The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-11-20
White SQUALLS.

White Squalls.
White squalls, says Appleton's Jour.
nal, come almost without warning, and
With fearful rapidity and violence, and
twist the masts out OF a ship or capsize
her; and near the line the squalls some
times pounce on q ship with warning
signs that are perceptible only to the
most experienced eye. Even in the
finest weather vigilance cannot be re-
Taxed a moment. Some years ago two
large ships met in mid-ocean, one head
ing for Australia and the other whom
ward bound. The day was fair, and,
the wind dying away, the vessels were
becalmed close together. The passen-
gers at once busted themselves to write
letters home, and officers and crew be-
came occupied in the interchange OF
courtesies. The placidity of the wealth
er led to a feeling of careless security
that can never be safely INDUCED in at
sea. All the canvas was set, idly flap
ping against the masts, when a terrific
puuall struck both ships, and passed off
in a few moments. When the confusion
and excitement resulting from it were
over, and the crew of n OF these yes
sells was able to relax the attention de-
manded for their own safety, they looked
to see what damage the other vessel had
suffered, but they looked in vain. She
had gone down with all on board, and
not a vestige of her was to be seen any
| where on the wide sea, which looked
serene and beautiful as if nothing had
happened. To be taken aback by a
sudden squall or shift Of the wind is one
of the greatest perils that menace a
square rugged sailing ship, especially if
there is q high counter sea running.
The sails are pressed with such violence
against the masts that they fail to come
down or brace around, while the stern
presents such resistance to the waves
that unless the after-canvas can be in
stantly taken in, to enable the bow to
pay of, the surges boil over the tafrail
aud draw the ship down almost before
the danger can be realized. I was a
witness to a scene of this sort once when
nothing saved us but the dropping of
the spanker. We climbed up the hoops,
and the sail at last yielded to the sheer
weight that drew it down. An English
frigate was thus taken aback once when
running under press of sail the officer
of the deck manned the yards with her
numerous crew, and they cut the sheets
with their knives in time to keep the
frigate from sinking.
The subject of storms and hurricanes
is a vast one, and many of the laws by
which they work are now codi6ed and
we'll understood by the experienced and
intelligent navigator. In a gale the
wind travels thirty or forty miles an
hour. Its velocity increases to fifty or
sixty miles in a storm, and reaches
eighty to a hundred miles in a cyclone
or hurricane ; it has even been esti-
mated as high as one hundred and TWEEN
ty miles an hour on some occasions.
This excessive speed. of course, was
during the squalls. One would hardly
imagine that anything could withstand
the fury of such a wind: and a real old
fashioned West India hurricane does
PROSTATE houses and trees, and destroys
almost every ship it can lay hold OF.
The weli-remembered hurricane OF 1878
caused a loss of one thousand vessels in
the north Atlantic !; the whole coast OF
NOVA Scotia and Cape Breton was
strewed with them. Forests and
houses went down before it along the
Bras dor. And yet there were some
small hshing-schooners Of not over forty
tons burden that rode out of the hurri'
cane in safety. The typhoons of the
Indian ocean, or of the Pacific, are very
like the Atlantic hurricanes under q diff
ferent name. In the north Atlantic 8
revolving storm goes against the hands
of q watch !; south of the line it pursues
the opposite direction. The omens pre-.
ceding a hurricane are of a nature tc
arouse awe and apprehension. A long,
mountainous swell sets in ; the winds
are light, battling, uncertain, as if play
ing with their prey, accompanied by o
low, moaning sound the sea-birds dis
appear, including the Mother Cary's
chickens. those gypsies of the sea.
which always announce an ordinary
gale; and a misty haze obscures the
sky, which gradually gathers around
the horizon in a dense wall of appall'
ing and lowering mystery and gloom.
One feels as when he goes into his frsl
battle he knows that a great peril and
struggle for existence is pending !; but
he canuot tell it's exact nature aud ex
tent, or whether he will survive to tell
the tale.