The Atlantic Navigator: Being a Nautical Description of the Coasts of France, Spain and Portugal, the West Coast of Africa, the Coasts of Brazil and Patagonia, the Islands of the Azores, Madeiras, Canaries and Cape Verdes, and the Detached Shoals & Dangers Reported to Exist in the Atlantic; to this is Added a General Review of the Winds, Tides, Currents, &c., a Description of the Principal Harbours on the Coast of North America, and an Account of the Most Advantageous Tracks Across the Atlantic

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J. Imray and son, 1854 - 532 pages

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Page 523 - ... and depth, makes them undergo a strong refraction. The other colours exhibited in parts of the sea depend on causes which are local, and sometimes deceptive. The Mediterranean in its upper part is said to have at times a purple tint. In the Gulf of Guinea the sea is white ; around the Maldive Islands it is black ; and in some places it has been observed to be red. These appearances are probably occasioned by vast numbers of minute marine insects, by the nature of the soil, or by the infusion...
Page 519 - But (as in the case of the polar currents in the ocean) these north and south winds pass from regions where the rotatory motion of the earth's surface is less, to those where it is greater. Unable at once to acquire this new velocity, they are left behind, and, instead of being north and south winds, as they would be if the earth's surface did not turn round, they become northeast and south-east winds. The...
Page 469 - I concluded that what we had seen, which I named Sandwich Land, was either a group of islands, or else a point of the continent ; for I firmly believe that there is a tract of land near the pole which isthe source of most of the ice that is spread over this vast Southern Ocean.
Page 467 - The inner parts of the country were not less savage and .horrible. The wild rocks raised their lofty summits till they were lost in the clouds, and the valleys lay covered with everlasting snow. Not a tree was to be seen, nor a shrub even big enough to make a toothpick. The only vegetation we met with was a coarse strong-bladed grass growing in tufts, wild burnet, and a plant like moss, which sprung from the rocks.
Page 514 - Between the 3d and 10th degrees of south latitude, a north-west wind blows from October to April, and a south-east during the other six months of the year: the former is seldom steady in the open sea, but in December and January it sometimes extends northwards a degree or two beyond the equator.
Page 231 - The most striking peculiarity in the mountain scenery is the jagged outline of the ridge, the rudely shaped towers and sharp pyramids of rock, which appear elevated on the tops and sides of the highest peaks as well as on the lower elevations, and the deep, precipitous gorges, which cut through the highest mountains almost to their very base. The...
Page 516 - ... they pass rapidly along the surface of the sea, and continue a quarter of an hour or more before they disappear. A notion has been entertained that they are very dangerous to shipping, owing to the descent, at the instant of their breaking, of a large body of water sufficient to sink a ship ; but this does not appear to be the case, for the water descends only in the form of heavy rain.
Page 520 - A boat, which may be supposed to receive no impulse from the winds, would require thirteen months, from the Canary Islands, to reach the coast of Caraccas ; ten months to make the tour of the Gulf of Mexico and reach Tortoise Shoals, opposite the port of the Havannah ; while forty or fifty days might be sufficient to carry it from the straits of Florida to the bank of Newfoundland. It would be difficult to fix the rapidity of the retrograde current from this bank to the coasts of Africa : estimating...
Page 467 - It is remarkable that we did not see a river, or stream of fresh water, on the whole coast. I think it highly probable that there are no perennial springs in the country; and that the interior parts, as being much elevated, never...
Page 454 - Having thus diligently searched through the supposed situation of the Auroras, I concluded that the discoverers must have been misled by appearances ; I therefore considered any further cruise to be an improvident waste of time ; and, to the gratification of my officers and crew, directed our course to the Falkland Islands.

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