120 FORWARD MARCH OF CYCLONES. 



inclined to think is overstated. But its progressive 

 march is very much less than its rotatory violence, 

 and it seems probable that these hurricanes do not 

 travel forward at a greater speed than about 18 to 

 20 miles an hour or say from about 430 to 480 miles 

 a day; * and as the most violent hurricanes appear to 

 shift their position more slowly than those of lesser 

 intensity, it is therefore quite easy to see that it is 

 possible for a powerfully engined ocean steamer to 

 run right away from an approaching storm, provided 

 its advance is foreseen in due time, and its true position 

 is correctly estimated; and also provided, of course, she 

 has sea room to run in the required direction. Thus the 

 loss of the P. & O. SS. Bokhara, with nearly all hands, 

 in the China seas on October 10, 1892, arose from her 

 being caught in a narrow channel where there was 

 no sea room, and so she was driven ashore. We our- 

 selves knew the unfortunate ship and her officers well, 

 as we have sailed in her. 



The approach of a hurricane, we need hardly say, 

 is always indicated by a rapid fall in the barometer, 

 which shows only too clearly the serious nature of the 

 atmospheric disturbance; and by the depth of the de- 

 pression then passing in the zenith so that there is 

 now no excuse, in these enlightened days, for the 

 storm breaking upon a ship unawares. Nevertheless, 

 an unfortunate combination of circumstances may some- 

 times occur, which may put it out of the power of an 

 officer to avoid the gale, in which case he must try 

 and weather it as best he can. And we shall now 



* This low speed of the forward advance of such storms is quite 

 distinct from their rotatory velocity, which may be five or six times 

 as great. 



