, 1885-10-17
A TORNADO IN THE TROPICS.


Philadelphia Timesl
was in n tynhoon once ON the nth
dav Of August' 1sT1 in the United
states Storeshin Idaho in Yokohama
horhor Tanan said Iohn r. Robinson
mem ber III assemble from Delaware
county and for eleven vears an officer
in tbe Tnited States navy II never
want another sucb exnerienee. We Ind
had = Iorg snaII ~ Intensely hot
,@eathsr 1ha dey tafore The tvnhoon
nnrt of the Tenth British regiment and
rovaI u,ar;nes EXCHANGED 10 90 home
Ncere transferred 10 n TRANSPORT and to
avoid the heat moved in early mornin0
Five of tho men were snnstrnck when
the sun was not three DEGREES hipb.
We had about twantv.fonr honrS' %notice
Of The coming of the tynhoon by the fall
Of The harometer The shifting of tbe
wind and Increasing moistnre of the
atmosnbere a few hours before the
center Of storm nassed the sky became
allied with inIy hIack cIonds GRATING
arouud in The most confused manner
the wind blew a steadil Increasing
0aIe finally, az tbe storm. oenter was on.
ms, assuming hurricane violence
II was NAVIGATING officer and mart of
nv duty was 10 watch the barometer
and svmnsiesometer which marled
every len and five minutes The mer.
curry fell in regular iumps toward the
last ms II Tho hottom was ont of fhe
tube. hating at 27-4g For the half
hour preceding this tbe situation was
perfeetly awful We were at anchor in
The harbor. the two hest bowers down
and veered TO ninety fathoms of chain
on eacb. The harbor was fnll of craft
large and small. Admiral Kennels
ang.shin- n CLYDE. built steamer was on
one side of us. the Pacific mail steamer
America. Can't. Warsaw. ON the other.
and a Norwegian bark near astern'
The steamers kent full head of steam
on and could ease nm their cables. Our
vessel and the other sailing craft tried
to trust to their cables.
The DANCE of fouling was imminent.
The bark drffted all around us, fortu-
nately not striking. Had she done so
both vessels would have been ground to
pieces. The wind at its height wa
simply indoscribable. the noise like that
of 0 1000 devils yelling in air. There
was no sea on while the wind blew at
its greatest velocity, as it cut the tops off
the waves like a knife and the air was
filed with a binding salt mist. We
could not show our heads above the
rail. To look to windward or hold your
head up against the wind was
impossible. When the barome-
ter ceased falling the wind fell
and a dead calm, awful in its stiffness.
succeeded for about fifteen minutes
We we're then in the vortex of the
storm and, as we after calculated, four
miles from the actual center. As the
wind lulled the sea rose and came piling
in the harbor in tumultuous waves, run
ming in all directions, topping up over
our decks and filing them with tons of
water. Our matches were battened
down and everything was fast. of
course, but our most serious danger was
lust then, as we were loaded deep and
rolled so that we actually thought at
one timo we'd turn clean over, but we
came through it all right but heavily
shaken up.
'The wind came out from the oppo-
site quarter, in a few minutes blew the
sea down again and ragged with de-
moniac force and decreasing velocity
for an hour or so. the barometer
jumped up to mean thirty inches again.
the sky cleared until there was not a
cloud to be seen and the typhoon was
past; but it left its wreck behind.
Numbers of small craft and several
large steamers were on the beach in
pieces no bigger than a yardstick. The
harbor was full of tea boxes for DAYS
from the wrecked vessels. have been
five times across the Atlantic, in some
heavy wintry gales on that treacherous
ocean, was in q cyclone off Hatteras in
the frigate Macedonia, nave scudded
a nAn -
winds ON n parallel. OF cape OF
Good Hope when going out to India,
but have never seen the wind blow so