46 WAVES OF THE SEA 



or stretch of water to windward l was 600 geo- 

 graphical miles or more, as compared with the 

 2 59 geographical miles which is the maximum 

 amount of sea-room possible upon Lake Superior, 

 where we have accepted 22 \ feet as the height 

 of waves in exceptionally severe storms. 



The wave-length of 560 feet 2 was measured on 

 the Atlantic with a sea -room of 800 geographical 

 miles as compared with the 300 feet of Lake 

 Superior with a possible sea-room of 259 geo- 

 graphical miles. 



The length of the waves on March 6th was 

 21.6 times as great as the height, but on the 

 previous day they must have been steeper. 



We will next consider the case of another strong 

 gale in the North Atlantic with sea -room of at 

 least 1,000 instead of 600 geographical miles, in 

 which we shall find that the waves are of about 

 the same height as in the last case. 



The waves in question were observed by myself 

 on December 7, 1900, when outward bound from 

 Liverpool to Boston by the Cunard S.s. Ivernia. 



1 The " room" which concerns a navigator is more often that 

 to leeward, but the expression for space to windward is useful 

 for our purpose. 



2 From the building line in Bond Street to the front of the 

 Royal Geographical Society's House, i, Savile Row, is the 

 length of a lo-second wave, 512 feet. 



