It is not always in your power to make a choice in your capt_The Complete Works in Philosophy, Politics and Morals of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 2 [of 3]

though much of your comfort in the passage may depend on his personal

character, as you must for so long a time be confined to his company,

and under his direction; if he be a sensible, sociable, good-natured,

obliging man, you will be so much the happier. Such there are; but if

he happens to be otherwise, and is only skilful, careful, watchful

and active in the conduct of his ship, excuse the rest, for these are

the essentials.

Whatever right you may have by agreement in the mass of stores laid

in by him for the passengers, it is good to have some particular

things in your own possession, so as to be always at your own

command.

1. Good water, that of the ship being often bad. You can be sure of

having it good only by bottling it from a clear spring or well and

in clean bottles. 2. Good tea. 3. Coffee ground. 4. Chocolate. 5.

Wine of the sort you particularly like, and cyder. 6. Raisins. 7.

Almonds. 8. Sugar. 9. Capillaire. 10. Lemons. 11. Jamaica spirits.

12. Eggs greased. 13. Diet bread 14. Portable soup. 15. Rusks. As to

fowls, it is not worth while to have any called yours, unless you

could have the feeding and managing of them according to your own

judgment under your own eye. As they are generally treated at present

in ships, they are for the most part sick, and their flesh tough and

hard as whit-leather. All seamen have an opinion, broached I supposed

at first prudently, for saving of water when short, that fowls do not

know when they have drank enough, and will kill themselves if you

give them too much, so they are served with a little only once in two

days. This is poured into troughs that lie sloping, and therefore

immediately runs down to the lower end. There the fowls ride upon one

another's backs to get at it, and some are not happy enough to reach

and once dip their bills in it. Thus tantalized, and tormented with

thirst, they cannot digest their dry food, they fret, pine, sicken

and die. Some are found dead, and thrown overboard every morning, and

those killed for the table are not eatable. Their troughs should be

in little divisions, like cups, to hold the water separately, figure

25. But this is never done. The sheep and hogs are therefore your

best dependance for fresh meat at sea, the mutton being generally

tolerable and the pork excellent.

It is possible your captain may have provided so well in the general

stores, as to render some of the particulars above recommended of

little or no use to you. But there are frequently in the ship poorer

passengers, who are taken at a lower price, lodge in the steerage,

and have no claim to any of the cabin provisions, or to any but

those kinds that are allowed the sailors. These people are sometimes

dejected, sometimes sick, there may be women and children among

them. In a situation where there is no going to market, to purchase

such necessaries, a few of these your superfluities distributed

occasionally may be of great service, restore health, save life, make

the miserable happy, and thereby afford you infinite pleasure.

The worst thing in ordinary merchant ships is the cookery. They have

no professed cook, and the worst hand as a seaman is appointed to

that office, in which he is not only very ignorant but very dirty.

The sailors have therefore a saying, that _God sends meat and the

devil cooks_. Passengers more piously disposed, and willing to

believe heaven orders all things for the best, may suppose, that,

knowing the sea-air and constant exercise by the motion of the vessel

would give us extraordinary appetites, bad cooks were kindly sent to

prevent our eating too much; or that, foreseeing we should have bad

cooks, good appetites were furnished to prevent our starving. If you

cannot trust to these circumstances, a spirit-lamp, with a blaze-pan,

may enable you to cook some little things for yourself; such as a

hash, a soup, &c. And it might be well also to have among your stores

some potted meats, which if well put up will keep long good. A small

tin oven, to place with the open side before the fire, may be another

good utensil, in which your own servant may roast for you a bit of

pork or mutton. You will sometimes be induced to eat of the ship's

salt beef, as it is often good. You will find cyder the best quencher

of that thirst which salt meat or fish occasions. The ship biscuit

is too hard for some sets of teeth. It may be softened by toasting.

