AND OTHER WATER WAVES 49 



Leaving Queenstown on the morning of the 5th, 

 we met a rather heavy swell on our westerly course, 

 which continued and somewhat increased during 

 the 6th. We drove into a strong gale that night, 

 and the highest waves which I saw during the 

 voyage were on the morning of the 7th. The force 

 of the wind on that day was logged as 9 on 

 Beaufort's scale of 0-12, the number 9 being called 

 " a strong gale." We continued to drive through 

 a gale during the whole of the 7th, 8th, and 9th, 

 the winds varying from S. by W. on the morning 

 of the 7th to WNW., always therefore producing a 

 head sea, at first on the port, afterwards on the 

 starboard. The morning of the 7th (bar. 

 29.15 inches) was the only time during the three 

 days when the waves were " running true " i.e., 

 in long parallel ridges exactly at right angles to 

 the wind, of which ridges six or seven were simul- 

 taneously visible when looking upwind from the 

 weather side of the ship. There was no long, flat 

 swell noticeable, neither were there minor waves 

 of such prominence as to distract attention from the 

 principal waves. In the course of eleven voyages 

 across the Atlantic this is the only occasion on 

 which I have seen this " regular sea " during a 

 storm, and the waves were the highest which I 

 have ever observed in a storm. Our noon position 



