414 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



of his later diagrams, entitled " Route of the Hurricane, October 4-7, 1844," 

 and projected it upon the screen. Upon this chart Redfield had charted 

 by means of arrows, plotted each one at its proper geographic position, 

 observations of wind direction selected for certain fixed times from a large 

 number of reports, extracts from ship's logs, etc., collected with infinite 

 perseverance and care from as many sources as were accessible. Thus 

 three sets of concentric circles are seen at a glance to represent the general 

 size and character of the storm at noon of the fifth, sixth, and seventh of 

 October, respectively. Moreover, the tracks of certain vessels are plotted, 

 in order that the experience of each may be considered with reference to 

 the circulation of the wind about the storm center and the gradual move- 

 ment of the whole system along a curved track. Thus we have here on 

 Redfield's chart as clearly and graphically as could be indicated from the 

 data at his command by the most able meteorologists to-day, the whole 

 theory and practice of all our modern synchronous daily weather maps upon 

 which predictions and forecasts are based and spread abroad by telegraph 

 and newspapers to form part and parcel of the daily life of millions of men 

 in every land. October fifth, a cyclone central off the northern coast of 

 Cuba, easterly gales in Florida, northerly in western Cuba, westerly in 

 Jamaica, southerly in eastern Cuba. October sixth, cyclone central two 

 hundred miles southeast from Hatteras, general circulation of wind about 

 the same as before (against the hands of a watch), northeasterly gales from 

 Sandy Hook to Hatteras, northwesterly gales from Hatteras to Cape Ro- 

 maine, size of storm somewhat greater. October seventh, storm central 

 about one hundred and fifty miles southeast from Halifax, increasing south- 

 easterly gales on the Grand Banks, strong nor'wester between Cape Sable 

 and Nantucket, storm area enlarging and intensity diminishing. How 

 marvelously clear. What a perfect grasp of facts and what a grand prac- 

 tical generalization from facts to principles. It would, indeed, have been 

 small credit to the age in which he lived had such self-evident truths failed 

 to find ready acceptance and prompt appreciation. 



The terrific violence of this hurricane was sufficiently indicated by the 

 havoc it caused in the landlocked harbor of Havana, a port absolutely un- 

 rivaled for the security of its anchorage; in this ten hours' tragedy seventy- 

 two ships foundered at their anchors — capsized, dismasted, driven ashore, 

 annihilated by the fury of the hurricane. This is a splendid landlocked 

 harbor, and in spite of all that human strength and skill could do aboard, 

 the various vessels of a great fleet, fighting under every flag and allied 

 against a common foe, were wrecked and shattered by the hurricane. 

 Attention was called to a coincidence of marked importance between the 

 date (1844) of this great storm, so fully and graphically explained by Red- 

 field, and the very year that witnessed the completion and assured practi- 

 cal success of Professor Morse's telegraph line between Washington and 

 Baltimore. Right here we have the two great practical discoveries upon 

 which all modern telegraphic weather forecasts depend — the synchronous 

 observations and records, and the electric telegraph which transmits them. 



Without attempting to follow this gigantic whirlwind in its destructive 

 path towards Hatteras and the Grand Banks, the speaker paused a moment 

 to refer to Redfield himself, and read an extract from a very interesting 

 letter from Rear-Admiral Thornton A. Jenkins, U. S. N. (at that time a 

 passed midshipman), an officer whose distinguished record at home and 

 abroad, in peace and in war, is well known to every student of American 

 naval history. Admiral Jenkins describes Redfield as a quiet, retiring, and 

 reticent man, but always eloquent and patient in explaining the great truths 

 of his new — and in the then ignorance of the subject — startling theories. 