But rusk is better; for being made of good fermented bread, sliced

and baked a second time, the pieces imbibe the water easily, soften

immediately, digest more kindly, and are therefore more wholesome

than the unfermented biscuit. By the way, rusk is the true original

biscuit, so prepared to keep for sea, biscuit in French signifying

twice baked. If your dry peas boil hard, a two-pound iron shot put

with them into the pot, will by the motion of the ship grind them as

fine as mustard.

The accidents I have seen at sea with large dishes of soup upon a

table, from the motion of the ship, have made me wish, that our

potters or pewterers would make soup-dishes in divisions, like a set

of small bowls united together, each containing about sufficient for

one person, in some such form as fig. 26; for then when the ship

should make a sudden heel, the soup would not in a body flow over one

side, and fall into people's laps and scald them, as is sometimes the

case, but would be retained in the separate divisions, as in figure

27.

After these trifles, permit the addition of a few general

reflections. Navigation, when employed in supplying necessary

provisions to a country in want, and thereby preventing famines,

which were more frequent and destructive before the invention of that

art, is undoubtedly a blessing to mankind. When employed merely in

transporting superfluities, it is a question whether the advantage of

the employment it affords is equal to the mischief of hazarding so

many lives on the ocean. But when employed in pillaging merchants

and transporting slaves, it is clearly the means of augmenting the

mass of human misery. It is amazing to think of the ships and lives

risqued in fetching tea from China, coffee from Arabia, sugar and

tobacco from America, all which our ancestors did well without.

Sugar employs near one thousand ships, tobacco almost as many. For

the utility of tobacco there is little to be said; and for that of

sugar, how much more commendable would it be if we could give up the

few minutes gratification afforded once or twice a day by the taste

of sugar in our tea, rather than encourage the cruelties exercised

in producing it. An eminent French moralist says, that when he

considers the wars we excite in Africa to obtain slaves, the numbers

necessarily slain in those wars, the many prisoners who perish at sea

by sickness, bad provisions, foul air, &c. &c. in the transportation,

and how many afterwards die from the hardships of slavery, he cannot

look on a piece of sugar without conceiving it stained with spots of

human blood! Had he added the consideration of the wars we make to

take and retake the sugar islands from one another, and the fleets

and armies that perish in those expeditions, he might have seen his

sugar not merely spotted, but thoroughly dyed scarlet in grain. It is

these wars that make the maritime powers of Europe, the inhabitants

of London and Paris, pay dearer for sugar than those of Vienna, a

thousand miles from the sea; because their sugar costs not only the

price they pay for it by the pound, but all they pay in taxes to

maintain the fleets and armies that fight for it.

With great esteem, I am, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

FOOTNOTES:

[30] This letter and the annexed paper on the Gulph stream, are taken

from the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, in which

they were read December 2, 1785. _Editor._

[31] The motion of the vessel made it inconvenient to try this simple

experiment at sea, when the proposal of it was written. But it has

been tried since we came on shore, and succeeded as the other.

[32] Captain Truxton, on board whose ship this was written, has

executed this proposed machine; he has given six arms to the

umbrella, they are joined to the stem by iron hinges, and the canvas

is double. He has taken it with him to China. February, 1786.

[33] Since this paper was read at the Society, an ingenious member,

Mr. Patterson, has convinced the writer that the returning voyage

would not, from this cause, be retarded.

[34] See the Paper referred to, Vol. I. p. 376. _Editor._

[35] See Vol. II. p. 104. _Editor._

[Illustration:

_Plate VII. Vol. II. page 197._

CHART

of The

_GULPH STREAM_.

_Published as the Act directs, April 1, 1806, by Longman, Hurst, Rees

& Orme, Paternoster Row._]

_Remarks upon the Navigation from Newfoundland to New-York, in

order to avoid the Gulph Stream on one hand, and on the other the

Shoals that lie to the Southward of Nantucket and of St. George's

Banks._

After you have passed the banks of Newfoundland in about the 44th

degree of latitude, you will meet with nothing, till you draw near

the Isle of Sables, which we commonly pass in latitude 43. Southward

of this isle, the current is found to extend itself as far north as

41° 20′ or 30′, then it turns towards the E. S. E. or S. E. ¼ E.

