Notice of Two Earthquakes felt at Sea. 267 



England, in hopes of noticing some accounts of corresponding 

 convulsions in the eastern seas or islands, I was never so for- 

 tunate as to meet with any. One is, therefore, inclined to 

 suppose, that the shocks witnessed by us must have either 

 been altogether submarine, and of confined extent, or of so 

 very slight a nature when felt on shore, as not to have at- 

 tracted any attention. I remain, My Dear Sir, 



Yours very truly, 



R. Lachlan. 

 Edinburgh Castle, 13th Feb. 1826. 



Art. XV. — Notice of Two Earthquakes felt at Sea. 



» 



In addition to the preceding interesting account of the shock 

 experienced by the Winchelsea East Indiaman, Captain 

 Lachlan has favoured us with the following notices of similar 

 phenomena. * 



1. When off Lisbon (about 1770) we had a foul wind, 

 blowing hard all night and the next forenoon, when it sud- 

 denly dropped to a calm, leaving a heavy cross popling swell. 



The people were all at dinner, when a general alarm spread 

 quickly throughout the ship, above and below, occasioned by 

 a violent tremulous motion of the ship, as if like to shake it to 

 pieces. The guns and carriages actually rattled on the decks ; 

 and in our more deliberate thoughts afterwards, we could 

 compare the agitation of the ship to nothing but that of a 

 vessel driven violently by a very strong current or tide over a 

 hard gravelly bottom, which she raked all the way. 



The consternation in every countenance was stronger than 

 language can describe ; for no one could divine the cause, 

 though all expected immediate destruction. A rumbling 

 noise accompanied the agitation, arising gradually but speedi- 

 ly from the bottom upwards. It lasted between two and 

 three minutes, subsided and left us as if nothing had happened. 



" Extracted from Hariott's Struggles through Life. 



