Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/193

Rh in 1874, on board the Eclipse, records: "July 24th—Found by to-day's observations that we have driven forty-three miles S. by W. half W. true, in the past three days, and that in the face of fresh winds from S.W." The drift of the crew of the Hansa, 1869–70, also furnishes concrete proof of this current.

Thanks to this current flowing right across the North Polar Basin from east to west the Fram was able to drift across. It was owing to the same current that the relics of the Jeannette, wrecked to the north of the New Siberian Islands, were carried down the east coast of Greenland round Cape Farewell, and reached Julianshaab on the west coast of Greenland three years after the wreck of the Jeannette. The latest researches on this current were those made on board the Duke of Orleans's yacht, the Belgica. These observations add very materially to our exact knowledge of this interesting phenomenon.

A similar current runs south-eastward along the coast of Labrador and brings the Polar pack down to Newfoundland considerably south of the latitude of the south of Britain. This is an excellent example of the economic importance of having an accurate understanding of the laws of oceanic circulation in the Arctic Regions and their relationship with neighbouring seas and coasts.