth, limited by Points Europa and Santa Catalina, bearing also N. 12° W. and S. 12° E., is 124 miles across. The narrowest part of the strait is between Point Canales, in Europe, and Point Cires, in Africa, 7 miles from each other. The breadth at Tarifa, between this island and Point Alcazar on the coast opposite, is 8 miles, bearing N. 5° W. and S. 5° E. of each other.

Winds.

It may be truly said that two winds prevail constantly in the Strait of Gibraltar. They are those from East and West, being called by local seamen Levante and Poniente. These winds are, generally speaking, the results of those from N.E. and S.E., as well as from N. W. and S. W., that are blowing outside the two ends of the strait, and which on reaching the narrows of the strait become East and West. Nevertheless, strong south-easters do not fail to blow in the strait, producing serious damage in the Bay of Algeciras, particularly in winter; as well as south-westers quite as severe, and commonly called Vendavales.

A multitude of observations have been made, both at Gibraltar and Tangier on the strength and duration of each of these winds; but the results do not yet afford means for establishing any fixed principle as to their periodical changes.

According to those made at Gibraltar, it appears that easterly winds prevail during July, August, September, March, and December; and

that in the other months East and West winds prevail alternately, but mostly the latter.

At Tangier, according to the observations of Senor Luyando, in 1825, there were 134 days of East wind, 195 of West, and 36 of variable, the easterly winds of May and June being exceedingly strong. There have been years which navigators called years of easterly winds, when these have much prevailed in the strait,-vessels being rarely seen in the Bay of Algeciras detained from running to the West.

Other years again there have been called years of westerly winds, from these predominating, when it has been especially difficult for vessels to get from East to West in the strait, the bays of Gibraltar and Algeciras, and the Spanish coast near the strait numbering hundreds of vessels waiting a spell of easterly wind to get away, without enumerating instances of single vessels having been kept one or two months waiting to clear so short a distance.

Easterly Winds of the Strait.-The easterly wind has always been dreaded by the navigator, as much from the murky weather it brings and its endurance, as from its strength and the damage it does, being called by a Spanish author (Lopez de Ayala) the tyrant of the country. When these winds commence in the eastern part of the strait they are accompanied by dark clouds, loading the atmosphere with humidity and covering the hills, being the more compact the harder the wind blows. Their approach is announced by light clouds, which insensibly accumulate about the summits of the mountains of Gibraltar and Algeciras and the hills of Estepona and Bullones. When all these heights are covered the East wind is upon them; and they are usually light (called Chocolatero) if the clouds do not pass away with a heavy shower, or if they remain on the slopes and recesses of the mountains. But if they top the mountains like a plume and the mountains show a clear space between the summits and the clouds over them (called La Montera) the Levanter will be very strong. All these distinctive features of this wind last while it blows, and disappear as soon as it is over.

The Levanter once set in goes on gathering strength in the strait in proportion as it penetrates into it, becoming strongest in its narrowest part. So much is this the case that vessels making for Tarifa are obliged to take in small sails and look to the larger ones if the wind is aft; or to close-reef them and even to bear up if going by the wind. Beyond the narrows the wind is not so strong, and more manageable on approaching Cape Trafalgar, with a totally different character. Off this cape the dark heavy clouds with which Algeciras and the African coast are covered all disappear, as if there were some barrier to them not to be overcome in the meridian of Tarifa: the sky becomes serene, the air is dry, and the wind abated considerably; these conditions becoming still more evident the further it is met with in the Atlantic.

Between Trafalgar and Cadiz the Levanter blows in squalls: the