C.--Inland sailing
to Beaufort, Norfolk and Washington, D.C.--Voyage ended.
No one will be more surprised at the complete success of the voyage and
the speedy progress made than were we ourselves who made it.
A factor of the voyage, one that helped us forward greatly, and which is
worthy of special mention, was the ocean current spoken of as we came
along in its friendly sway.
Many are the theories among fresh-water philosophists respecting these
currents, but in practical sailing, where the subject is met with in its
tangible form, one cause only is recognized; namely, the action of the
wind on the surface of the water, pushing the waves along. Out on the
broad ocean the effect at first is hardly perceptible, but the constant
trades, sending countless millions of waves in one direction, cause at
last a mighty moving power, which the mariner meets sometimes as an
enemy to retard and delay, sometimes as a friend, as in our case, to
help him on his way. These are views from a practical experience with no
theory to prove.
By daylight on the twenty-ninth, we weighed anchor and set sail again
for the north.
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