or COURANT, a term used to express the present time. Thus the year 1790 is the current year, the 20th current is the 20th day of the month now running.—With regard to commerce, the price current of any merchandise is the known and ordinary price accustomed to be given for it. The term is also used for any thing that has course or is received in commerce; in which sense we say, current coin, &c.

navigation, a certain progressive movement of the water of the sea, by which all bodies floating therein are compelled to alter their course or velocity, or both, and submit to the laws imposed on them by the current.

In the sea, currents are either natural and general, as arising from the diurnal rotation of the earth about its axis; or accidental and particular, caused by the waters being driven against promontories, or into gulfs and straits; where, wanting room to spread, they are driven back, and thus disturb the ordinary flux of the sea. Currents are various, and directed towards different parts of the ocean, of which some are constant, others periodical. The most extraordinary current of the sea, is that by which part of the Atlantic or African Ocean moves about Guinea from Cape Verd towards the curvature or bay of Africa, which they call Fernando Poo; viz. from west to east, contrary to the general motion. And such is the force of the current, that when ships approach too near the shore, it carries them violently towards that bay, and deceives the mariners in their reckoning. There is a great variety of shifting currents which do not last, but return at certain periods; and these do, most of them, depend upon and follow the anniversary winds or monsoons, which by blowing in one place may cause a current in another. Varenius informs us, that at Java, Java, in the straits of Sunda, when the monsoons blow from the west, viz., in the month of May, the currents set to the eastward, contrary to the general motion. Between the island of Celebes and Madura, when the western monsoons set in, viz., in December, January, and February, or when the winds blow from the north-west, between the north and west, the currents set to the south-east, or between the south and east. At Ceylon, from the middle of March to October, the currents set to the southward, and in the other parts of the year to the northward; because at this time the southern monsoons blow, and at the other the northern. Between Cochin-China and Malacca, when the western monsoons blow, viz., from April to August, the currents set eastward against the general motion; but the rest of the year they set westward, the monsoon confining with the general motion. They run so strongly in these seas, that inexperienced sailors mistake them for waves that beat upon the rocks, known usually by the name of breakers. So for some months after the 15th of February, the currents set from the Maldives towards India on the east, against the general motion of the sea. On the shores of China and Cambodia, in the months of October, November, and December, the currents set to the north-west, and from January to the south-west, when they run with such rapidity about the shoals of Parcel, that they seem swifter than an arrow. At Pulo Condore, upon the coast of Cambodia, though the monsoons are shifting, yet the currents set strongly towards the east, even when they blow to a contrary point. Along the coasts of the Bay of Bengal, as far as the Cape Romania, at the extreme point of Malacca, the current runs southward in November and December. When the monsoons blow from China to Malacca, the sea runs swiftly from Pulo Cambi to Pulo Condore on the coast of Cambodia. In the Bay of Sans Bras, not far from the Cape of Good Hope, there is a current particularly remarkable, where the sea runs from east to west to the landward; and this more vehemently as it is opposed by winds from a contrary direction. The cause is undoubtedly owing to some adjacent shore which is higher than this. In the straits of Gibraltar, the currents almost constantly drive to the eastward, and carry ships into the Mediterranean: they are also found to drive the same way into St George's channel.

The setting or progressive motion of the current may be either quite down to the bottom, or to a certain determinate depth. As the knowledge of the direction and velocity of currents is a very material article in navigation, it is highly necessary to discover both, in order to ascertain the ship's situation and course with as much accuracy as possible. The most successful method which has been hitherto practised by mariners for this purpose is as follows. A common iron pot, which may contain four or five gallons, is suspended by a small rope fastened to its ears or handles, so as to hang directly upright, as when placed upon the fire. This rope, which may be from 70 to 100 fathoms in length, being prepared for the experiment, is coiled in the boat, which is hoisted out of the ship at a proper opportunity, when there is little or no wind to ruffle the surface of the sea. The pot being then thrown overboard into the water, and immediately sinking, the line is slackened till about 70 or 80 fathoms of the line run out; after which the line is fastened to the boat's stern, by which she is accordingly restrained, and rides as at an anchor. The velocity of the current is then easily tried by the log and half-minute glass, the usual method of discovering the rate of a ship's falling at sea. The course of the stream is next obtained by the compass provided for this operation. Having thus found the setting and drift of the current, it next remains to apply this experiment to the purposes of Navigation; for which see that article.

Under-currents are distinct from the upper or apparent, and in different places set or drive a contrary way. Dr Smith makes it highly probable, that in the Downs, in the straits of Gibraltar, &c., there is an under-current, whereby as much water is carried out as is brought in by the upper-currents. This he argues from the offing between the north and south Foreland, where it runs tide and half-tide, i.e., it is either ebb or flood in that part of the Downs three hours before it is off at sea: a certain sign, that though the tide of flood runs aloft, yet the tide of ebb runs under-foot, i.e., close by the ground; and so at the tide of ebb it will flow under-foot. This he confirms by an experiment in the Baltic Sound, communicated to him by an able seaman present at the making it. Being there then with one of the king's frigates, they went with their pinnace into the midstream, and were carried violently by the current. Soon after that, they sunk a basket with a large cannon bullet to a certain depth of water, which gave check to the boat's motion; and sinking it still lower and lower, the boat was driven ahead to the windward against the upper current, the current aloft not being above four or five fathom deep. He added, that the lower the basket was let down, the stronger the under-current was found.

From this principle, it is easy to account for that continual in-draught of water out of the Atlantic into the Mediterranean through the straits of Gibraltar, a passage about 20 miles broad; yet without any sensible rising of the water along the coasts of Barbary, &c., or any overflowing of the lands, which there lie very low.—Dr Halley, however, solves the currents setting in at the straits without overflowing the banks by the great evaporation, without supposing any under-current.