an Earthquake felt at Sea. 2^5 



owing to the rolling of a large butt upon the gun-deck ; while 

 to others it seemed as if caused by the veering out of cable ; 

 while others again, more seriously alarmed, said they feared 

 we touched the ground. On the last idea being mentioned, 

 I naturally ran to the ship's side ; but observing no altera- 

 tion in the appearance of the water, I was then, for the first 

 time, persuaded that it was an earthquake ; and by this time 

 the motion had ceased. I then went below to the captain's 

 cabin, and begged to be allowed to look at the barometer, but 

 there appeared to have been no particular alteration in the 

 mercury at the time. There had, however, I learned, been 

 a previous unusual rise and subsequent fall of about ^th of 

 an inch ; and it may be added, that, since noon of yesterday, 

 there had been a fall of about -/oths altogether, the height then 

 being 30.5 inches, whereas that noted to-day was only 30.1. In 

 the thermometer there had been no particular change, ranging 

 about 83° as usual, but the air felt very sultry. On advert- 

 ing to the idea that we had touched upon a bank, Captain 

 Adamson said that this was out of the question ; and that, if 

 such had been the case, he must have seen it, as he had been 

 looking down attentively at the sea from the stern windows 

 nearly the whole time. And, no doubt, considering the 

 clearness of the water, that would have been the case. 



The shock seemed to me to come aft ; and such also was 

 the feeling of many of the men who were below in the orlop- 

 deck, where the motion appeared to have been felt more se- 

 verely, some of the soldiers having been seized with a mo- 

 mentary sickness during its continuance. 



So unusual a phenomenon, of course, furnished abun- 

 dant conversation during the rest of the day, not a little in- 

 creased by one or two of our companions stoutly maintaining 

 that the motion was caused by our scraping either a sand or 

 coral bank. 



According to Captain Adamson's observations and charts, 

 we were in latitude 1° 2V north, and longitude 85° 35' east, 

 at the time of the shock, from which point the nearest part of 

 the coast of Ceylon bore N. W. 6° 15', or 375 miles, and 

 Achcen Head E. N. E., distant 10J degrees, or 630 miles, but 

 Pulo Nias Island lay somewhat nearer due cast. 



