54 WAVES OF THE SEA 



in the afternoon was running before the storm under 

 a minimum of sail, and rolling very heavily. From 

 on board this vessel such waves would tower above 

 the horizon, but none were as high as 30 feet. 

 The position of our ship on the 9th was not far 

 S. and E. of that of Dr. Scoresby's ship when he 

 measured the 56o-feet wave-length. 



Although the higher platform of my larger vessel 

 gave me an advantage for the measurement of the 

 highest waves, her great length, and the structure 

 of the upper works usual on modern liners, made 

 it very difficult for me, unassisted, to measure wave- 

 length. I have found the same difficulty every 

 time I have been at sea, as I have always voyaged 

 in ships measuring from nearly 500 to 600 feet in 

 length. It has usually happened that when there 

 were large regular waves their course made a con- 

 siderable angle with that of the ship, and even 

 when the waves ran more nearly in our own direc- 

 tion, it was generally . impossible for me to watch 

 the wave -crest during the whole of its passage along 

 the length of the ship. I have, therefore, been 

 generally reduced to judging the wave-length in 

 terms of the known length of the ship from the 

 simultaneous position of two crests. The length 

 of the Ivernia is 600 feet, and the regular waves 

 which we encountered in the strong gale of Decem- 



