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The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

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80<br />

THE BRITISH ISLES.<br />

with it fogs, drizzling- raiu, or heavy showers. Storms are of frequent occurrence,<br />

<strong>and</strong> the number of shipwrecks is nowhere larger. <strong>The</strong> currents which meet at<br />

the Scilly Isl<strong>and</strong>s often carry vessels out of their true course, <strong>and</strong> during fogs<br />

cause them to run upon sunken rocks. It was here that, in 1707, the most disastrous<br />

shipwreck of modern times occurred. An entire fleet, comm<strong>and</strong>ed by Sir Cloudesley<br />

Shovel, was thrown upon the rocks, <strong>and</strong> two thous<strong>and</strong> human souls passed together<br />

Fig. 43.<br />

—<br />

<strong>The</strong> Scilly Isl<strong>and</strong>s.<br />

Scale 1 : 170,000.<br />

Depth under 26 Fathoms '26 to 64 Fathoms.<br />

— 2 Miles.<br />

Over 54 Fathoms.<br />

into eternity. An old saying will have it that out of every ten natives of the<br />

Scilly Isl<strong>and</strong>s nine perish in the sea ; but thanks to lighthouses, lightships, fog<br />

signals, life-boats, <strong>and</strong> a change in the mode of life of the <strong>inhabitants</strong>, this,<br />

happily, is no longer true.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Cornish peninsula is quite as much a l<strong>and</strong> of mist <strong>and</strong> rain as are the<br />

Scilly Isl<strong>and</strong>s. <strong>The</strong> annual rainfall is nowhere less than 30 inches ; in most<br />

localities it exceeds 3 feet, <strong>and</strong> on the western slopes of Dartmoor it rises to

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