50 WAVES OF THE SEA 



was N. 50 56', W. 250 33', so that the distance 

 from the Newfoundland Banks was about 1,000 

 geographical miles. This was the direction in 

 which we were steaming and apparently the direc- 

 tion from which the bad weather was coming. The 

 wind, however, came from a direction in which there 

 was no land for 2,000 geographical miles. I was 

 able to judge the height of the waves more readily 

 than usual on account of several favourable circum- 

 stances. The ship, though pitching, did not roll, 

 being heeled over to starboard at a moderate angle, 

 which did not vary. Stationing myself amidships, 

 I was subject to neither pitching nor rolling, but 

 merely to a lift and fall as each of the large waves 

 passed beneath us. The two promenade decks 

 afforded platforms which happened to be at just 

 the right altitudes for judging the height of the 

 usual, and of the maximum, waves respectively. 

 The altitude of these decks above the water line of 

 the ship I obtained from the scale section of the 

 ship in charge of the chief engineer. The heeling 

 over of the ship was measured, and its amount 

 allowed for, on the assumption that the height of 

 the deck above the water was reduced, on the lee 

 side, to the full extent possible. The height of the 

 waves is recorded as equal to the height of the eye 

 above the ship's water-line, where they just topped 



