The Minneapolis journal., 1903-04-23
AN INTERESTING LECTURE
Captain Slgsbee Tells Large Audience
About Sea Storms. r


Captain Charles D.. Sigsbee, u: s., N,
addressed an unusually high class lecture
audience last night at Wesley church on
"A Sailors View Of Storms at Sea-" un-
der the auspices Of John A. Rawlins post,
G. A. R.. Present were many members OF
the citizens staff, prominent landlubbers
of the city and Minnetonka shippers.
Captain Sigsbee's lecture was illustrated
diagramatically and pictorialyy by stere-
opticon slides. 1t was much the same
lecture as was delivered before the New
York Yacht. club. but less technical The
sails we're trimmed TO the understanding
of those who rarely sail except upon Cal
houn of and-lock ed Minnetonka. :.
Judge Ell Torrance introduced the
speaker who read from manuscript, but
who ;enlivened ;the- lecture by witty re-
marks. Among other interesting side ex-
cursions he mounted thes platform and
"boxed the compass backward and for
ward, with askill that brought applause
from the audience. -. o..
The captain has HAD forty-three years
sea experience He was Tor a long time in
command Of the; fast sailing training YES
sci Portsmouth and much of the lecture
illustrated points from his own experience
on that ship. ono Of which was sailing
back into . s:LC.l after it had passed to
show how It could be done, with the re-
suit that the furniture in sthe captain s
at the bottom. Ii "' = 80
The diagrams showed the formation Of
storm centers, their procession and gyra-
tion. both above and below the equa tor.
It was shown that since the law of storms
was known the loss Of life, under it's ap-
plication, was diminished remarkably.
The manner Of determining what relation
the vessel bore to the direction and CEN
ter of the storm and how to manage it,
| in each case was clearly illustrated with
| diagrams. The pictures showed different
| styles of vessels and sails, also different
| cloud formations with their bearing on
| storms. - =. -E.".
1.-The law Of storms said Captain
| Sigsbee, signifies that there is a large
storm area, sometimes a thousand miles
| in width, gyrating about calm center
| commonly known as the storm center
! The wind does not travel in q. straight line
| but curves about the storm center. /: II
appears to move in a straight line only
from a local standpoint. A ship moving
| thru a storm area may encounter vino
from certain direction which will con.
tinue for some time until the ship passes
! into the storm center, when it will be
sailing in calm. When it passes out o
| the storm center on the other side the
| wind will blow in the opposite direction
| from what it did before the storm center
| was passed over. .-'.a- - -E-t
"A simple manner of illustrating thu
| working plan of a storm is made by TAX
ing the plug out of a water basin after i
has been filled. A gyratory motion will
be formed about the center Of eff1ux ant
the water will be passing in every direc
ton of the compass at some point or other
Imagine tiny ship being placed upol
a the water and you can conceive Of tn
& agitation encountered in sea storms,
4 The Philippines was credited by tn
4 ]>captain as being a prolific area for tn
= generation of storms.
The general proposition underlying tn
gyratory motion of storms was that the
moved in the direction Of the hands Of
watch in the southern hemisphere and op
posite to the hands of a watch in tn
northern hemisphere.