State

Trip of the Week by Old Trudge Try a Visit to Our Mightiest River Gulf Stream expedition feasible from a half dozen ports where there are good boats and guides; cost is modest. If ownership can be determined by- occupancy and use, North Carolina has a river a thousand times larger than the Mississippi. It is the Gulf Stream, and while it was almost un¬ known a few years ago, it now is familiar to thousands of sports fisher¬ men. With the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey furnishing the facts, here is where our Gulf Stream is: Off Morchead City it is 30 nautical miles out, that is roughly (and at times it is just that to landlubbers), 35 land miles. From Cape Lookout, last landfall on the offshore course to blue water, the Gulf Stream Is 20 nautical, 23 statute miles out. From Cape Fear, 35 nautical miles or 40 statute miles; from Southport. 40 nautical miles or 46 statute miles; from New River (Inlet) 45 nautical or 52 statute miles; from Wrightsvillc, 45 nautical or 52 statute miles; from Ocracokc Inlet. 20 nautical or 23 statute miles and from Oregon Inlet, 30 nautical or 35 statute miles. The Stream is nearest to North Carolina off Cape Haltcras where it is cal¬ culated by the Coast and Geodetic Survey to be only 10 nautical or 12 statute miles. This unique river within an ocean, created by the northeast trade winds of the equatorial At¬ lantic, circles around the Gulf of Mexico and escapes into the At¬ lantic through the Straits of Florida, moving then toward the North. When it gushes out the Straits, it discharges as much as 90 billion tons of water per hour, moving with a velocity of 70 miles per day. In spite of the fact that the Stream off Florida averages a temperature of around 80 degrees, it has little effect on the climate of inland Florida. In winter, it is said to be responsible for temperatures as much as 10 or 15 de¬ grees higher along the coast than a few miles inland. By the time the Stream reaches Charleston it has spread out into a river 150 miles wide and much shal¬ lower than when it left the Straits. Off North Carolina, it is relatively sluggish, with a current of about 1 mile or more per hour, and a tem¬ perature ranging in the 70's. There is an indication of seasonal changes in position of the Stream since there is a marked seasonal variation in its velocity measured at Diamond Shoals Lightship, 15 miles off Cape Haltcras. Winds blow the warm waters in or blow them further out. Off the North Carolina coast there is no definite eastern bound¬ ary of the Stream as its waters merge gradually with the waters of the open Atlantic. However, data compiled some years ago by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution indicated that the Stream's width eastward of the northern part of the North Caro¬ lina coast was approximately 160 nautical miles. The depth of the Stream at its ap¬ proximate western or inner edge varies from about five fathoms near Cape Haltcras to more than 20 fathoms between Cape Fear and Cape Hat- tcras. Northeastward of Cape Hatteras depths at the western edge of the Gulf Stream increase rapidly to more than 1,000 fathoms or approximately one mile, while the depth of the axis of the Stream off North Carolina increase from about 300 fathoms off Cape Fear Soiling coproins voyoging into North Caroline voters knew the Gulf Stream wos off the eoost long before Ben Fronklin bod Ibis chort of if mode. But they probably didn't know OS much obout it os the vcrsotilc Fronklin. This old ehorf of the stream vos perhops the first foirly occurotc one of it ever mode, ond Timothy Folger, on old Nontuekct sco coptoin, mode it for Fronklin. Fronklin hod it drown while he vos Posfmostcr Gcnerol of the colonies bock in 1770. He hod loomed from Folger thot the costvord set of the streom's current vos whot dcloyed the moil from Europe to the United States, os the coptoins of the English moil pockets would not pay on у ottention to the Yonkee skippers who tried to tell them of its force. By mcons of this mop, Fronklin hoped to convince the westvord* bound pocket owners thot it would be to their odvontoge to ovoid the current. MX, to about 2,000 fathoms cast of the northern boundary of North Carolina. Wc like to say that our coastal climate is tempered by the Gulf Stream, but U. S. Weather Bureau folks say it docs very little. They say instead that the water of our coast gives us an “oceanic climate." The water acts as a brake on weather changes — it holds both heat and cold and resists sudden and drastic changes in temperature. In addition, our prevailing THE STATE. JUNC 28. 1 9 58 24