The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1899-11-02

When asked IL he had ever seen u
wave 100 feet high, the old sea captain
shut his weather eye, whistled low and
long and, looking UP at the masthead,
replied:
Why, Of course I have
Where's" inquired the q~uestloner,
eagerly.
In novels" CURLY remarked the
captain.
n curious nan was SO silent after
TINS setback that the humane salt.
thinking he might have offended him.
looked at him commiseratingly. and
SAID: You are not the only one in
the wrong about sea v There is
an instrument, a scientific instrument.
called the marine dynamometer. which
measures the force of waves by che use
OF springs Of known strength. The
force of the impact Is transferred to
the springs, and the distance to which
the springs are impressed is registered.
In this manner the force of the wave
IN ordinary circumstances only, is
found to be as high as three tons to the
square foot, and under exceptional cir
cumstances the pressure has been dou-
Die that weight, which is something |
do not care to meet on nv vessel
When a wave of 500 tons falls on a
snip 1t is just as though 500 tons Of
iron had struck her. 1t is seldom that
a wave strikes a ship a fair blow. and
when 1t does the ship is generally
found to be built of sufficient strength
to stand the test. Three tons to the
square foot is forty-two pounds to the
square inch. Do you think it any won.
der that a great wave, falling upon G
vessel with such tremendous weight.
should, in some cases, sink her? Now,
suppose a wave fell from 1GO feet to
the deck Of this ship, where do you
suppose you and I would be-where
do you suppose the ship aid every
soul on board of her would be one
minute after? Where but gone to Davy
Jones locker?"
The old salt took a turn down the
deck and back again, and seeming wor-
ried about the subject, said:
1--WE read The Physical History of
the Sea- by the Comte De Marsili, a
sensible book, and he tells us that the
highest wave observed by him on the
shore of Languedoc, where the fetch of
the Mediterranean is 600 miles, was
thirteen and one-half feet from crest
to base. But DIR. Scoresly found waves
in the Atlantic from thirty to forty
1 &hTco foot hi0h YanoaIr1n o. from fhn
crest to the bottom of the hollow. Mind
you, these were the largest that were
ever measured to my knowledge, and
seldom met with. While you have
been standing upon the shore you may
have noticed the swell from a large
steamer and noted its force. The tide
at that time, If ebbing, serves the pur-
pose of the sandy shore, n the vol
ume of water in the vessels swell Is
hurled with a momentum which may
have carried it to your feet. In such
case it would seem as il the current,
running against the incoming swell,
would either wholly destroy the force
Of the latter or at least reduce its force;
but the forces of the waves are pecul-
lar. Among us seamen the fact is
well known that the nastiest ocean
waves are in the Gulf Stream, and to
the southwark OF the Banks, where the
current with mighty strength opposes
them when they come from the east.
The current makes them narrower
and crowds them up sleeper, and one
mass of water moves in an opposite
direction over the other lust as the
wave rushes over the sandy beach up
on shore.
1.-THE largest waves are to be found
off the Cape OF Good Hope, where there
are not over a dozen swells to the mile
sometimes, and these are not at all
dangerous as compared with such a
} sea as was met by the steamer Gla-
morgan in her passage from Liverpool
} to Boston, fifteen years or SO ago. She
; got in a gale that tore her iron bull
warks off the ship as II they were pa,
} per, broke things up generally, tore OIL
matches and filled the hold with water.
] Those on board who were not killed
by that wave were taken OF by another
+, ship. But that was nothing to the
] force OF the wave at other times. AL
!, most any captain can tell you OF such
a thing as his vessel having been com
! pletely overcome by a heavy roller, SC
: that she lost Roadway and stood trem-
bling In the sea. Everybody who has
I Travelled the ocean many times has
: noticed that after a series of mOder
5 ately high waves have gone by there
~ - = -,,aa~1-fo@ 4ho+ will III