What was the gulf stream used for

Besides being a famous statesman and diplomat, Benjamin Franklin was a well-known American scientist. He contributed to oceanography in the mid- to late s by making and compiling good observations of ocean currents off the US East Coast.

He was particularly interested in the Gulf Stream, a fast-moving current of warm surface water that sweeps up from Florida, along the continental slope off the US East Coast, and then bends eastward across the North Atlantic all the way to Europe.

The amount of water carried in the Gulf Stream is equal to almost million cubic meters per second, which is nearly times the combined flow of all the rivers on Earth! If you prefer not to leave an email address, check back at your NCpedia comment for a reply. Please allow one business day for replies from NCpedia.

Skip to main content. Is anything in this article factually incorrect? Please submit a comment. Printer-friendly page Gulf Stream by William S. Powell , American Revolution UNC Press. Most voyages to Virginia southward chose the southern route across the Atlantic even though it was 2, miles to 3, miles out of the way.

Most return voyages to Europe took advantage of at least part of the Gulf Stream to speed their journey. In his role as deputy postmaster of the British American colonies, Benjamin Franklin had a keen interest in the North Atlantic Ocean circulation patterns as a way to streamline communication between the colonies and England. During a visit to England, Franklin discovered that it took British packets several weeks longer to reach New York from England than it took an average American merchant ship to reach Newport, Rhode Island.

The merchant ships tracked whale behavior, measurement of the water's temperature and the speed of bubbles on its surface and changes in the water's color to follow the speedier route. Franklin worked with Folger and other experienced ship captains to chart the Gulf Stream and giving it the name by which it is still known today.

Franklin's Gulf Stream chart was published in in England — where it was ignored — and subsequent versions were printed in France in and the United States in It was years before the British finally took Franklin's advice on navigating the current but once they did, they were able to shave two weeks off the sailing time between Europe and the United States.