Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1901-11-29
Rare Phen6n
Weather Il

Rare Phenon
Weather
Every schoolbC
what is called ba
rare phenomenon
Dretends to under
Wis of Harvard
Meteorology" that
pheric electricity
form Of globe ligh.
pearance of luminous
a foot or so in diam
moderate velocity 81 .,ssiny abo,,,
among @ ''ts Ie ground. remain
ing v "a. of seconds and com
disappearing with an explosion.
sfactoIy explanation has been Of
for this phenomenon. Careful OBJ
servation should be made Of it."
Another meteOrOlOgist calls it a very
rare form of lightning. He says that a
vivid flash accompanied by violent ex-
plo5iOn seems to project a brilliant bomb
to the earth. Upon striking the earth the
bomb may rebound several times before
it splits up and disappears. He adds that
70 satisfactory explanation has been Civ
en- of this singular form Of electrical dis
charge.
A short time ago there was a display Of
ball lightning near Cumberland, Nd, and
a short account was given of it in a local
newspaper. The strange vagaries of ball
lightning are so seldom witnessed that
scientific men have sometimes expressed
doubt that there is any such thing. 1t
has as yet been found very difficult to
form theory about it that will cover all
its peculiarities, particularly as regards
shape, color slow and cratic movement
and finally explosive effects.
All reports Of ball lightning that are
well described are welcomed by rseteor-
Ologists, who hope by accommodating evil
dence to some day attain a better idea Of
this curious phenomenon. The latest ex-
perience reported is from the pen of Rob
ert Seyboth, an observer in the weather
bureau, who writes to The Monthly
Weather Review of an experience with
ball lightning when he was a lad on
New Bedford whaling bark in the north
west corner Of Hudson bay.
About , O'Clock in the morning, after a
terrible storm of wind and rain. the boy
was sent aloft to secure the upper hold
on the foretopsail brace. While at work
he saw a thundercloud apparently only a
! few yards above the mizzen truck, and a.
moment later he saw n ball Of fire the
size of a mans head detach itself from
| the cloud and sail quite leisurely to the
mizzen truck. 1t struck this object and
exploded with a deafening crash. sending
a shower of kissing sparks over the rig
ging and deck.
When the boy regained consciousness,
the right side of his body was paralyzed.
Some of his shipmates were engaged in
clearing away the wreckage of the shat
tered mizzen mast, while others were
sounding the pump to find whether the
bolt had knocked a hole in the barll's
bottom. 1t appeared. however, that .hl
lightning had found an easier escape tC
the water by way of the anchor chains
and no further damage was done to the
ship.
AN the men standing on deck wer,
more or less shocked, but none was rem
dered insensible. The third mate hap
pened to be standing inside big coil o
the anchor chain, along which the light
ming flew, looking like a huge fiery ser
: pent The mate was swiftly turne'
, around on his own axis a number o
, times, looking more like a whirling der
wish than a grim old tar, as the Lightning
: followed the convolutions of the coil
> When he had regained his breath, tn
profanity Of the veteran whaleman wa
said to have been awful.
At n later time Mr.. Seyboth was il
charge of the signal service station on tn
summit of Pixies peak. where he ha
) ample opportunity to familiarize himse
: with the many different manifestations q
atmospheric electricity, but he has nevt
l again witnessed the mysterious and weir
= phenomenon known as ball lightning
, NaU York Gun