1862.] on Meteorological Telegraphy, 455 



lady, v/as warned to wait, though the weather then looked beautiful in 

 London. That night it blew a " hurricane " on the west of Ireland, 

 and a gale in the Irish Sea which lasted the following day. 



■ Three ships-of-war were lying in Plymouth Sound, ready to sail 

 for the West Indies. They waited two days, being cautioned, and 

 then put to sea, in the intervening lull (as it happened), between two 

 gales, the first of which was blowing while they were detained ; and 

 the second was a violent cyclone, that crossed France, the Netherlands, 

 and Denmark, of which the northern semicircle swept our south and 

 south-eastern coasts, but was just avoided by Her Majesty's squadron, 

 or, rather, utilized by them, as they steered to the westward, nearly 

 before its easterly wind, for some hours, and so passed out clear into 

 the Atlantic. 



Full warning was given along our eastern coasts, of that storm, in 

 which the Prussian corvette * Amazon ' was totally lost ; and so struck 

 were the Prussian authorities by the facts of that period — taken in 

 connection with other known cases — that an official application was 

 soon afterwards made to the Board of Trade for information, with the 

 view of enabling a similar system to be organized in the Baltic, com- 

 municating, if possible, with England. 



On the 12th of November, 1861, a warning was sent to Yarmouth, 

 in the afternoon. Being nearly dusk — and having then no night 

 signals — nothing was done till next day, after all the fishing boats had 

 gone far out to sea — having started very early in the morning. That 

 afternoon there was a storm ; and to save their own lives, the fishermen 

 were obliged to cut from and abandon some 40,000/. worth of nets and 

 gear. Night signals might have saved that loss, and the imminent 

 risk of many lives. Such means are ready now. 



On Friday, the 7th of March, the warning drum was hoisted 

 all day at Plymouth. Saturday was so fin^ in appearance, that the 

 caution was not appreciated, and mackerel boats went to a distance 

 — as usual. That afternoon another signal was made — South Cone 

 under drum — to show that a heavy southerly gale was coming soon. 

 It was a beautiful afternoon. No one anticipated the sequel, except 

 those who, spider like, could *' feel along the lines." Before midnight 

 there was a storm — which lasted much of the next day. One of the 

 boats was lost with eight men. " A more dangerous gale had not 

 been known," was written by an officer of experience and good judg- 

 ment, in his letter to a friend. 



Perhaps sufficient thought has not always been given to the con- 

 sideration of mere pecuniary loss by wear and tear, risk, accident, 

 delay, and demurrage, — caused by a gale at sea ; — balanced against 

 the results of waiting for a tide or two, perhaps once in two months, 

 when cautioned by a storm signal. 



But be this as it may, with coasters, short traders, or even screw 

 colliers — the question is entirely diflTerent with ordinary over-sea or 

 foreign-going ships — especially when starting from a southern, or from 

 a western port. To such vessels a gale in the Channel, or even during- 



