Wichita eagle., 1888-03-14
TERRoRs OF THE SEA.
CYClONIC, VOLCANIC AND OTHER
TYPES OF WAVES.
Colossal Billows Which RIM Mountain
High-The Passage of Cape Horn-A
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Colossal Billows Which Rum Mountain
High-The Passage of Cape Horn-A
Whirlwind at Sea-Efects of the Vol
canic Wave.
A wave is thing of beauty, but it is
only a joy to those who watch it marching
In splendor and foam from the safe refuge
of the shore. 1t is a very nauseating con-
dition of voyaging. 1t makes the bones
of ships creak as if they were full of
rheumatism. 1t fills the brain with a
sense of chaos, and one moment swings the
moaning traveller to the stars and the next
plunges him into an abyss hideous with
gloom and the Kissing as of millions Of
snakes. To measure waves in a severe
tempest is even more difficult than to
mark effects. When the weather rises to
such fury as makes the seas colossal
enough to render the determination of
their height exceedingly important there
is usually TOO much anxiety, and even dis
traction, for observation. The weight Of
the wind is 50 violent that il is almost i'm
possible to show ones face to it. The
ship, whether a sailing vessel or q
steamer, hove to plunges SO abominably
that mans main concern is to hold on
and save himself from being drowned
should one Of the frothing mountains tum-
BILE on board. There may be other rea-
sons why the officers Of the mercantile
marine have not very ZealOusly devoted
their leisure moments to measuring the
height of waves. But more information
tnan may already be found collected is
hndly wanted and, unquestionably, cap
tains and mates would be doing substan-
tial service by neglecting no opportunity
to ascertain, by the best means in their
power, the true altitude Of ocean seas.
DOWN BY CAPE HORN.
For the true Andean sea one must 60
down TO Cape Horn, perhaps TO as far as
60 dogs. south. There are sailors who,
standing at the wheel Of a ship running
before these seas, will never willingly
look behind them, lest the sight of the on
coming rampant of green water, arching
toward the tatfrail, should unnerve them.
Standing on a deck twenty feet above the
water line you yet look up at the crest of
these seas as at the top of mountain.
The gigantic grace, the huge majesty of
these liquid Titans cannot be described.
1t is necessary to be hove to to appreciate
their height, volume and power; to watch
from the low broadside the swelling ap-
EIOdCu VI Inc UllSHts mass, WIN us
freckled front and foamless head flicker
ing in bottle green to the dull light Of the
gray sky; to feel the sweep of the ship up
the enormous activity, and then while,
for the space of breath only. she hangs
poised with upright masts and shrieking
rigging on the headlong brow, to look
down and behold the valley beneath, into
which the vessel an instant after slides
like a comet.
1t is difficult to write of The seas which
run in heavy weather off the southern
most point of South America without
risk of being charged with exaggeration;
they must be seen, and a little spell of
custom will render admiration easy. 1t
is impossible to be tossed by them in such
vessels as now make the passage of the
Horn, without wondering by what miracle
of luck or phenomenal merit of seaman
ship the old navigators were enabled to
beat against them in their small half
decked boats, some no bigger than Deal
lugger without a touch of the weatherly
qualities of such craft.
CYCLoNIC AGITATION.
But let it not be supposed that the high
wave is the dangerous one. The regular
running surges may all be as tall as the
biggest hotel in London, with ninth
fellow among them as high as the monu-
ment, and yet none prove nearly SO dan
gerOus as the pyramidal seas of the
cyclone. OF all forms Of veXed water the
cyclonic agitation is the worst Here is q
whirlwind of astonishing fury so many
miles in diameter For little while it
runs steady sea, but presently its gyra-
tons brings up g surge from another
tlnv, h. I'LL fNJI
q frightful outtly of storm from a direc-
ton opposite to the point from which the
wind last blew. The seas, coming into
collision, fight like wolves. They snap
and howl, leaping high in conified shapes
in the very similitude of sentient
passion. The staggering of the
ship is indescribable. There is no
rhythmic swing to give her motions
something of the vibrations Of the pendu-
lum. Her decks are filed with water.
while her bows dive into a chasm that has
opened under her forefoot, valley yawnS
up on either side. 1t has not been sug-
gested that the altitude of the cyclonic
wave should be determined. Probably
there is no eye aaoat equal to such an IN
dertaking.
AnoLIleT very unCcDnlOrtaOle sea Is the
volcanic wave. 1t is not very long ago
that a vessel, stesming through quiet
waters on a dark night, was suddenly
hurled up by an invisible billow that was
to be between thirty and forty
feet high. Three such waves passed under
her, the last being the least in volume,
and then all was dead flatness Of ocean
again. The stoutest heart might well
thump to such an encounter as this
London Telegraph.