_Referred to in_ vol. v. p. 129.
"Eight months after the publication of my 'Tour in the Levant,' there
appeared in the London Magazine, and subsequently in most of the
newspapers, a letter from the late Lord Byron to Mr. Murray.
"I naturally felt anxious at the time to meet a charge of error
brought against me in so direct a manner: but I thought, and friends
whom I consulted at the time thought with me, that I had better wait
for a more favourable opportunity than that afforded by the
newspapers of vindicating my opinion, which even so distinguished an
authority as the letter of Lord Byron left unshaken, and which, I
will venture to add, remains unshaken still.
"I must ever deplore that I resisted my first impulse to reply
immediately. The hand of Death has snatched Lord Byron from his
kingdom of literature and poetry, and I can only guard myself from
the illiberal imputation of attacking the mighty dead, whose living
talent I should have trembled to encounter, by scrupulously confining
myself to such facts and illustrations as are strictly necessary to
save me from the charges of error, misrepresentation, and
presumptuousness, of which every writer must wish to prove himself
undeserving.
"Lord Byron began by stating, 'The _tide_ was _not_ in our favour,'
and added, 'neither I nor any person on board the frigate had any
notion of a difference of the current on the Asiatic side; I never
heard of it till this moment.' His Lordship had probably forgotten
that Strabo distinctly describes the difference in the following
words;--
[Greek: 'Dio kai eupetesteron ek tês Sêstou diairousi parallaxamenoi
mikron epi ton tês Hêrous purgon, kakeithen aphientes ta ploia
sumprattontos tou rhou pros tên peraiôsin: Tois d' ex Abudou
peraioumenois parallakteon estin eis tanantia, oktô pou stadious epi
purgon tina kat' antikru tês Sêstou, epeita diairein plagion, kai mê
teleôs echousin enantion ton rhoun.'--] Ideoque _facilius a Sesto,
trajiciunt_ paululum deflexâ navigatione ad Herus turrim, atque inde
_navigia dimittentes adjuvante etiam fluxu trajectum_. Qui ab Abydo
trajiciunt, in contrarium flectunt partem ad octo stadia ad turrim
quandam e regione Sesti: hinc _oblique_ trajiciunt, non _prorsus_
contrario fluxu.'[1]
[Footnote 1: "Strabo, book xiii. Oxford Edition."]
"Here it is clearly asserted, that the current assists the crossing
from Sestos, and the words [Greek: 'aphientes ta ploia']--'_navigia
dimittentes_,'--'_letting the vessels go of themselves_,' prove how
considerable the assistance of the current was; while the words
[Greek: 'plagion']--'_oblique_,' and '[Greek: teleôs],'--'_prorsus_,'
show distinctly that those who crossed from Abydos were obliged to do
so in an _oblique_ direction, or they would have the current
_entirely_ against them.
"From this ancient authority, which, I own, appears to me
unanswerable, let us turn to the moderns. Baron de Tott, who, having
been for some time resident on the spot, employed as an engineer in
the construction of batteries, must be supposed well cognisant of the
subject, has expressed himself as follows:--
"'La surabondance des eaux que la Mer Noire reçoit, et qu'elle ne
peut evaporer, versée dans la Méditerranée par le Bosphore de Thrace
et La Propontide, forme aux Dardanelles des courans si violens, que
souvent les batimens, toutes voiles dehors, out peine à les vaincre.
Les pilotes doivent encore observer, lorsque le vent suffit, de
diriger leur route de manière à présenter le moins de résistance
possible à l'effort des eaux. On sent que cette étude a pour base la
direction des courans, qui, _renvoyés d'une points à l'autre,_
forment des obstacles à la navigation, et feroient courir les plus
grands risques si l'on negligeoit ces connoissances
hydrographiques.'--_Mémoires de_ TOTT, 3^{_me_} _Partie_.
"To the above citations, I will add the opinion of Tournefort, who,
in his description of the strait, expresses with ridicule his
disbelief of the truth of Leander's exploit; and to show that the
latest travellers agree with the earlier, I will conclude my
quotation with a statement of Mr. Madden, who is just returned from
the spot. 'It was from the European side Lord Byron swam _with_ the
current, which runs about four miles an hour. But I believe he would
have found it totally impracticable to have crossed from Abydos to
Europe.'--MADDEN'S _Travels_, vol. i.
"There are two other observations in Lord Byron's letter on which I
feel it necessary to remark.
"'Mr. Turner says, "Whatever is thrown into the stream on this part
of the European bank _must_ arrive at the Asiatic shore." This is so
far from being the case, that it _must_ arrive in the Archipelago, if
left to the current, although a strong wind from the Asiatic[1] side
might have such an effect occasionally.'
[Footnote 1: "This is evidently a mistake of the writer or printer.
His Lordship must here have meant a strong wind from the European
side, as no wind from the Asiatic side could have the effect of
driving an object to the Asiatic shore."
I think it right to remark, that it is Mr. Turner himself who has
here originated the inaccuracy of which he accuses others; the words
used by Lord Byron being, _not_, as Mr. Turner says, "from the
Asiatic side," but "in the Asiatic direction."--T. M.]
"Here Lord Byron is right, and I have no hesitation in confessing
that I was wrong. But I was wrong only in the letter of my remark,
not in the spirit of it. Any _thing_ thrown into the stream on the
European bank would be swept into the Archipelago, because, after
arriving so near the Asiatic-shore as to be almost, if not quite,
within a man's depth, it would be again floated off from the coast by
the current that is dashed from the Asiatic promontory. But this
would not affect a swimmer, who, being so near the land, would of
course, if he could not actually walk to it, reach it by a slight
effort.
"Lord Byron adds, in his P.S. 'The strait is, however, not
extraordinarily wide, even where it broadens above and below the
forts.' From this statement I must venture to express my dissent,
with diffidence indeed, but with diffidence diminished by the ease
with which the fact may be established. The strait is widened so
considerably above the forts by the Bay of Maytos, and the bay
opposite to it on the Asiatic coast, that the distance to be passed
by a swimmer in crossing higher up would be, in my poor judgment, too
great for any one to accomplish from Asia to Europe, having such a
current to stem.
"I conclude by expressing it as my humble opinion that no one is
bound to believe in the possibility of Leander's exploit, till the
passage has been performed by a swimmer, at least from Asia to
Europe. The sceptic is even entitled to exact, as the condition of
his belief, that the strait be crossed, as Leander crossed it, both
ways within at most fourteen hours.
"W. TURNER."