Having passed the Isle of Sables, shape your course for the St.

George's Banks, so as to pass them in about latitude 40°, because the

current southward of those banks reaches as far north as 39°. The

shoals of those banks lie in 41° 35′.

After having passed St. George's Banks, you must, to clear Nantucket,

form your course so as to pass between the latitudes 38° 30′ and 40°

45′.

The most southern part of the shoals of Nantucket lie in about 40°

45′. The northern part of the current directly to the south of

Nantucket is felt in about latitude 38° 30′.

By observing these directions and keeping between the stream and

the shoals, the passage from the Banks of Newfoundland to New-York,

Delaware, or Virginia, may be considerably shortened; for so you will

have the advantage of the eddy current, which moves contrary to the

Gulph Stream. Whereas if to avoid the shoals you keep too far to the

southward, and get into that stream, you will be retarded by it at

the rate of 60 or 70 miles a day.

The Nantucket whale-men being extremely well acquainted with the

Gulph Stream, its course, strength, and extent, by their constant

practice of whaling on the edges of it, from their island quite down

to the Bahamas, this draft of that stream was obtained from one of

them, Captain Folges, and caused to be engraved on the old chart in

London, for the benefit of navigators, by

B. FRANKLIN.

_Note_, The Nantucket captains who are acquainted with this stream,

make their voyages from England to Boston in as short a time

generally as others take in going from Boston to England, viz. from

twenty to thirty days.

A stranger may know when he is in the Gulph Stream, by the warmth

of the water, which is much greater than that of the water on each

side of it. If then he is bound to the westward, he should cross the

stream to get out of it as soon as possible.

B. FRANKLIN.

OBSERVATIONS _of the Warmth of the_ SEA-WATER, &c. _by Fahrenheit's

Thermometer, in crossing the Gulph Stream; with other Remarks made

on board the Pennsylvania Packet, Capt. Osborne, bound from London

to Philadelphia, in April and May, 1775_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

| | | of | of | | |ance | N. | W. | |

| | | Air|Water| | | | | | |

|----+-------+----+-----+----+------+-----+-----+-----+------------------|

| Apr| | | | | | | | | |

| 10| | | 62 | | | | | | |

| 11| | | 61 | | | | | | |

| 12| | | 64 | | | | | | |

| 13| | | 65 | | | | | | |

| 14| | | 65 | | | | ° ′| ° ′| |

| 26| | 60 | 70 | | | |37 39|60 38|Much gulph weed; |

| 27| | 60 | 70 | SSE| WbS | |37 13|62 29|Colour of water |

| 28| 8 A.M.| 70 | 64 | SW | WNW | |37 48|64 35|No gulph weed. |

| --| 6 P.M.| 67 | 60 | | | 34 | | |Sounded, no bottom|

| 29| 8 A.M.| 63 | 71 | N | W | 44 |37 26|66 0|Much light in the |

| --| 5 P.M.| 65 | 72 | NE | | 57 | | |Water again of the|

| --|11 dit.| 66 | 66 |NWbN| WbS | 57 | | | usual deep sea |

| 30| 8 A.M.| 64 | 70 | NE | WbN | 69 | | | colour, little or|

| --|12 | 62 | 70 | | EbS | 24 |37 20|68 53|Freq. gulph weed, |

| --| 6 P.M.| 64 | 72 | ESE| WbN | 43 | | | water continues of

| --|10 dit.| 65 | 65 | S | | 25 | | |Much light. |

| May| | | | | | | | | |

| 1| 7 A.M.| 68 | 63 | | | 60 | | |Much light all |

| --|12 | 65 | 56 | SSW| WNW | 44 |38 13|72 2 |Colour of water |

| --| 4 P.M.| 64 | 56 | | WbN | 21 | | | |

| --|10 dit.| 64 | 57 | SW | WNW | 31 | | |Much light. |

| 2| 8 A.M.| 62 | 53 | | | 18 |38 43|74 3|Much light. Thunder

| --|12 | 60 | 53 | WSW| NW | 18 | | | |

| --| 6 P.M.| 64 | 55 | NW| WSW | 15 | | | |

| --|10 | 65 | 55 | NbW| WbN | 10 | | | |

| 3| 7 A.M.| 62 | 54 | | | 30 |38 30|75 0| |

------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVATIONS _of the Warmth of the_ SEA-WATER, &c. _by Fahrenheit's

Thermometer; with other Remarks made on board the Reprisal, Capt.

