New Britain herald., 1929-03-16

unless the vessel passes through a
storm. Some of them have never
been through a storm and arc
anxious for the experience. Others
desire to have the storm last from
about three minutes to several
hours, while I know OF others who
absolutely fear an upheaNal of the
sea.
To the sailor there seems to be
just one storm after another. There
are times when the America and
other ships which l have COM
out a roll or pitch and then again
there are times when the vessels
encounter succession of gales.
1t seems to the layman tnat the
storms ravaging shipping and
sweeping the Atlantic come in
cycles. but there is no evidence to
confirm that idea. We have very
cold winters as we'll as protracted
periods of heat during the summer
and there is no regularity to these
unusual seasons. SO 1t is not rea-
sonable to believe that the storms
of the Atlantic come in cycles.
This year it seems we are cX-
periencing a Very severe winter at
sea. There already have been sew
eral disasters: a number of vessels
having limped INTO port partly dis
abled. The newspapers are con-
family referring to the frigid tenn
peratures in Europe in regions that
are accustomed to warm weather at
this season of the year. ON the
other hand, New York's winter has
been comparatively mild with viz
tually no snow while Chicago and
the middle west have endured eN-
tremely low temporal ures.
The sea is no different. Cover
ing a tremendous area, it has its
temperate and frigid. calm ana
rough zones. The winds have d
great time playing across the vast
cxpanse of water sweeping with
terrific force in the winter time
from the North Pole to the South
Pole and no breakers to interfere.
Just eastward of the Grand Banks
the winds become violent. driving
the seas before them in mountain
Gus numbers. This is the area re-
ferred to by the sailor as The
Roarin' Fortics." The next time
you hear that expression you will
know that it refers to the region
of the Atlantic that marks the CEN
ter OF Davy Jones locker rather
than the white light district along
Broadway.
The winter OF 1926 was severe
on the North Atlantic and January
OF that season was one of the
worst. II was during this month
that the Antinoe foundered, as well
as numerous other smaller ships.
Several trans Atlantic vessels re-
ported passing through four to five
distinct storms on their voyage.
cnced a rough winter in 1911-12.
Thirteen years elapsed between
these severe seasons whereas there
is a repetition this year of only
three winters ago.
During the winter months Of
forceful winds there is not so much
fog menacing navigation. HowcVe"
there is plenty of rain, snow and
hail squalls which the sailor usu-
ally places in the same category as
fog. A heavy snowfall is as bad
If not worse. than dense fog.
With this type of weather the skies
are invariably overcast, preventing
observations. Periods of these
greatest fogs on the North Allan
tic are during the months of No
TO select any time of the year to
make voyage without storm or fog
but the summer months are pretty
good gamble although they. too,
can stage good show for the in
experienced.
/ have often read accounts in the
telling of waves at sea
from Is to 100 feet in height. You
will find that such statements are
credited to passengers and never to
the master of the vessel for every
seaman knows that the highest
combers are the so-called cumula-
tive waves that have at times been
reported as high as IS feet. While
a passenger liner is going through
heavy seas a passenger gets dis
torted idea of the height due to
the fact that the ship is rolling.
As the side of the ship dips slow