BENT, SILAS (1820-89). An American naval officer who first delineated and described the Euro Shiwo, the great equatorial and north ward stream of the Pacific, which distributes the hot water of the tropics into northern regions. He was born in Saint Louis, Mo., October 10, 1820, and was a grandson of Captain Bent. the commander of "the Tea Party Regiment" that in 1773 threw the British tea overboard in Bos ton Harbor. He entered the United States Navy as midshipman in 1836, serving 25 years, during which time he made those researches in hydrog raphy and meteorology which enabled him to add materially to the knowledge of storms, tor nadoes, currents, rainfall, and the climate of what used to be called "the Great American Desert." Be served in the Seminole War, voy aged in the South Pacific, and was especially active on survey work. He was on the brig Treble, under Commander Glynn, who, in Febru ary, 1849, at Nagasaki, Japan,. procured the release of 18 American sailors, who had been kept prisoners. In this cruise he gained accu
rate information concerning the Japanese and how to deal with them, which was extremely valuable to Commodore M. C. Perry, under whom lie served as captain and flag-lieutenant from 1852 to 1856% In this expedition lie had charge of those hydrographic surveys which ultimately became the basis of the later work by the Japan ese navy. He piloted the fleet into Napha, in the Riu-Kiu (Loo-choo) Islands, and was a com missioner for the United States in making a treaty with the Regent. In a lecture before the American Geographical Society, in December, 1855, he first described in scientific terms the Pacific Gulf Stream, `the river in the ocean,' and its branches, the main part of which is called by the Japanese the Kuro Shiwo, or Black Tide. His numerous scientific studies greatly facili tated the progress of polar research and dis covery.