Evening star., 1900-10-20
TROPICAL HURRICANES
THEIR ORIGIN, FURY AND, OTHER
MARKED CHARACTERIsTICs.
TyphOOns of the China Sea and in the
North Pacific-NOtable Instances
of Terrific Storms.

From the NV Yo-k Tribune.
The most terrible tempests known to man
are those which develop in greater or less
| abundance near the equator. Immediately
| after the hottest season Of the year. Those
| with which Americans are most familiar
| generally occur in August, September or
| October, and make their first appearance
in or near the West Indies. At this period
the trade winds have caused an accumula-
ton of hot surface water at the western
limit of the ocean in low latitudes, and out
of this steaming caldron, whose tempera-
ture ranges from 80 to 95 degrees, are gen.
Grated storms like that which has just al
most annihilated Galveston.
These hurricanes show a disposition to
follow a certain typical track. At first their
movement is nearly westward, under the
Influence of the trade winds, but they seek
to push nOrthward, and. having done so,
they are caught by the great eastward up
per current of atmosphere and turned in
almost the opposite direction. The curve
described is a gentle one, and is sharpest in
about latitude % or 80 degrees Sometimes
the storm continues on It's westward way
until It, reaches the Gulf Of Mexico, but
more often it "recurves" so as to follow
the Atlantic coast from Florida to Hat
teras. Thence, as a rule, 1t swings away
toward northern Europe, following the gulf
stream very closely.
AIOhR We" Jersey ana Long lBIanu.
In exceptional cases these tropical hurri-
canes are diverted to the left hand suf1i-
GENTLY to be felt seriously on the New Jer-
sey and Long Island coasts Sometimes the
center keeps just inside the coast line.
Again, the recurvature may occur so far to
the eastward that the Bermudas suffer and
the United States is entirely exempt. What
was known as the Nova Scotia cyclone"
and what Greely described as the most de-
structive storm of this type known to
America, occurred in 1875. and did pracu-
cally no damage on land, but it destroyed
no less than LOB vessels of different kinds
and caused the deaths of 600 people.
The chief characteristic Of tropical hurri-
canes is their high wind velocity. No storm
Of temperate latitudeS ever develops such
appalling fury: There are few, places in the
interior OF the United States whore the wind
ever blows more than forty or fifty miles
an hour; but in a West Indian cyclone
velocities of eighty, ninety and one hun
dred miles are not uncommon, and in 1897
registered 1873! At sea THIS means the de-
struction Of small vessels and often proves
fatal TO large ones; on land it means the
demolition of weak edifiees and damages
to crops; and where the contour of the
shore favorS such an operation continued
gales of exceptional force bank up the sea
five, ten and even fifteen feet higher than
usual. .r 81
This last phenomenon should be distin-
guished from the mysterious tidal wave
that sometimes accompanies hurricane,
but which Is momentary affair. surge
rising from ten to fifty feet will sometimes
rush in toward land when a tropical storm
Is prevailing, working inconceivable disas-
ter within a few minutes. Ships are torn
from their anchorage and hurled ashore, to
remain high, II not dry, hundreds of wards
from the water. Small vessels have thus
been landed in tree tops In the Bahamas. A
storm wave that swept the Ganges delta in
1854 drowned AZ GOO persons. and anOthpr in
1876 no less than 100 600!
Advance of the Storm Center.
During the early stages of their history
tropical cyclones rarely advance more than
eight or ten miles an hour. At that time
their diameter is small. generally between
100 and 200 miles. After reaching higher
latitudes and recurring, they expand some
what, and their progress is more rapid.
Eight full days elapsed after the recent
hurricane was detected to the south of Por-
to Rico before Galveston felt 1t. Another
popularity OF this class Of disturbances Is
the remarkable fall in the barometer that
accompanies them. From the outside to the
center, or calm "eye Of the storm" the dis
tance may not be more than fifty miles. and
yet the barometer may fall during the
passage Of the hurricane over given spot
from the vicinity Of 80 inches to 27.5.
Greedy mentions a case in which the ba-
rometer at Guadalupe fell from 29.6 to 27.9
than this have been observed. however
Few storms Of temperate latitudes ever af-
feet the barometer to a greater extent than
half an inch, and even this change Is far
more gradual than with a hurricane, owing
to the much greater breadth of northern
depressons. Torrents Of rain, often amount
ing to three or four inches day, and some-
times even more, usually fall while trop-
ical storm is prevailing
"A West Inuian hurricane Is circular in
form. Hence Piddington applied to them
the name "cyclone," derived from the same
root as that found in "bi-cycle" Some
fierce discussions have been conducted over
the direction Of the wind with reference to
the center. Piddington and Redfield thought
that the wind blew In circles around the
latter Espy held that 1t aimed straight
for the center. The truth lies between the
two supposftions. The air moves in an in
ward spiral. and its course forms a consid-
erable angle, with tangent to the circle.
Eliot, who has carefully studied the storms
of the Indian ocean. and Toynbee of the
British naval service have made very care
full computations of this angle.
The question Is one Of immense practical
importance to the mariner who finds him
self entangled in the outer edges of such
whirl. With a proper knowledge of the
anatomy Of hurricane he can determine
Of the wind. From the latitude he can con-
lecture the course which the storm is fol-
lowing. He can then SO navigate his ship
as to get out of the destroyer's path as soon
as possible. 1'"" II u ~
In the Eastern Seas.
The typhoon Of the orient Is an own sis
ter of the West India Cyclone. 1t is gen.
Grated in low latitudes. late tn the summer
or early in the autumn. at the western edge
of the Pacific, not far from the Philippines
1t begins its career bysmoving westward,
but in time returns to the coast Of China
and Japan. Storms of precisely the same
character develop in the North Indian
ocean and assail the eastern coast of Hin
ddsian. often advancing up the Bay of Ben
gal to Calcutta. The southern hemisphere
also has such disturbances They are rare
or unknown In the South Atlantic. but are
common in the South Indian ocean and
South Pacific Their course Is at first west
ward, but in recurring to higher latitudes
they swing around to the southeast, not the
northeast. Again. In that part Of the
world 1t is summer when this country is
having winter. Hence tropical hurricanes
there are most numerous in February and
March. i
1t was in the latter month of 1889 that a
memorable typhoon swept over the Samoan
Islands, moving so slowly that its influence
was felt for portions of three days. Six
ships of the American and foreign navies
and ten merchant vessels dragged their an
chors in the harbor Of Apfa and were either
wrecked on the coral reefs Of the bay or