Wycks, bound from Philadelphia to France, in October and November,

1776_.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

| |A.M.|P.M.| of | of | | |ance | N. | W. | |

| | | | Air|Water| | | | | | |

|-----+----+----+----+-----+----+------+-----+-----+-----+---------------

| Oct | | | | | | | | | |Left the capes |

| 31| 10 | | 76 | 70 |SSE | EbS | 135 |38 12|70 30|Thursday night,|

| --| | 4 | | 71 | | | | | |Oct 29, 1776 |

| Nov | | | | | | | | | | |

| 1| 10 | | | 78 |WSW | E½N | 109 |No ob|68 12| |

| --| | 4 | 71 | 81 | | | | | | |

| 2| 8 | | 71 | 75 | N | | | | |Some sparks in |

| --| 12 | | | 78 | | | 141 |ditto|65 23|the water these|

| --| | 4 | 67 | 76 | | | | | |two last nights|

| 3| 8 | | | 76 | NW | ESE½E| | | | |

| --| 12 | | | 76 | | EbS | 160 |37 0|62 7| |

| --| | 4 | 70 | 76 | | | | | | |

| 4| 9 | | 68 | 76 | | NbE | | | |Ditto. |

| --| | 1 | | 76 | | | 194 |36 26|58 8| |

| --| | 4 | 68 | 76 | | | | | | |

| --| | 8 | | 78 | | | | | | |

| 5| 8 | | 68 | 76 | | NE | | | |Ditto. |

| --| 12 | | 70 | 75 | | | 163 |35 21|55 3| |

| --| | 4 | | 75 | | | | | | |

| --| | 8 | | 75 | | | | | | |

| 6| 8 | | | 76 |EbN | S50E | | | | |

| --| 12 | | | 77 | | | 7 |35 33|53 52| |

| 7| 8 | | | 78 |SEbE| N30W | | | | |

| --| 12 | | | 77 | | | 108 |36 6|52 46| |

| --| | 4 | | 77 | | | | | | |

| 8| 9 | | 75 | 77 |SbE | N49E | | | | |

| --| 12 | | | 77 | | | 175 |38 2|50 1| |

| --| | 4 | | 77 | | | | | | |

| 9| 9 | | 75 | 77 | | | | | | |

| --| 12 | | 75 | 70 | SW | N33E | 175 |39 39|46 55| |

------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVATIONS MADE ON BOARD THE REPRISAL, CONTINUED.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

