Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-11-05
THE DEADLY UNDERTOW
/ AMI THE FATAL CLASP OF The EVER
STEALTEiY SEA PUsS."

STEALTHY SEA PUSS."
Dangerous Ocean Currents Along the
Shore-How They Are Produced and
How They May BE Avoided-Advice
That Surf Raih-r- should Heed
The many deaths by drowning on the
New Jersey coast have caused great
deal of discussion Some attribute the
loss of young Brokaw to the presence of
''sea puss;" others say it WAS simply
an ordinary undertow, while the con
servative claim that it was neither.
The majority of people do not know
the difference between a tide and q cur
| rent, but believing the words to be syn
onymous. use them indiscriminately s
tide is the alternate rising and falling of
the waters caused by the unequal attrac-
! ton of the sun and moon, while cur
rent is "a moving of mass of water
| that may or NAV not rise, but has only
one direction. Currents are sometimes
produced by strong winds. but generally
| by difference of level and the confgu
ration of the bottom.
The first thing to avoid Is the nnder-
tow, which is always strongest i'll water
about waist deep. If the bather would
venture out further or remain nearer the
shore be would escape the strength of the
undertow. This disturbance of the water
is confined to no particular locality.
| ~ . ,A1opaS fhor,
in others, owing to tie trend of the
shore. 1t is caused by the rushing out
of the water under the surface after be
ing thrown up on the beach. and is al
ways strongest in an angry surf. One
may judge of the strength of the under
tow by the height of the waves as they
break and the velocity which they i'm
part to objects along the beach.
The explanation of the undertow is
simple. The approaching waves have a
velocity depending upon the strength of
the wind. So have the receding ones,
but this is due to gravity and depends
upon the angle of inclination of the
beach The breakers. therefore, with
their greater velocity. run over the top
of the waves while the receding water
keeps below.
TIE DREADED SEA PUSS."
Eddies are simply partial currents
that take All opposite direction to the
parent stream, and are produced entirely
by the trend of the shore. Wherever
there is a recession of the beach or
pocket" as it is called, there will be
found eddies. They are of no conse-
quence, however, and of little or no dan
ger to the bather.
We now come to a disturbance of the
water, the very name of which causes
pamic among bathers. The ''sea puss"
has no place in physical geography; in
fact, no scientist has deigned to notice
this phenomenon. Webster does not
even give definition of it in his un-
abridged dictionary In The Century it
is defined as "a swirl of the undertow
making a small whirlpool on the surface
of the water; local outward current
dangerous to bathers. Also called sea
pouce and sea purse"
How the sea puss' is formed no scien-
tist states but in all probability it is due
to the same causes as the whirlpool, to
which it is closely allied. When two
currents, with different sets and drifts,
meet mt point in the water, the result
ant is a motion of rotation, with diam
eter aud velocity depending upon the
resistance with which it meets. The |
whirlpool or sea puss" is given a mo-
ton of translation, which it takes from
the stronger of the two currents. Now |
there is often slight southerly current |
setting parallel 10 the shore along the
Jersey and Long Island coasts. This |
sometimes meets another setting to the |
westward and at the union of the two is |
formed the sea puss," which moves
slowly to the southwark and eastward. |
OCEAN CURRENTS.
This westward current may be due to |
strong winds, or to storm many miles |
ont at sea Far away to the eastward, |
the water is piled mp and driven land
ward, where it is smooth and undis |
turbed In this way it is possible that |
the ''sea pnss" may be formed under |
cluudleSs skies and in unruffied water. !
Should bather be caught in the swirl, |
it is useless 20 attempt to swim against |
it. The wiser plan would be to keep his
head above water and swim with it, |
gradually nearing the edge until he |
is ont of its unwelcome radius of action.
Professor Maury, formerly a Geuten-
ant in the United States navy, attributes
offshore currents 10 difference in the
temperature aud density Of sea water at |
different places.
Another proof of the presence of sub
marine currents is the fact that in all |
,ieep sea soundings tile line has never |
yet ceased to run out even after the lead |
has reached the bottom. Should it be
held fast in the boat it will invariably |
part, showing when two or three miles
Of it are out that the undercurrents are
sweeping against the blight Of it with
what sealnen call ''swigging torce,"
and that no twine, however strong, has
yet been able to Withstand this.
Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, when
i'll command of her majesty's steam
frigate Friedcichsteen in the Mediter- |
ranean, also made some important dis
coveries in this direction. In the archi-
pelago he found the counter currents so
strong that they often prevented the
steering of his ship. In one instance
when the water was very clear he low,
cred the lead with colored shreds of
bunting attached to every yard. These
pointed III different directions all round
the compass.-W. Nephew King. Jr.. in
New York Recorder.
One Horse Power.
When men first begin to become fa-
miliar with the methods of measuring
mechanical power they often speculate