New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-12-10
HURRICANES AND EARTHQUAKES.

| The recent hurricane which passed over number
of the West India Islands with such terrible conse-
ouences and the subsequent earthquakes that visited
ST. Thomas and other islands have directed popular
| attention to the wonderful phenomena OF these
dreadful storms and have made pertinent some ac-
counts of the hurricanes which have swept through
the Caribbean Sea and along the coast of the Allan
! tic With the exception of the hurricane Of 1898
| which passed over Porto Rico, Hayti, and the
| Bahamas the West Indies have not suffered rom
these fearful vsitations for than 80 years But
in the 10 years before and the 10 years succeeding the
close of the first quarter of the present century they
were frequent and terrible. The West India records
furnish no data of the of these storms. They
are usually barren accounts Of the loss of life and
property on the islands and to the shipping which
leave even the courselof the hurricane to be deter
mined by the marks Of destruction 1T leaves In us
| track
The subject has particular interest to the people
| of the United States because the West lndla
hurricanes are identical with the storms that
sweep along the Atlantic coast Dr. FRANK
lin. whose reputation as philosopher
is founded TO great extent upon his meteorooglcai
studies called these northeast storms, and no was
aware that they generally came from the southwest
But even Franklin unable to fathom the mys-
tery of hurricanes and it not until the present
advanced respecting them. In 1881 Mr.. William Z.
RedGeld published in The American Journal OF Sci
ence and Arts a remarkable paper on the phenomena
of storms and this was followed by other
papers at different times, until his death
in 1851 Seven years after the appearance
of Mr. Redfeds first paper, Lieut-CoL Reid, after
ward Cen William Reid, published a Available paper
ION Hurricanes" among the Papers OF the Royal
Engineers" in which the cause and courses oil these
| storms are treated with great acuteness lie AFTER
ward published more elaborate works on the Devel-
opment of the Law of Storms, and in his last work
attempted to give some idea of the practical appca
ton of the subject to navigation. 1t is now nearly
20 years since this work was published, and yet it
would seem the recent hurricane took the people of
ST. Thomas and other islands by surprise; but with
| n more correct apprehension of the subject, and
more general diffusion of o knowledge Of the law OF
storms aided by ocean cables. we may hope that IN
few years similar visitation cannot betal the people
of the tropics altogether unheralded.
| Asmany as 355 hurricanes were observed between
the years 1893 and 1855, and of these some OF the
most terrible have been the more recent The hurrl-
cane of 1921 will be particularly remembered in this
city, The first trace of it was on the LIST oil Septem-
Der, off Turks Islands, little group among the Ba-
harnas, and on the afternoon of the Sd it reached
New-York. Such was its violence that the wharves
of this city were overfowed, the water rising thr-
teen feet in one hour 1t continued with great fury
for about three hours Previous to the storm the
wind was s. to s. f.. but changed to N. E. at the
| commencement of the gale, and near the close
shifted to the westward. 1t was this storm, which
| passed over a portion of the State of Connecticut
where Mr. Redfeld then resided, that first directed
his attention to the subject and to him. in conse-
auence is science indebted for the valuable theories
he afterward enunciated
The hurricane Of 1880 was of excessive severity,
and one of the most remarkable in history 1t was
severely felt at St. Thomas on the night between tho
18th and 18th of August and the afternoon of the
14th and the succeeding night it continued its course
along the Bahama Islands. prevailing in the Florida
Channel on the 18th, with disastrous consequences.
| II was felt with equal severity off Tybee, and at
Savannah Ca and at Charleston s. g.. on the 10th,
and even prevailed III the interior of North Carolina
as far Fayetteville. vessel bound from this city to
Hayt experienced the gale moderately in the middle
of the Gulf Stream and is supposed to have been on
the outer edge of the hurricane. On the 17th the
| gale was severely felt at Norfolk, early in the
morning, and the same day it blew
a perfect hurricane" off the Capes OF
Virginia. In the afternoon and evening it reached
New-York and Long Island, and the next day there
was 4" tremendous gale" off Nantucket and Cape
Cod 1t appears to have spent its force on the 18th
off Sable Island The duration of this gale was from
: to 70 hours at any point, and the whole time
about days. The average rate of its passage over
the extensive track about II miles an hour the
width of the track influenced more or less severely
by the gale was from 500 to COO miles, and where it
was more severely felt from $50 to $50 miles. h. NJ.
ship Blanche, from Havana to Halifax experienced
the gale at two points on different days, having IN
the mean time escaped from its track, and the snip
Illinois sailed through the Gulf of Florida across the
trackover which the hurricane afterward passed, put
| he
| eastern semlclrcle. -.
Ii is impossible to estimate the loss of life and
property in the West Indies by hurricanes. In the
Island of Barbados alone 5000 lives and property to
the value of nearly $0O00O0 were lost in the hnrr
cane of 1880 and in the great storm of 1881 IT suffered
even more severely in the loss of property. to
assist in restoring the buildings laid waste in this
latter hurricane that Leut.-Col. Reid first came TO
| Barbados. While he was earnestly engaged IN col
| lecting material respecting West India hurricanes
| the first paper of Mr.. Redfeld came into his hands,
In this paper Mr. Redfeld infinitely traced the course
| of the storm first described The Engllshman
frankly said of the American that his paper was the
first that seemed to convey any Just opinion on the
1881 was sufficient in itself to quicken the zeal OF am
intelligent man who had set himself to the task OF
investigating these aDe phenomenal ~ pega4 gan
reach ST. Vincent, only 20 or 80 miles 10 the west
ward, in less than seven hours. IL was hIst
observed a6Ont an h0r DelT pase Of tbe gaa
| increased, and the heavens were illuminated Dy
quyering sheet of blazing light which was only sur
| passed IN DIllllauCg Dy lho utilo VI H"''
which exploded in every direction No thunder was
distinctly heard at any time, and the English olcer
I under an arch of lower window outside the house
did not hear the roof and upper story fall although
! these were thrown over by the hurricane. At the
northern extremity of St. Vincent the effect Oh inns
hurricane was very destructive. remarkable cloud
was observed over the windward part of the island
before il was affected by the hurricane, and gentle
| man by whom il seen, although a mile from
home had sufficient time to return and nail up the
doors and windows Of his house before the gale be-