| |A.M.|P.M.| of | of | | |ance | N. | W. | |

| | | | Air|Water| | | | | | |

|-----+----+----+----+-----+----+------+-----+-----+-----+---------------

| Nov | | | | | | | | | | |

| 9 | | 4 | | 71 | | | | | | |

| 10 | 8 | | 70 | 68 | | | | | | |

| -- | 12 | | | 64 | E |N 17 E| 64 |40 39|46 27| |

| 11 | 8 | | | 63 | | | | | | |

| -- | 12 | | | 61 |S E |N 8 E | 41 |41 19|46 19| |

| 12 | 8 | | 56 | 59 | | | | | | |

| -- | | 4 | | 69 |NNW |N 80 E| 120 |41 39|43 42| |

| 13 | all day | | 68 | E |S 82 E| 69 |41 29|42 10| |

| 14 | 8 | | 70 | 70 | |N 74 E| 111 |42 0|39 57| |

| -- | |Noon| | 72 |ESE | | | | | |

| -- | | 4 | | 71 | | | | | | |

| 15 | 8 | | 61 | 69 | | | | | | |

| -- | |Noon| | 68 |WSW |N 70 E| 186 |43 3|35 51| |

| -- | | 4 | | 67 | | | | | | |

| 16 | |Noon| 65 | 67 |S W |N 67 W| 48 |43 22|34 50| |

| -- | | 4 | | 63 | | | | | | |

| 17 | 8 | | | 63 |ESE |N 19 E| 56 |44 15|34 25| |

| 18 | all day | | 65 |SbW |N 75 E| 210 |45 6|29 43|Some gulph weed|

| 19 | |Noon| 65 | 64 |S W |N 80 E| 238 |45 46|24 2| |

| 20 | 8 | | | 62 | N |S 80 E| 155 |45 19|20 30| |

| -- | | 4 | | 60 | | | | | | |

| 21 | 9 | | | 62 | S |N 88 E| 94 |45 22|18 17| |

| 22 | 10 | | 60 | 62 |SSW |S 89 E| 133 |45 19|15 19| |

| 23 | |Noon| | 61 |WSW |S 86 E| 194 |45 6|10 35| |

| 24 | | do.| | 60 |NNE |N 78 E| 191 |45 46| 6 10| |

| 25 | | do.| | 60 |N E |S 76 E| 125 |45 4| 3 23| |

| 26 | | do.| 56 | 60 | E |N 73 E| 31 |45 13| 2 20| |

| 27 | | do.| | 58 | | | | | |Soundings off |

| 28 | | do.| 54 | 56 | | | | | | Bellisle. |

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_A Journal of a Voyage from the Channel between France and England

towards America._

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

| | | |---------|---------| | |Dis- |tion | |

| | N. | W. | | | | | | | |Needle| |

|----|------|-----|---|-----|---|-----|-----|------|------|------| |

| 29 | | | 62| 57 | | | {These are taken on an} | |

| 30 | | | 62| 58 | 63| 58 | {average of 24 hours. } | |

| 31 | | | 60| 58 | 62| 62 | | | | | |

|Aug | | | | | | | | | | | |

| 1 |49 15 | 4 15| 63| 62 | 60| 64 |East |SW ½W | 60 |22° 0 | |

| 2 |48 28 | 8 58| 64| 64 | 64| 63 |E S E|WbS ½S| 174 | | |

| 3 |47 0 |12 13| 60| 67 | omitted |N E |SW bW | 160 | | |

| 4 |45 0 |15 43| 66| 66 |do.| 66 |NW bW|SW ½W | 190 | | |

| 5 |43 5 |17 25| 67| 65 | 65| 68 |N E |SW bS | 131 |20 0 | |

| 6 |41 3 |19 44| 70| 68 | 71| 69 |N E |SW ½S | 166 |16 30 | |

| 7 |38 45 |21 34| 70| 70 | 68| 70 |N E |SSW ¾W| 165 |11 30 | |

| 8 |36 42 |23 10| 72| 71 | 73| 72 |N E |SSW ¾W| 149 |11 15 | |

| 9 |35 40 |25 40| 73| 73 | 73| 74 |N E |WSW ¼S| 137 | --|--------|

| 10 |35 0 |27 0| 71| 73 | 77| 75 |N W |WSW ¾S| 76 | |Therm|Noon|

| 11 |33 51 |28 42| 74| 74 | 76| 77 |North|SW ¾W | 112 | |-----|----|

| 12 |33 30 |31 30| 76| 75 | 76| 76 |North|W ¾S | 143 | | A. | W. |

| 13 |33 17 |33 32| 76| 76 | 78| 77 |N E |W ½ S | 103 | | 77 | 78 |

| 14 |33 22 |34 31| 76| 76 | 81| 79 |S S E|W ½ N | 50 | | 81 | 79 |

| 15 |33 45 |35 0| 78| 79 | 79| 78 |W N W|SW ¼W | 35 | | 79 | 79 |

| 16 |34 14 |35 30| 79| 78 | 81| 80 |West |NW ½N | 38 | | 81 | 80 |

| 17 |35 37 |36 4| 80| 79 | 80| 78 |W S W|N N W | 75 | | 80 | 78 |

| 18 |36 7 |37 16| 80| 78 | omitted |NW bW|WNW ½N| 65 | | 80 | 79 |

| 19 |36 38 |38 0| 78| 77 | 78| 77 |W S W|NW ½W | 49 | | 79 | 77 |

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Journal of a Voyage, &c. continued._

