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Article: THE GULF STREAM BEN FRANKLIN FIRST CHARTED THE CURRENT THAT SO PROFOUNDLY AFFECTS OUR CLIMATE, FISHING AND NAVIGATION, BUT HE COULD NOT HAVE IMAGINED HOW COMPLEX IT IS
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- September 7, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1987 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Around 1770, British customs officials were complaining that
sleek trans- Atlantic mail ships were taking at least two weeks
longer to make New York than the more-plodding merchant ships
putting into nearby Providence.
The disparity did not escape the deputy postmaster for the
American colonies, Benjamin Franklin. It appeared "strange to me
that there should be such a difference between two places scarce a
day's run asunder," Franklin would write later.
Franklin started asking questions on the docks of London and
Falmouth and discovered that merchant skippers on westerly passages
were taking the advice of American whalers and bypassing a strong
contrary mid-ocean current. The snobbier ...