Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1900-09-27
VARIOUS KINDS OF OCEAN MOVE.
/, MENTs BRING DESTRUCTION.
TROUBLE AT GALVESTON
Tidal, Hurricane and Earthquake Up
heavals of Rushing Water-Low
Lying Land Always in Danger
Brief Account of Historical Disas-
tiers Similar to Galveston's Fate.

of Galveston there were used indiffer-
entity two terms indicating two kinds
of death-dealing waves-sea waves and
tidal waves There was, for good rea-
son, no mention of the third variety
earthquake waves. Now it is certain,
from the evidence of all the facts, that
there was no tidal wave in the case
The destructive agency was the sea
waves the cause of which was the
wind. And the wind was a hurricane
]. e. Hilgard, who conducted the
coast survey of 1871, reported on the
several sorts of waves. Those occa-
stoned by the wind did not require
much explanation, but sea waves are
occasioned also by earthquakes, which
Mr.. Hilgard showed originate with an
impulse at one definite point, and de-
! pending, to use mathematical term
upon the square root of the depth of
the sea. The only difference, there ore,
between earthquake waves and liurri-
cane waves is that the former are
driven freely in every direction, where
as the latter are driven only in one di-
rection-straight before the wind.
The movement of the ocean desig-
mated by the name of tidal wave does
not partake of the nature of a wave
in the common acceptation of the term,
but is rather to be conceived of as
general movement of the water toward
point under the attracting body and
again away from it. Its periodicity is
strictly dependent upon that of the at
tracing body. The velocity of the
| movement differs according to locality.
1t is about 1000 miles an hour on the
equator. 1t extends to the bottom of
the ocean, but it is not attended by
sensible elevation of the water in mid
ocean and, in this respect the char
acteristic of wave is absent
The waves and swells produced by
the hurricane winds are most import
ant feature of nature in convulsion.
They are the largest and most form
liable known to sailors. They form
with great regularity at points direct
ly in advance of the approaching
storm center; at other points they form
a confused mass of tossed sea; in the
neighborhood of the land the confu-
sion is increased by the waves re-
flected from the shores. Such is the
equality of the contest of opposing
waves that near the central region
these sometimes lose their progressive
movement and become stationary, py-
ramidal waves, simply rising and fall
ing. The smaller waves that are prop
agated in all directions into long, gen.
tie swells that outrun the storm in its
its arrival.
Was there ever such a horror before
as that at Galveston? is a question
that hundreds have thoughtlessly asked
during the last week. not remember
ing for the moment their readings of
history. The destruction of life and
property at Galveston was the great
est that has ever happened in North !
America, but it was slight II compared
with similar calamities that have oc-
Cured in other parts of the world in |
former times. Josephus tells of an
earthquake in Judea which swallowed
up 10000 persons and destroyed a pro-
portionate amount of property. Gibbon
states that at Antioch, A. ID. lis, de-
structive earthquake occurred, and |
three others at later periods, in the
years ass, SIG and 5S7, respectively, in
which the aggregate loss of life was
$50, 600 The earliest recorded disaster
of the kind was the earthquake at
Herculaneum in GO A. d., sixteen years
before the volcanic eruption which de-
stroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii. In
Calabria in 1888 the number of per-
sons destroyed in a single district by
earthquake was 100000.
rhe greatest calamity of the kind
that ever happened in Europe was at
Lisbon. Portugal, on the morning of
Nov. /, 1855. The rumbling sound that
precedes most earthquakes was imme-
Ciately followed by the great shock,
which threw down the principal por-
tons of the city. The sea retired,
leaving the bar dry, and returned in
minute as a great wave or breaker,
fifty feet or more in height. II is re-
corded that 10000 persons persisted in
the space of six minutes. A part of
the city was permanently engulfed 800
feet beneath the waters OF the bay.
The portion of the earth that was
shaken by tins earthquake was esti-
mated by Humboldt as equal TO four
times the extent Of Europe. Even so
far away quarter as New England,
on this continent. felt the shock.
The earthquake that destroyed New
Madrid, Mo-, in 1911, and left great
marks of itself on a section extending
for 300 miles south of the mouth OF the
Ohio river, would rank in history as
one of the greatest earthquakes Of all
time had there been there cities and |
inhabitants to be destroyed. In South
America losses Of human life by sim
liar happenings have in individual |
cases amounted to $1,000 or $1,000.
The earthquake at Charleston, S. C.,
in August, 1886, by which forty per-
sons we're killed by falling buildings
and 100000 of property was de-
stroyed, is still wildly remembered by /
surviving sufferers from it, as also is !