The morning call., 1894-05-09
THE NEW PACIFIC CHARTS.

The pilot cha:t of the North Pacific,
which the Hydrographic Bureau will issue
if Congress approprlates the money, will
simplify the navigation of an ocean which
promises to be actively travelled hereafter.
lncalculable service has been rendered 10
the navigation of the North Atlantic by
the chart which has been regularly pub
lished each month by the bureau. The
North Pacific is not the theater of as
much activity. but the number of steam
ers and sailing vessels which it bears on
its bosom is increasing yearly. and accurate
and regular observations of meteorological
phenomena will extend our general knowl.
edge of the broad sea.
The area which it Is proposed to embrace
in the chart may be said to cover the
whole Northern Ocean, from the equator
to the Arctic Sea, and from the harbor Of
Panama to the coast of T0nQuin. Thus 1t
will furnish information which will be of
service not only to captains of vessels sail
ing out of American ports, but likewise to
mariners VINO navigate the waters ada
cent TO China. Siberia, Japan and British
Columbia. Each vessel arriving in port
will transmit to the department a Blank
filled up with the meteorological Observa-
tions it has gathered on its voyage. These
will be compared with the records of the
department, and from the comparison 1t is
expected that q generally probable fore
cast can be obtained of the winds and cur
rents to be expected. of the regions of pre-
valing fog and rain. of the normal status
of the barometer and thermometer. OF the
feeding grounds of whales aud seals, and
Of the shifting OF the most available sail
and steam routes. With such a chart be-
fore him a sea captain will go TO sea with
some idea of what he may expect on his
voyage. The chart will not apprse him
Of the winds he may encounter; the Hy-
geographic Bureau does not go into the
business of prophecy, but 1t will acquaint
him with the phenomena of the recent
past, which may help him to guess at what
is coming.
The typhoOns of the Japan Sea, for in-
stance, which have been so destructive.
rarely occur oftener than once year.
They travel in given directions. which are
known. If the photographic chart reports
the appearance of typhoon on certain
date the chances are that the phenomenon
will not be repeated that season, whereas
if the month of September is reached
without a typhoon it will be prudent to
look out for one before the beginning of
October
The charts will probably lead to more
accurate knowledge of our meteorological
conditions on this coast The theory at
the Weather Bureau is that our storms are
born at sea somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of As deg. or 40 deg. north latitude |
and 40 deg. TO 145 deg. west longitude.
From that point they travel east and strike
the coast near Cape Flattery. But this is
mere conjecture. No one ever saw a
stoIm born or followed it in its eastern
journey to the coast After we have
monthly returns for three or four years
from the supposed birthplace of the
storms comparison of those returns with
the weather reports from the coast will
show how much or how little foundation
there is for the popular theory.
Marine meteorology must remain in its
infancy until fixed stations are established
out of sOuDdiDgs for regular daily obser-
vations. No one has yet devised plan 10y
" hich such stations can be planted so as
to remain in place. On the North At
Iantic steamers pass and repass so swiftly
that the bureau is seldom more than three
days without information of the weather
from every point on the steamship line.
1t is different on the Pacific. 1t will be
necessary to reckon that the bureau may
be seven or eight days without news of
storm, so that when the news does come
to hand 1t may be stale. On the other
hand destructive storms are less frequent
in the North Pacific than in the North At
lantic. The loss of steamer between
California and Japan is thing almost un-
heard of. Sea captains sailing out of San
Francisco will not need to con their charts
for fear of wreck as closely as captains
sailing out of New York. Still the infor-
nation which the charts will impart will
not be devoid of value if they only give
hint whether it is best to take the straight
or the circle course.