The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1893-12-08
OCEAN WAVES.
Height and Power of Heavy Seas in
Stormy Weather.
Big Blocks Of Masonry Carried
Bodily Away.

met Dy the MASSIVE DOW OF the leVla-
than, says writer d Harper's Bazaar.
Amidships on tho promena6e deck,
under the lee of tho h,,ase, whert par
tial shelter is afiordej from the wind
and spray, are grouped a number of
passengers who prefer exposure TO the
confined atmosphere of Tue cabins.
The deep rolling of the ship, which
one minute causes the steamer chairs
to recOil against the iron partition and
the next threatens to precipitate their
occupants, on the principle of the to-
boggan slide, into the wildly breaking
sea alongside, is responsible for the
prevalence of malady, the name of
which is to q certain extent robbed of
its significance in polite society by be-
ing delicately referred to as NAL de
mer. Suddenly the vessels head
plunges into an uncommonly deep
hollow, the immediate forerunner of
mighty sea. The stern is hove up to
an angle corresponding with the de-
preston of the head, and while the
propellers are madly and uselessly re-
volving out of water, making the
whole structure pulsate with force
which promises to rend it, plate and
rivet, the mountainous sea rushes
down upon the ship. Before she can
rise to it the crest smites her full and
fair upon the bow. The body of the
wave underruns the steamer and
swings her majestically aloft on its
breast, while the head of the sea, torn
and mangled from its encounter with
iron jaws, is flung aft across the deck
house and descends in u binding
shower upon the dismal company.
DR.. Scoresby in 1850 measured At
lantic waves under various conditions,
and found the maximum height to be
43 feet from trough hollow to crest
He calculated that waves 80 feet high
measure 900 feet from crest to crest,
and that such waves have mean velo-
city of 80 miles per hoar. Captain
Cialdi states that he measured storm
waves in the Atlantic which ranged
from go to 108 feet in height, but as he
fails to furnish The rule by which
those extraordinary wave attitudes
were determined, the statement may
be considered with a pardonable de-
gree Of skepticism. of Cape Horn
waves 40 feet high are to be met
with. Thomas Stevenson has figured
out that the height of wave is in the
ratio of the square root of its dis
tan &c from the windward shore, an
according to the observations of Mr..
Douglass in 1853, it was deduced thai
when waves have height of fee
there are 35 in one mile and 8 pei
minute; 10 feet, there are and 6 il
one mile and five per minute; 20 fee
there are in one mile and 4 PEI
minute.
To appreciate wave force and wha
may be termed the throwing power o
wave, let it be understood that in
the winter of 1860, at Bishops Rocl
Lighthouse, the bell was torn from it
fastenings. although situated 100 fee
above high-water mark. At INST, il
the Shetland Islands, a door was burs
in at height of 1875 feet above tn
level of the sea. The most wonderful
effects of wave force recorded wer,
Witnessed at Wick Harbor breakwater
in the north of Scotland. Block
weighing five to ten tons were built il
above the line of high water, first wit
hydraulic lime, then with Roman an
last with Portland cement. This grea
work was considered by the mos
learned engineers in England to be CT
pable of withstanding the assaults G
the ocean for ages, but in October
1864, over 800 feet of this giant barr
er was swept away. In 1872 mono
ithic block, weighing 1850 tons, wa
lifted bodily and carried to Ieeward {
the breakwater, and in 1873 anothC
: and heavier concrete mass, weighin
2,7OO tons. which had replaced til
former, was swept away intact an
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