114 WAVES OF THE SEA 



Many considerations crowd in upon the mind 

 when we endeavour to reason upon the physical 

 connection between the swells of this speed and 

 the pressure of the wind during the storm. How 

 far, for instance, can we regard the longest of these 

 subsequent swells as having had an independent 

 existence during the storm? For the present, at 

 all events, I shall set aside such refinements, and 

 simply consider the numerical speed-relation of 

 the swiftest observed swells to the swiftest observed 

 winds in the same part of the world, and see where 

 this will lead us. 



The storms in the North Atlantic during De- 

 cember, 1898, and January and February, 1899, 

 were of such exceptional violence that the Meteoro- 

 logical Council made them the subject of a special 

 inquiry, which has beene mbodied in a valuable 

 report, 1 commenced by Lieut. C. W. Baillie, R.N., 

 and completed by Commander Campbell Hep- 

 worth, R.N.R. The charts show that between 

 December 25th and 29th very strong westerly 

 winds prevailed between the Newfoundland Banks 

 and the entrance to the English Channel. In the 

 notes to these charts it is recorded that the velocity 

 of the wind at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 



1 Charts illustrating the weather of the North Atlantic Ocean 

 in the winter of 1898-9 (Meteorological Council, 1901). 



