S18 



Hurricanes and Storms qftlie West hidies. 



its course from W. to- 

 wards N., will strike I 

 the first - mentioned ° 

 vessel in the direction 

 which is shewn by the 

 wind- arrows at the 

 point c, which, if the 

 position be in the tem- 

 perate latitudes, north 

 of 30% will be from 

 eastward. Now, it is 

 obvious, that as the 

 storm advances in its 



course north-eastward, this vessel, if nearly stationary, will in- 

 tersect the body of the gale on the line c A d. As the storm 

 advances, the wind must also veer to the northward, as shewn 

 by the arrows, being at N.E. when the vessel is brought under 

 the point A, and near the close or departure of the storm by 

 its further progress eastward, the wind will have further veer- 

 ed to the direction shewn at d, which, with due allowance for 

 the progressive motion of the storm, we will set down at N.N. 

 W. The other vessel, as is equally obvious, will first take the 

 wind from the southward, as shown at e, in which quarter it 

 will blow, with no great variation, till, by the advance of the 

 storm, the ship is brought under the point B. The barometer, 

 which had previously been falling, will now commence rising, 

 and the wind, veering more westerly, will, at the departure of 

 the storm, be found in the direction shewn at^ which, after 

 the allowance already referred to, may be stated at W.N.W. 

 Such, substantially, are the facts commonly reported by vessels 

 which fall under the lateral portions of the Atlantic storms, and 

 it is readily seen, that the opposite winds which are exhibited 

 on the two different intersections of the storm, as above describ- 

 ed, will very naturally be mistaken for two separate and dis- 

 tinct gales. 



The phases of the wind in these gales are, however, in all 

 cases modified more or less by the course or changing position 

 of the vessel exposed to its action. For example, a ship on 

 taking the gale, say at E.S.E. at the point h on the figure, and 



