STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 417 



and what a lesson for posterity! Truly, "peace hath her victories no less 

 renowned than war," and if Redfield has still no monument erected in his 

 honor, it must be because he needs none. 



Mr. Hayden then explained by means of diagrams prepared in his divis- 

 ion, and published by the Hydrographic Office, the circulation of the wind 

 in a tropical cyclone, northern hemisphere, upon a knowledge of which the 

 proper handling of a vessel depends. As a good illustration, the experience 

 of the United States steamer Juniata was cited. This vessel is now in New 

 York harbor, having recently returned from China, where last September 

 she encountered a severe typhoon during her voyage from Hongkong to 

 Singapore. The diagrams illustrated graphically the structure of those 

 great whirlwinds, so far as concerns the navigator, showing that while in 

 the outer regions of the storm the wind blows spirally inward, in the cen- 

 tral regions it rushes furiously around a calm spot called the eye of the 

 storm, where there is a fearful pyramidal sea, the waves rising and falling 

 in mountainous and irregular masses, oftentimes with a clear sky and bright 

 sunlight to enhance the strange and unnatural calm in the midst of a ring 

 where the wind is blowing a hurricane, the sea lashed into driving foam, 

 and the sky of inky blackness. The diagram indicated how aboard a ves- 

 sel to the right of a storm track, the wind shifts to the right (veers), and 

 to the left it shifts to the left (backs). Directly in front of an advancing 

 storm the wind remains steady in direction, but increases rapidly in force, 

 with light scud and passing squalls. By means of these and many other 

 characteristic indications the navigator can ascertain with considerable 

 accuracy the bearing of the storm center and the approximate track and 

 velocity of the cyclone. He is thus enabled to take such action as may be 

 best adapted, considering the particular circumstances of the case, to avoid 

 the most dangerous region of the storm, and as a secondary consideration 

 take advantage of such winds as may help him on his course. One of the 

 most important circumstances the practical navigator has to consider in 

 dealing with a hurricane is the lay of the land, and, of course, the prox- 

 imity of a dangerous coast must often, prevent him from taking such action 

 as would be most advantageous if there were plenty of sea room. In the 

 case of the Juniata, Commander Wise stood away to the southward to avoid 

 the typhoon, and at the same time make headway on his course to Singa- 

 pore, and, finally, rather than cross the entrance to the Gulf of Tonquin, 

 where the sea would be very heavy, hove-to in the lee of Hainan Island, 

 and rode out the storm under a full head of steam. The fore storm-staysail, 

 set to steady the vessel, was carried away, and four boats were torn from 

 their davits. Hatches battened down, vessel shipped sea after sea, till oil 

 was used in bags towed from the weather bow. Weather thick and misty, 

 with continuous heavy rain. The critical examination and analysis of the 

 action taken by steam and sailing vessels encountering such storms, under 

 the many and constantly varying conditions that occur in actual practice, 

 the rules that govern such action, and the results that follow it, furnish 

 the very best, and indeed only, method of impressing upon masters of ves- 

 sels the vital importance of this branch of their profession. Practical men 

 want practical information, with concrete, definite examples drawn from 

 real life, with details familiar to their own individual experiences. The 

 lecturer was willing, he said, to submit this proposition to his audience, 

 and to ask if such instances, taken from the records of the Hydrographic 

 Office, with names, dates, positions', and all details given, were not infi- 

 nitely more effective in impressing such facts upon the mind than some 

 ideal imaginary situation gotten up to suit some particular line of argu- 

 ment, and, perhaps, never likely to occur in actual practice. 

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