THE BRITISH ISLANDS IN NOVEMBER 1838. 4g9 



That portion of the storm (I speak now of the first storm) which swept the 

 surface of the globe, impinged on the south coast of Cornwall about noon on 

 Monday the 26th NoTcmber. The gale which sprung up there was so violent, as 

 to drive ships from their anchors, and wreck several. I find from the registers 

 kept at Penzance, Truro,* Fowey, Falmouth, and Milford (published in Lloyd's 

 List and other maritime papers), that this storm commenced there with the wind 

 at E.. — that in the afternoon it veered to SE., — and that, by 11 p. m., it was 

 blowing due S. At day-break next morning, the wind had got a little to the west 

 of south. By noon on the 27th, at the above places, it had shifted to due W., 

 and in the afternoon of that day, it varied between W.SW. and NW. There 

 was much thunder and lightning at Portsmouth, Plymouth, and other sea-port 

 towns. 



That this storm was a most severe one in those places which it reached, 

 will be seen by the following account, dated Penzance, 27th November. " Last 

 night a gale came on from the S.SE., which veered to S., and this morning in-, 

 creased to a Hurricane, and a heavier sea we have not witnessed for many years. 

 At 3 p. M. to-day the storm abated, and the wind veered to NW., Avhich wiU soon 

 cut down the sea." At Falmouth, the wind veered to W.NW. about noon on the 

 27th, and moderated. In the evening, at Penzance, it fell calm ; and along the 

 whole coast, the wind at night moderated, — the storm having passed away, as we 

 shall immediately find, to the northward. 



This storm lasted, therefore, in the south coast of England, little more than 

 twenty-four hours, and ended at and near Penzance, with a wind blowing in a di- 

 rection exactly opposite to that with which it begun. This is one circumstance 

 which suggests the idea that the storm had a rotatory motion, according to the 

 theory of Redfield, lately illustrated in Colonel Reid's popular work on the Law 

 of Storms. As to this point, more immediately ; meanwhile we may trace the 

 progressive motion of the storm. 



The gale commenced at Cork about 11 a. m. on the 26th, with the wind at 

 S.SE. It did not reach Dublin tiU about half-past 3 p. m. The register at Farn- 

 borough, near Bagshot, shews its arrival there to have been at night ou the 26th, 

 with the wind at S.SE., it having been previously at E. It begun in the Isle of 

 Man on the morning of the 27th, with the wind also at S.SE, and at 9 p. m. it 

 had there veered round to due S. A correspondent at Carlisle has sent me an 

 extract of a register, from which I observe that the gale was felt there in the 

 morning of the 27th November blowing SE. by S. From the northern Lighthouse 

 registers, extracts of which Mr Stevenson has kindly afforded me, I learn that 

 the storm reached Lismore (on the west coast of Scotland) on the evening of the 



• At Truro, there were light breezes from W.SW. at 9 A. M. on 26th. Shortly before noon, the 

 wind chopped suddenly round to east, and blew a gale. From the other places above mentioned there 

 were similar accounts received. 