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

| | | |---------|---------| | |Dis- |tion |at Noon.|

|Date|Latit.|Long.|Air|Water|Air|Water|Winds|Course|tance |of the|--------|

| | N. | W. | | | | | | | |Needle| | |

| | | | | | | | | |Miles.| West.| A.| W. |

|----|------|-----|---|-----|---|-----|-----|------|------|------|--------|

|Aug | | | | | | | | | | / |

| 20 |37 38 |38 6| 78| 76 | omitted |West |N ¼ W | 62 | | 77 | 75 |

| 21 |36 15 |38 26| 73| 74 | 78| 76 |W N W|S b W | 82 | | 77 | 75 |

| 22 |35 40 |38 44| 7 | 76 | 80| 77 |W b S|S S W | 38 | | 80 | 77 |

| 23 |35 35 |40 52| 7 | 77 | 78| 75 |North|W ¼ S | 100 | | omitted.|

| 24 |35 12 |41 31| 75| 73 | 75| 74 |W N W|S WbW | 41 | | 75 | 74 |

| 25 |35 40 |42 33| 79| 76 | 79| 76 |W b N|W NW¾N| 60 | | 80 | 76 |

| 26 |35 30 |42 44| 79| 76 | 80| 76 |S WbW|S W½S | 14 | | 80 | 76 |

| 27 |35 14 |43 23| 79| 77 | 81| 79 |West |W SW¼S| 38 | | 81 | 78 |

| 28 |34 23 |44 0| 7 | 76 | 78| 78 |N N E|S WbS | 60 | | 78 | 78 |

| 29 |34 12 |45 52| 77| 78 | 78| 78 |N E |W ¼ S | 94 | 8° 0| 79 | 78 |

| 30 |34 5 |48 31| 78| 78 | 78| 78 |East |W ½ S | 134 | | 78 | 78 |

| 31 |34 20 |51 4| 80| 79 | 81| 79 |East |W ¾ S | 129 | | 80 | 80 |

|Sep | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| 1 |34 20 |52 47| 81| 78 | omitted |S S W|W ¼ N | 86 | | 83 | 80 |

| 2 |34 55 |55 12| 81| 80 | 83| 80 |S W |WbN ½W| 125 | | 83 | 80 |

| 3 |35 30 |57 24| 83| 80 | 83| 80 |S WbS|WbN ½N| 114 | 6° 0| 84 | 81 |

| 4 |35 50 |59 1| 82| 80 | 83| 80 |S W½W|WbN ¼N| 82 | | 83 | 81 |

| 5 |35 55 |61 0| 81| 80 | 82| 81 |S S W|W ¼ N | 96 | | 82 | 81 |

| 6 |36 20 |62 30| 80| 81 | 79| 80 |N WbN|W b N | 75 | | 78 | 80 |

| 7 |34 50 |63 10| 87| 80 | 78| 81 |N WbN|S S W | 86 | | 78 | 81 |

| 8 |34 45 |64 40| 75| 79 | 75| 79 |North|W ¼ S | 74 | | 75 | 79 |

| 9 |35 43 |66 42| 75| 79 | 77| 73 |N E |W N W | 108 | | 78 | 80 |

| 10 |37 20 |68 40| 77| 73 | 77| 70 |E N E|N W | 126 | | 78 | 72 |

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

N.B. Longitude is reckoned from London, and the Thermometer is

according to Fahrenheit.

OBSERVATIONS.

