Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-08-18

suut his weather eye, WHlStleu loW dhu
long and, looking up at the masthead,
replied:
why, of course I have
"Where?" inquired the questioner,
eagerly.
I'm novels" CURLY remarked the
captain.
The curious man was 80 silent after
this setback that the humane salt.
thinking he might have offended him.
looked at him commiseratingiy, and
said: you are not the only one In
the wrong about sea waves. There is
an instrument, scientific instrument,
called the marine dynamometer, which
measures the force Of waves by the 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-
BILE that weight, which is something l
do not care to meet on my vessel.
When a wave OF 500 tons falls on.
ship it is just as though 500 tons of
iron had struck her. 1t is seldom that
wave strikes ship a fair blow, and
when it 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 great wave, falling upon G
vessel with such tremendous weight,
should, in some cases, sink her? Now,
suppose a wave fell from 100 feet to
the deck of this ship, where do you
suppose you and l would be-where
do you suppose the ship and every
soul on board of her would be one
minute after? Where but gone to Davy
Jones loc&er?"
The old salt took 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 CSmte 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 900 miles, was
thirteen and one-half feet from crest
to base. But DR.. Scoresly found waves
in the Atlantic from thirty to forty
three feet high, measuring from the
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, II ebbing, serves the pur-
pose Of the sandy shore, and 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 II 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
we'll 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
CT
mass of water moves in an opposite
direction over the other, just as the
wave rushes over the sandy beach up
on shore.
"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
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 on
matches and filled the hold with wafer.
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 waves at other times. AL
most any captain can tell you Of such
a thing as his vessel having been COM
pletely overcome by heavy roller, SO
that she lost Roadway and stood trem-
bling in the sea. Everybody who has
travelled the ocean many times has
noticed that after series of moder-
ately high waves have gone by there
will be three in succession that will be
much larger. Then there will be
long period of very moderate waves.
then three or more monsters. I think
that ties or currents trip up the waves
and bring them together till they unite
in the enormous swells that are so
much to be dreaded by sailors.
at was at Peterhead Harbor, on the
English coast, about fifty years ago,
that there was great crowd of peo-
pie on the beach one day watching the
enormous swells coming in from the
worst storm on record for that part
of the world. About two hours before
high water three tremendous waves
rolled along shore and broke on the
beach, carrying away $50 feet of great