The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1922-06-22
WAVES MOVE FAST
Average Speed Of More Than
Forty Miles an Hour.
Fortunately, Their Velocity and Power
Are Materially Reduced as
They Near the Shore.

When the wind blows hercely most
dwellers In towns, particularly in
those near the sea, think OF them
selves what a stormy time our ships
and sailors must be having, says a
writer In a London paper, according
to the Montreal Herald.
Storm-waves around the shores OF
these Islands frequently have immense
force behind them, treating blocks of
stone and heavy tlmbers as playthlngs,
smashing like match sticks apparently
the most substantial obstacles.
During one storm In the Solent, near
Hurst castle, the waves exerted such
force ninety feet below the surface
that stones weighing 800 pounds or
more were torn from their resting
places and hurled on the beach, to-
gether with heavy masses OF seaweed
attached to them.
II is In the deep ocean where the
storm-wave is seen In It's full majesty.
Forty, fifty and even sixty feet is the
height to which the pillows of the At
lantlc, the Indian ocean, and the
Southern will rise in times OF tempest
In pre-steam days British man-of.
war encountered an unusually heavy
gale of wind Just outside the Bay Of
Blscay. Between two seas her storm
trysails We're totally becalmed. while
the crest of each sea was above the
level of the center OF her malnyard.
The mainyard was sixty feet above the
water-llne.
The water from wave--as distinct
from the body of the wave itself-has
been known TO do serious damage to
vessels of great height above the deck.
One notable instance % the kind was
the smashing of the port ,ifeboat OF a
Hamburg-Americdn liner, lashed on
the bridge deck eighty feet above the
sealne.
Giant storm-waves OF the ocean have
an average speed OF rather more than
forty miles an hour. Their length Is
the distance from crest to crest. This
is about 400 feet for the Atlantic
waves. II Is much more. however, for
the waves of the profoundly deep
Pacific ocean.
or course, II has to be remembered
that giant waves In the open ocean
can move with perfect freedom II is
when they begin to touch bottom" In
comparatively shallow water that
their great speed is reduced-mckily
for the fronts of the British coast
resorts.
The velocity Of the atorm-wind In
the Atlantic Is frequently several miles
an hour greater than the velocity of
the wave. This results IN good deal
of spraying, which, in very severe
weather, sometimes seriously thickens
and obscures the air
At the seaside. in summer we may
see spraying caused by
stllf breeze blowing against an advanc.
ing wavelet
During gale on the British coast II
will be noticed that the waves begin
to break long way out. That is be-
cause these waves, being big ones,
touch bottom the sooner. Their lower
part moves forward at It's old speed.
The result is that the upper part
curls over and breaks.
In very deep water giant wave has
been known TO touch bottom and stir
up the fine sand there at depth Of
200 feet.
On q fine autumn day we may some
lines see procession Of big ground
'yells" coming shoreward and break.
ng on the beach with the boom of dis
.ant thunder. They represent the dis
of the sea caused by storm
lar out to sea. BY closely observing
he direction from which these swells
,ome one can form an idea OF where
he storm is situated. Sometimes the
waves travel faster than the storm,
md even give warning of its approach.