The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1894-06-06
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QUEER EXPERIENCES AT SEA.


Sailors have more than their fill of
strange sights and strange experiences.
The fact that we OH shore hear SO little
about them is owing to their absolute
commonness, from the mariners point
of view, and it is only when some acci-
dent accompanies the occurrence that, as
rule, we are treated to any details
about it.
Big waves rank among these expert
ences. We do not refer to those waves
which are the immediate consequences
Of high winds and atmospherical dis
turbances, but to those single waves Of
immense height which show themselves
suddenly in the midst of a sea compare.
lively smooth. A vessel may be sailing
along in fine weather, and with no swell
on worth mentioning, when, without
the least warning, comes sweeping along
wave that towers like mountain, falls
on the deck and carries away everything
movable, members Of the crew among
the rest. The steamer San Francisco
was once struck by tidal wave of this
sort in the gulf stream and 179 persons
swept into the sea and drowned. In
March last all the crew save one of the
bark Johann Wilhelm were washed
overheard by single wave. In June.
last year, the ship Holyrood encountered
another such sea, which Is said to have
risen up suddenly like wall, and to
have flooded her decks fore and aft. The
Cunarders Etruria and Umbria have
both encountered the phenomenon, and
the former had one man killed and sew
eral others injured. The ease Of the
Pomeranian will be fresh in the minds
Of all Sometimes these waves are the
result Of submarine eruptions and land
earthquakes occurring in close proxim-
ity to the sea.
An English bark crossing the north
Pacific met one Of these big waves, and
Immediately afterward the ocean seemed
to be boiling, and the sulphur fumes
that emerged from the water were so
powerful as to drive the crew into the
rigging. Certainly there was an erup-
tion here as the ship sailed over, and the
wonder is that the great wave did not
do more injury. Again, the American
schooner Dara J. Ward, while on q voy-
age to Seattle, Wash, from Copper
island, was sailing quietly along when
suddenly she was lifted as if whale
had struck her bottom and then expert
enced succession of shocks which cast
everything loose about her decks and
knocked the crew off their feet. There
were a few big waves succeeding the
main one, and then everything was
smooth again.
The biggest solitary wave ever known
was that caused by the Peruvian earth
quake of Aug IS. 1868. In no other in
stance, we are assured, has it been
known that o we'll marked wave of
enormous proportions has been propa-
gated over the largest ocean tract of the
globe by an earthquake whose action
has been limited to relatively small
region. and that region not situated In
the center, but ON one side of the area
traversed by the wave At africa 1t was
80 feet high and enveloped the town,
carrying two warships nearly mile be-
yond the railway to the north Of the
town. The single sea Travelled north
ward and westward. It's height at San
Pedro, in California, was so feet. It In
undated the smaller members Of the
Sandwich group 9, 800 miles away, and
reached Yokohama in the early hours Of
the morning after taking In New Zea-
land ON the way. 1t spent itself finally
In the south Atlantic. having traversed
nearly the whole globe.
A singular occurrence was reported
recently by the English ship Lucipara
She was about midway between the
cape and Australia when she encounter
sd hurricane. About midnight Of Aug.
A last the sea suddenly fell almost calm.
"It appeared as if the sea was affected
by some tremendous pressure, when
suddenly the whole vessel, fore and aft,
was enveloped in sheets Of fame that
rose half way up the masts and overran
the decks for three-quarters Of an hour.
It was an electrical storm, and the crew,
never having encountered such thing
before, were panic stricken, and very
naturally so. They expected every mo-
ment to see the masts go by the board.
After what must have been very cheer
full 40 minutes the flames snuffed out
suddenly and left darkness SO thick that
1t might have been cut
Another singular occurrence was that