Outlines of a mechanical theory of storms : $b containing the true law of lunar influence, with practical instructions to the navigator, to enable him approximately to calculate the coming changes of the wind and weather, for any given day, and for any part of the oceanBassnett, Thomas
Science
Outlines of a mechanical theory of storms : $b containing the true law of lunar influence, with practical instructions to the navigator, to enable him approximately to calculate the coming changes of the wind and weather, for any given day, and for any part of the ocean
Bassnett, Thomas
Weather
That the sea is deeper than was formerly admitted, is now fully
confirmed. We have before alluded to the results obtained by Captain
Denham, of H. M. ship Herald, who found bottom at 7,706 fathoms, or
about nine English miles. Now, whether that spherical shell, which we
have contended to be the true form of the solid earth, be continuous and
entire; or, whether it may not be wanting in localities of limited
extent where the ocean would be absolutely unfathomable, we know not;
but if such be the internal constitution of our globe, there will be, no
doubt, many channels of communication between the internal and external
ocean, and, as a consequence of the earth's rotation, the axifugal
current of the Arctic sea may be supplied by an upward current from the
interior of the globe; and this current may have a higher temperature
than the surface waters of that sea, and thus the middle portions may,
in truth, remain open the whole year round, and be teeming with animal
life. According to Captain Penny's observations in 1850, whales and
other northern animals existed to the westward, where he saw the open
sea stretch out without a bound before him.
It has been a question mooted by some, that Franklin's ships might be
overtaken, at an early stage of the voyage, by a storm, and foundered
amidst the ice. The theory would give a negative answer to this
question. Stiff gales may prevail far to the north when the vortices do
not reach so high; but no storm, properly speaking, will be found far
beyond their northern limit. After the coming winter (1853), the
vortices will gradually penetrate farther and farther to the northward,
and the years 1857, 1858, and 1859, will be highly favorable for
northern discovery, accompanied, however, with the necessary draw-back
of tempestuous weather.
FOOTNOTES:
[48] The reader will of course understand these as celestial longitudes,
and the latitudes as terrestrial.
[49] Mr. William McDonald, of Canada.
CONCLUSION.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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