A RIVER IN MID-OCEAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 20 August 1907, Page 4

A RIVER IN MID-OCEAN.

_ What is descn&ed as' a wonderful tight iu ruid-oecau was witnessed by (.'aptin Hornen. and the crew of tlie ship Loeli Garry orf the voyage from Australia to Boston. The captain writes:—"A few days before we reached Boston, we were lying becalmed, the sea like glass. Away on (Tic port beam, in a southwesterly direction, we saw a ripple on the water about a couple of miles away. AVe took that for a calsnaw, and the harbinger of a breeze. liut the breeze did not come. Gradually, though slowly, we ncarcd it, and saw a mighty river in mid-ocean. There was a quantity of flotsam being earned past the ship to the eastward—spars, other large pieces of wood, and a lifebuoy, betokening a lost life at sea. .When we got within about ten yards of it we upiite expected we should lie. drawn into tins stream, where the above mailer was being carried past the ship at the rate of one and a-half knots at least. Hut no. The stream seemed to repel the ship, for we lay close to the edge for an' hour and a-half, and never got; nearer. The edge or margin of this river was m<i>t clearly defined, running in an K.S.K. and VY.y.YV. direction. Maury has said that the Cull' Stream is so dearly defined that one-half of a ship inijjht be in the >tream and the oilier half out of it. .Most people thought that this was rather far-fetched, but it is (piite true, as we saw for ourselves. A ship, of cour.-e, could not remain long in such a position. The current would soon slew her round. How broad this river was we could not tell. As far as the eye could reach to the horizon it was visible} how much further we could not say, It was a sight nover to be forgotten. Kvenlually we got a light breeze, and sailed away to the northward/' „ ..