Ben Franklin helped oceanography in the 1700s by making and good observations of currents off the east coast.Ben Franklin was the first to refer to the Gulf Stream as a river in the ocean. He was particularly interested in the gulf stream. A fast moving current of warm surface water that comes up from Florida, and then bends eastward across the north atlantic all the way to Europe. As deputy postmaster general, Franklin promoted using the gulf stream to speed up delivery of the mail from America to Europe.
