Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-08-17

shut his weather eye. whis,led low and
long and. looking up at the masthead.
replied:
Why. of course ! have
where!" Inquired the questIoner.
eagerly.
In novels" eurtIy remarked tho
captain.
The curious man was so silent after
'his setback that the humane salt,
thinking he might have offended him.
looked al him eOmmiseratingIy. and
SAID: You are not the only one In
me wrong about sea waves There Ia
an Instrument. u scientific instrument.
called the marine dynamometer. which
measures the force OF waves by the use
or springs OF known strength. The
force OF the impac. II transferred to
the springs. and the distance to which
the springs arc impressed Is registered.
In this manner the force OF tis wave,
In ordinary circumstances only, Is
found TO be rs high as three tons to tho
square foot. and under exceptional cir
cumstahces the pressure has been dou-
bic that weight, which Is something I
do not care to meet on my vessel.
When wave OF 200 tons falls on a
ship II Is lust as though 800 tons OF
Iron had struck her. II Is seldom that
wave strikes ship fair blow, and
when IL does tho ship Is generally
found TO be built Of sufficient strength
TO stand the test Three toas to tho
square foo; Is for;y-two pounds to tho
square Inch. Do you think II any won.
, "a fail
vessel with such tremendous weight.
should. In some eases. sink her! Now.
suppose wave fell from 100 feet to
the deck OF this fLip. where do you
suppose you and I would hc-whcre
do you suppose the ship and every
Soul on board of her would be ono
minute after? Where but gone to Davy
Jones iockcr7'
The old salt took a turn down tho
deck and back again. and seeming wor-
ricd about the subject. said:
i've read The Physical History of
tn. Sea- by the Comtc Dc MAr,tlI. a
sensible book. and he tells us that tho
highest wave observed by him on tho
shore OF Iangusdoc. where the fetch OF
tho Mediterranean Is 600 miles. was
thirteen and onc.half feet from crcB.
to base. But DR.. .ScoTcsl; found waves
| In tho 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 mot with. While you have
been standing upon the shore YOU may
have noticed the swell from large
steamer and noted Its force. The tide
at that time. II cbbing. serves the pur-
pose of the sandy shore. aHd the vol
ume OF water In the vessels swell i,
hurled with n momentum which may
have carried Il to your fce. In such
case II would seem as II the curpcnt.
running against the incoming swell
would either wholly destroy the force
| OF tho latter or at least reduce It's force.
but the forces of the waves are pecul-
| lar, Among us selmcn the fact Is
we'll known that the nastlcst 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. Just rs tho
wave rushes over the sandy beach up
on shore.
"The largest waves are to be found
| of the Cape of Good Hope. where there
| are not over n 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 n gale that tore her iron bull
warks off the ship as If they were pa
per, broke things up generally. tore of
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 waves at other times. AL
most any captain can tell you OF such
thing as his vessel having been COM
pletely overcome by heavy roller, so
that she lost headway and stood trem-
bling in the sea. Everybody who has
travelled the ocean many times has
noticed that after a 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 tides 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.
"It was at Peterhead Harbor. on tho
English coast about fifty years ago.
that there was a great crowd of peo-
pie on the beach one day watching the
enormous swells coming in from the
wors. 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 a great
bulwark rising nine and one-half feet