, 1908-03-25

the last day on which 1t Will be possible to
get rid of the old coins, which up to that
time will be exchanged at either Branch of
the National Bank. Servants and others
who may not see the newspapers should be
told about it and helped to get rid Of any
old coins they may have on hand.
We are indebted to the kindness of Cap
tain Innis of the Schooner Leah Il. Whidden,
now lying in the harbour of st. Thomas, and
Mr.. Lightbourn, for a sketch chart drawn
by the former showing the details of his
recent voyage for four days before and four
days after his vessel wasdismasted by a
hurricane on the night of the 10Th of Feb
ruary.
This misfortune happened in lat. 32.4O
north and longitude 55.12 west, owe. a thou
sand miles away from us. It is therefore
not surprising that no sign of the existence
of the hurricane which caused 1T is to be
found in our weather notes of that time.
Nevertheless, as we shall see presently, the
Captains chart throws some light on our
own recent experience of stormy weather.
The sketch chart before us gives the po-
sition of the ship at noon day by day, the
height of the barometer at noon and mid
night, with the changing directions and force
Of the wind. It is thus possible to see pre-
cisely under what weather conditions the
storm was approached from the 9th to the
18th, how the storm came on, and what sort
of weather followed it during the next few
days. In regard to the first of these points.
we learn that the weather was fine and the
barometer high (from 5000 to 30.3O)
for most of the way ~northward. There were
some squalls from the north on the night
of the 9th, after which the wind con-
tinued from q northerly point IN. n. B. to
n. e. to midnight on the 18th. Now fol-
lowed 8 hours of calm, succeeded by 6 hours
of amoderate south wind, bringing us to Up m.
on the twelfth at 10 pm. the ship woS DIS
mt0Sted. What had happened in those interview
ing 8hours? For the first two hours there had
been a stiff wind with squalls from the north
west and for the next six hours heavy wind
from N. N. W. and n. reaching a speed of
90 miles on hour. It was presumably one of
the heavy squalls which dismasted the YES
sci. After this mishap she first drlfted
southeastwards, then nearly south, the
storm from the north still continuing; and
SO it went on for the next two days, the
wind increasing on the night of the 18th
to 80 miles an hour, and not falling off till
towards midnight on the 1~4th;when the north
wind seems to have abated, going round the
next day through .E.,anu enulnB Will HAT0Su
breeze from east. How had the barometer,
behaved all this time At midnight on the
18th it had given notice of the coming
trouble by falling from 1892 on the
night before to 1925. By moor on the
18th it stood at 3O.1O and by midnight at
$3.50. The damage to the ship had
been done, but the barometer continued
to fall by noon on the 18th it had fallen to
1856, by midnight down to 1880, at which
point it stood also at noon on the 14th. BY
midnight of that day it had gone up to
1890, the storm ab4ting at noon on
the 18th it had gone tip to 1910 and by
midnight to 1920 by noon on the 10th to
5000, and the ship was in fine weather once
more.
Under the stress of the heavy north wind
from midnight on the 18th to midnight OLE
the 14th, two entire days; the dismasted
vessel was driven south-southeast more
than 200 miles, and the persistence of
the low barometer 2 9.6O) throughout the
whole distance showed that the storm-centre
was moving also southwards (perhaps nearly
southeast), slowly passing the vessel, and
this is what makes it of special interest
in connection with our recent experience,
for we see that our March storm was
not the first for the season that came
down from the northwest. Ours differs. 1t is