June 30, 1898] 



NATURE 



[97 



present volume will long remain the standard, both to 

 the naturalist and to the sportsman. While lacking the 

 advantage of plates, it has the compensations of port- 

 ability, accuracy, and completeness ; and it forms a 

 worthy companion to its fellow volumes of the same 

 series. R. L. 



NAVIGATION AND CYCLONES. 

 M^thode pour abrkger les tr aver sees en uHlisant les 

 perturbations de r Atmosphere. Par M. A. Fieron, 

 capitaine de fregate. Pp. 91. (Paris : Imprimerie 

 Nationale, 1891.) 



THIS little book bears the date 1891, and is extracted 

 from the Annates hydrographiques of that year. 

 The object of the author, who was attached to the 

 Cale'donien, and thus had considerable experience of the 

 Southern Seas and of the weather prevalent in those 

 latitudes, is to indicate methods by which navigation 

 may be facilitated and the duration of voyages, in sailing 

 ships especially, diminished by taking advantage of the 

 cyclonic and anticyclonic movements in the atmosphere. 

 By so mancEuvring that the violence of the storm is 

 utilised in carrying the ship in the direction desired, it is 

 contended that these destructive agents can be turned to 

 useful account. It may be true, as the author asserts, 

 that in every area of low pressure there is always one 

 part which can be made useful — one sector in which 

 favourable winds will be found. But careful navigators 

 are rather prone to give these areas of disturbance a 

 wide berth ; and it speaks much for the trustfulness of 

 the author, and of the calm confidence in which he 

 reposes on scientific deductions, that he does not propose 

 to avoid these dreaded cyclonic storms, but is prepared 

 to steer into their midst and make their violence sub- 

 servient to his ends. His system is based upon instru- 

 mental observations, chiefly of the barometer, from which 

 may be learnt the direction and force in which the 

 cyclone is moving. Experience teaches the behaviour 

 of the atmosphere in a region of low pressure in different 

 latitudes, and by the aid of a few rules, easily learnt and 

 remembered, it is not difficult to perceive whether one be 

 on the navigable or dangerous side of a cyclone, and 

 arrange accordingly. The author therefore gives in very 

 considerable detail, the condition of the weather, the 

 direction of the wind,- and the appearance of the sky, 

 which may be expected in the various positions in which 

 the ship finds itself relative to the centre of the storm. 



We have practically to do with a system of weather 

 forecasting, based upon knowledge which cannot alvvays 

 be exact or sufficient, and therefore it would seem must 

 sometimes lead astray. But the author declares that he 

 has never been in error, and that he has never had any 

 hesitation in selecting the proper route which would 

 enable him to find the most favourable wind to carry 

 him most swiftly in the direction he desired to travel. 

 He is, however, careful to add that his rules for ob- 

 servance apply only on the open ocean, where land 

 masses do not interfere with the aerial current, and his 

 success may be to some extent due to the employment 

 of the system under the conditions of the greatest 

 simplicity. 

 This work has been before the maritime public 

 NO. 1496, VOL. 58] 



now some seven years, and presumably the procedure 

 has been submitted to frequent test by those who have 

 to navigate in those seas, which have been made the 

 subject of study, but the testimony in its favour does not 

 seem to be overwhelming. Several causes may be 

 assigned to explain the indifference with which the 

 practical suggestions • contained in the book have been 

 received by the mariner and the shipowner. The most 

 evident is the steady decline in the tonnage of sailing 

 vessels, and the tendency to convert many of these into 

 floating warehouses containing grain. When a shipowner 

 knows that he will have to pay rent for storage of the 

 cargo on arrival, he is practically indifferent how long 

 the voyage may last, and safety is of greater considera- 

 tion than swiftness. The recognition of trade routes and 

 the maintenance of particular lines of navigation pur- 

 sued by vessels which can both steam and sail, forbid a 

 haphazard, self-selected route, which, if it shorten the 

 time of passage, increases the chances of collision. The 

 author, it is true, considers his system particularly 

 applicable to this kind of steamer, employing the steam 

 to carry the vessel into a position in which it would 

 enjoy favourable breezes. A few tons of coal would be 

 well expended, he urges, if it enabled a skipper to bring 

 his steamer alongside a friendly cyclone which would 

 carry it along on a twenty-knot breeze in the coveted 

 direction. We imagine that the few tons of coal would 

 more frequently be expended in carrying the ship away 

 frojTi a region in which disaster is quite as likely to 

 be encountered as material assistance to be rendered. 



Possibly, knowing the destructive effects that these 

 cyclones can work, our mariners have received them 

 with too much distrust, and not sought to derive from 

 them what little advantages they may offer. M. Fieron's 

 book is directed towards creating a more favourable 

 opinion of these atmospheric disturbances. The issue 

 must be left to the expert, who has before his eyes 

 Board of Trade inquiries and nautical assessors who 

 may not share the hopeful views of the author. One 

 very real source of danger on which the author does not 

 appear to insist sufficiently is the swell which arises from 

 the heavy seas, that accompany typhoons, tornadoes,. &c. 

 A well-found sailing vessel may withstand the force of 

 the wind, after due precaution, but suffer grievously from 

 heavy confused cross seas. This point and others of 

 much importance are discussed in a pamphlet recently 

 issued by Dr. Doberck, the director of the Hong Kong 

 Observatory. The director has here incorporated the 

 experience of many years' study gained in an observatory 

 which exists mainly for the purposes of warning the 

 mercantile marine against the dangers arising from the 

 approach of typhoons and similar atmospheric disturb- 

 ances. During the last thirteen years, the tracks of 

 nearly 250 typhoons have been examined and discussed, 

 from information supplied, either from ships at sea, or 

 from fixed stations. The causes that produce variation 

 from regularity, such as the geographical position of the 

 origin of the storm, the presence of land masses in the 

 path, the condition of the monsoon, &c., have been taken 

 into account, with the result that successful prediction is 

 generally secured, and rules for the management of 

 vessels, under whatever conditions they are placed, have 

 been formulated with scientific precision. 



