Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-08-31
A SAILORS STORY
OLD SALT ON WAVES 100 FEET
HIGH.
Would Crush Ship If They Fell on
Her Deck-No Wave Higher Than
so Feet Ever Has Been Seen, So 1t Is
Ayerred.


long and. looking up at the masthead.
replied:
Why, of course I have
"Where?" inquired the questioner,
eagerly.
In novels" CURLY remarked the
captain.
The curious man was so silent after
this 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 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 !
do not care to meet on my vessel.
When wave of 500 tons falls on
ship it is just as though 500 tons of
iron had struck her. 1t is seldom that
a wave strikes ship 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 a great wave, falling upon Q
vessel with such tremendous weight,
should, in some cases, sink her? Now,
suppose wave fell from 100 feet to
the deck of this ship, where do you
suppose you and | would be-where
do you suppose the ship and every
soul on board of her would be one
minute after? Where but gone to Dayy
Jones locker?"
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 Comte De Marsili,
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 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 large
steamer and noted its force. The tide
at that time, if ebbing, serves the pur-
pose of the sandy shore, and the vol
ume of water in the vessels swell is
hurled with momentum which may
have carried it to your feet. In such
case it would seem as if 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-
1 II.
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
| and crowds them up sleeper, and one
mass of water moves in an opposite
| direction over the other, just 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 if they were pa
per, broke things up generally, tore Oft
| matches and filled the hold with water.
| Those on board who were not killed
| by that wave were taken off 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 a
long period of very moderate waves.
| then three or more monsters. / 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.
1T was at Peterhead Harbor, on the
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
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
bulwark rising nine and one-half feet
| above high water at the spring tides.
| One piece of this wall weighed thir-
teen tons, and was carried fifty feet.
That was power for you! Then, ex-
actly two hours after high tide, singu-
| larly enough, three more great waves
came in there, but the worst damage
had been done
My opinion of the height of waves,
after thirty years on the ocean, is that
they rarely are higher than twelve feet.
/ never saw a wave in any storm
higher than. should judge, thirty feet,
and even then in only two instances
in my whole experience"
Wore the Clothes.
Some of the linen of the Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, sent on shore to