102 WAVES OF THE SEA 



solved, and the behaviour of the roughened sea, 

 when the wind drops, exactly performs this act of 

 analysis i.e., of resolution into components. On 

 account of this physical circumstance it is impos- 

 sible to obtain a thoroughly satisfactory under- 

 standing of deep-sea waves as long as we restrict 

 our mental view by the limitation of our eyesight, 

 which generally shows us only one set of waves of 

 somewhat irregular form running in any particular 

 direction. Other sets of waves crossing these may 

 be perceived by the eye, but for the present I am 

 only concerned with those which run in one 

 direction. 1 



The following is a generalised description of 

 what I actually see when the wind blows upon 

 water. 



1 A curious condition occurs when two deep-sea swells meet 

 one another from exactly opposite directions. I observed such 

 a case from R.M.S.P. Atrato on June 27, 1910. We were 

 bound for Barbados from Southampton, and had passed a 

 few hours before St. Michael's, in the Azores. All the way 

 out from the English Channel we had been accompanied by 

 a north-westerly swell. From the Azores to Barbados the sea 

 and swell were from a south-easterly and easterly direction. 

 On the day in question the south-easterly swell met the north- 

 westerly, both being of only moderate height. The appearance 

 was that, again and again, a great round-topped billow formed, 

 which did not travel, but (a furrow appearing along its 

 summit) quickly became double-crested, the two crests then 

 travelling away in opposite directions. 