July 31. At one P.M. the Start bore WNW. distant six leagues.

August 1. The water appears luminous in the ship's wake.

---- 2. The temperature of the water is taken at eight in the

morning and at eight in the evening.

---- 6. The water appears less luminous.

---- 7. Formegas SW. dist 32½ deg. St. Mary's SW½S. 33 leagues.

---- 8. From this date the temperature of the water is taken at

eight in the morning and at six in the evening.

---- 10. Moonlight, which prevents the luminous appearance of the

water.

---- 11. A strong southerly current.

---- 12. Ditto. From this date the temperature of the air and water

was taken at noon, as well as morning and evening.

---- 16. Northerly current.

---- 19. First saw gulph weed.

---- 21. Southerly current.

---- 22. Again saw gulph weed.

---- 24. The water appeared luminous in a small degree before the

moon rose.

---- 29. No moon, yet very little light in the water.

---- 30. Much gulph weed to-day.

---- 31. Ditto.

Sept. 1. Ditto.

---- 2. A little more light in the water.

---- 4. No gulph weed to-day. More light in the water.

---- 5. Some gulph weed again.

---- 6. Little light in the water. A very hard thunder-gust in the

night.

---- 7. Little gulph weed.

---- 8. More light in the water. Little gulph weed.

---- 9. Little gulph weed. Little light in the water last evening.

---- 10. Saw some beds of rock-weed; and we were surprised to

observe the water six degrees colder by the thermometer than the

preceding noon.

This day (10th) the thermometer still kept descending, and at five

in the morning of the 11th, it was in water as low as 70, when

we struck soundings. The same evening the pilot came on board,

and we found our ship about five degrees of longitude a-head of

the reckoning, which our captain accounted for by supposing our

course to have been near the edge of the gulph stream, and thus

an eddy-current always in our favour. By the distance we ran from

Sept. 9, in the evening, till we struck soundings, we must have

then been at the western edge of the gulph stream, and the change

in the temperature of the water was probably owing to our suddenly

passing from that current, into the waters of our own climate.

On the 14th of August the following experiment was made. The

weather being perfectly calm, an empty bottle, corked very tight,

was sent down 20 fathoms, and it was drawn up still empty. It was

then sent down again 35 fathoms, when the weight of the water

having forced in the cork, it was drawn up full; the water it

contained was immediately tried by the thermometer, and found to be

70, which was six degrees colder than at the surface: the lead and

bottle were visible, but not very distinctly so, at the depth of

12 fathoms, but when only 7 fathoms deep, they were perfectly seen

from the ship. This experiment was thus repeated Sept. 11, when we

were in soundings of 18 fathoms. A keg was previously prepared with

a valve at each end, one opening inward, the other outward; this

was sent to the bottom in expectation that by the valves being both

open when going down, and both shut when coming up, it would keep

within it the water received at bottom. The upper valve performed

its office well, but the under one did not shut quite close, so

that much of the water was lost in hauling it up the ship's side.

As the water in the keg's passage upwards could not enter at the

top, it was concluded that what water remained in it was of that

near the ground, and on trying this by the thermometer, it was

found to be at 58, which was 12 degrees colder than at the surface.

_This last Journal was obligingly kept for me by Mr. J. Williams,

my fellow-passenger in the London Packet, who made all the

experiments with great exactness._

TO MR. O. N[36].

_On the Art of Swimming._

[No date.]

DEAR SIR,

I cannot be of opinion with you that it is too late in life for you

to learn to swim. The river near the bottom of your garden affords

a most convenient place for the purpose. And as your new employment

requires your being often on the water, of which you have such a

dread, I think you would do well to make the trial; nothing being

so likely to remove those apprehensions as the consciousness of

an ability to swim to the shore, in case of an accident, or of

supporting yourself in the water till a boat could come to take you

up.

The Complete Works in Philosophy, Politics and Morals of the late Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Vol. 2 [of 3] · 第 13 / 34 段

It is not always in your power to make a choice in your captain,