METEOROLOGY. 



THE HURRICANE IX THE ISLAXD OF ST. THOMAS, OCTOBER 29, 1867. 



[_ Translated from " The Diario de la Marina,^'' Habana, January 5, 1868.] 



Public attention has been so much attracted to the hurricane which occasioned, 

 October 29-30 last, such deplorable devastations in the islands of Porto Rico, 

 St. Thomas, and other Antilles, that the following essay, embodying the reflec- 

 tions of an intelligent member of the Spanish marine on the law of these dis- 

 turbances, and especially on the course pursued by the storm in question, will 

 be read, we doubt not, with general interest : 



"■ The late tempest, like other events of this kind, but to an extent rarely 

 witnessed, has marked its path with incalculable disasters both on land and sea ; 

 especially the hist, where the irresistible fury of the wind and waves seemed to 

 threaten everything which they encountered with annihilation. God, however, 

 in his infinite goodness, has given man intelligence, and placed in his hands 

 the means of contending Avith difficulties and overcoming them ; inspiring him 

 with faith, the virtue which begets and sustains hope. 



" The theory respecting the law of storms proves to us that however fearful 

 these phenomena may be for navigators, they become much less formidable 

 when science has once taught us the nature of our elemental foe, and conse- 

 quently the means of avoiding its destructive violence, in as far at least as is 

 humanly possible. Towards the end of the 16th century, a knowledge already 

 existed of the circular form of these tornadoes ; but, as happens with many 

 things of importance which sleep in oblivion and again reappear as novelties, 

 the knowledge of the above fact bore no fruits, until Mr. W. C. lledfield, of New 

 York, from 1831 to 1835, brought to light, by force of investigation, the defi- 

 nite law of the movement of rotation of hurricanes, as well as that of their 

 translation, with other circumstances attending them, conformable in all points 

 to the observations of other authors of accredited reputation. 



" The storm of the 29th of October, which inundated Tortola, devastated St. 

 Thomas, ravaged many parts of Porto Rico, and made itself felt in the capital 

 of St. Domingo and the adjacent villages, affords one datum more to be col- 

 lated with others for continuing the study of the movement of hurricanes. It 

 results from the notices Vv'e have been able to collect, though these are not so 

 precise as to enal)le us to judge with entire certainty, that the hurricane in ques- 

 tion took its rise in 50° to 55° west longitude, and 18° to 20° north latitude, a 

 space comprised in the region of their usual origin. The mail steamer Principe 

 Alfonso encountered it in her course two days l)efore reaching this port, and her 

 skilful commander avoided it by suitably tacking ship until he thought that he 

 might pursue his voyage without risk, thus arriving safely in the rear of the 

 hurricane without experiencing any great inconvenience. Sr. Lastra assured 

 me that he had steered in conformity with the prescribed rules as soon as he 

 suspected that he was in the neighborhood of a tornado. 



" Knowing very nearly the point of its formation, it will be seen that the 

 course of the tornado was about W. ^ SW. until having passed St. Thomas it 

 took a direction W. 5^ N., advancing at the rate of 13 to 15 miles an hour, 

 the vortex or focus passing by the centre of the island of Porto Rico, as would 

 appear from the fact of Naguabo, Humacao, and Caguas, with certain other 

 pLaces, having been most severely visited. Tlie calm which was experienced 

 in Caye3^ at the veering of the wind, is a convincing proof that the centre of 

 the storm passed at that point, for it is a characteristic circumstance of such 



