Keeping the Cart Behind the Horse – Part II

Continued from the last post, regarding keeping events both in their proper order as well as not looking for results before understanding the facts involved.

Ben Franklin’s drawing of the Gulf Stream 

Mariners have known for many centuries that the ocean contains currents that flow along generally consistent paths. It was Benjamin Franklin who used ships' log books to draw a map of Gulf Stream current in the Atlantic Ocean in 1772, and since then, scientists have gained much more information on both where currents flow and why.
    Scientists have long known, that the sun and the Earth’s rotation effect the ocean’s currents, as does the Coriolis force, which causes the seas to move to the right in the Northern Hemisphere (clockwise) and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere (counter-clockwise). In fact, a parcel or section of water at the equator is moving at the same speed as the Earth, and if it starts to move north, with no friction, it is then going faster than the Earth beneath it. To conserve momentum (the product of mass and velocity), it consequently moves more to the east as it gets farther from the equator. The Coriolis Effect, or force therefore increases away from the equator.

The Coriolis Effect directs ocean currents into a clockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and a counter-clockwise direction in the Southern Hemisphere 

In addition, the wind also effects ocean currents, as Swedish oceanographer and mathematician Valfrid Ekman in 1890 pointed out. Referred to now as the Ekman Theory, which notes that in balancing the friction and the Coriolis force, the resulting currents decreases exponentially with depth, and that the surface current moves at an angle to the wind direction, and that since oceans are neither infinitely wide nor of constant density, complications arise at the boundaries, where water tends to "pile up."
The surface of the ocean is then no longer flat, but has a slope, which sets up a horizontal pressure gradient. When combining all these factors, currents can not only be observed through observation and drift factors, but determined through scientific standards.

It should also be kept in mind that Matthew Fontaine Maury (left) who lived during the 19^th century, (1806–1873), and an officer in the United States Navy, who was an astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator, was nicknamed  "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas." This, because due to the publication of his extensive works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), was the first extensive and comprehensive book on oceanography to be published. In his day, Maury made many important new contributions to charting winds and ocean currents.
    In 1825 at age 19, as a midshipman on board the frigate USS Brandywine, he began to study the seas and record methods of navigation. When a leg injury left him unfit for sea duty, Maury devoted his time to the study of navigation, meteorology, winds, and currents. He became Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory and head of the Depot of Charts and Instruments. As officer-in-charge of the United States Navy office in Washington, D.C. the young lieutenant became a librarian of the many unorganized log books and records in 1842
    From his initiative he sought to improve seamanship through organizing the information in his office and instituting a reporting system among the nation's shipmasters to gather further information on sea conditions and observations. The product of his work was international recognition and the publication in 1847 of "Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic,” which showed sailors how to use the ocean's currents and winds to their advantage and drastically reduced the length of ocean voyages
    He was the Father of world meteorology, Author of Public School Geographies and Organizer and Mapper of the Ocean Currents. Maury's uniform system of recording oceanographic data was adopted by navies and merchant marines around the world and was used to develop charts for all the major trade routes. His international recognition assisted in the change of purpose and name of the depot to the United States Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Office in 1854
    He continued holding that position until his resignation in April 1861, when the Civil War broke out. Maury was one of the principal advocates for the founding of a national observatory, and appealed to science enthusiast and former U.S. President, Congressman John Quincy Adams for the creation of what would eventually become the Naval Observatory. Maury did, on occasion, host Congressman Adams, who enjoyed astronomy as an avocation, at the Naval Observatory. Concerned that Maury always had a long trek to and from his home on upper Pennsylvania Avenue, Adams introduced an appropriations bill that funded a Superintendent's House on the Observatory grounds (a large mansion was built on the site in the 1890s for the Chief of Naval Operations which as Number One Observatory Circle has now been converted into the official residence of the Vice-President of the United States). Thus, Adams now felt no constraints in regularly stopping by for a look through the facility's telescope.

Every ship’s captain, particularly in the U.S. Navy, was required to complete a log book in which he kept a record of the events, course, and any incidental information on a daily basis 

As a sailor, Maury noted that there were numerous lessons that had been learned by ship-masters about the effects of adverse winds and drift currents on the path of a ship. The captains recorded these lessons faithfully in their logbooks, but they were then forgotten. At the Observatory, Maury uncovered an enormous collection of thousands of old ships' logs and charts in storage in trunks dating back to the start of the United States Navy. Maury pored over these documents to collect information on winds, calms, and currents for all seas in all seasons. His dream was to put this information in the hands of all ship captains. In fact, Maury’s information was so effective, and knowledge of winds and currents was so valuable that it made ship sailing faster and more effective, which in turn made trading and merchant movement very profitable and was one of the moving forces behind the development of the United States as a maritime power.
    The point of all of this is that winds and currents were of vital importance in the development of shipping and all that is associated with it, and thanks to Maury and others who came to understand such matters, ships played a major role in the country and in the maritime world.
    Now, we find today, that whole generations of people have grown up without such knowledge and have no understanding of the import of winds and ocean currents in ancient ship movement.
    It might also be of interest to know that the U.S. Navy as well as hydrographers and oceanographers spend a large amount of time even today paying attention to and obtaining and gathering information on, the world’s ocean currents. It was knowledge of these currents that led early mariners through the Age of Sail, and later into the Southern Ocean in order to achieve a speedy crossing of the Pacific, which was later reflected in the southern course of the Clipper Ships that ran extra fast routes between the orient and Europe and New York. Columbus was able to reach the New World because of his understanding of the currents off north Africa, and the Spanish who sailed from the New World to the Philippines and back across the Pacific.
    While today a sailing ship, because of sail designs, tall masts and moveable sails, can tack nearly straight into the wind, and engine and diesel-powered vessels can sail anywhere and in any direction, such was not the case in 600 BC. As Nephi tells us, the ship he built was “driven forth before the wind,” so by understanding the winds, and the ocean currents those winds drive, we can follow Lehi’s course across the oceans to the Land of Promise.
    The Lord, having organized the world for its purpose did so in order that these currents could be utilized for the benefit of man. He also used them to propel the Jaredite barges, and later Nephi’s ship to the land he had held in reserved for a righteous people.
    Thus, it behooves us to keep the cart behind the course, and not try to get ahead of ourselves by picking out a location for the Land of Promise, and then just think Lehi could have sailed there no matter what. We need to find the currents and winds, and trace them away from the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula and to the Western Hemisphere.