AND OTHER WATER WAVES 131 



which contrasts strongly with the slight power of 

 the wind when blowing upon smooth water. My 

 observations from the S.S. Jamaican relate, as I 

 have said, to the action of squalls at the tail end 

 of a storm. 



Their action during the height of a storm is 

 often to lower the waves. Thus, during my 

 voyage from Liverpool to Boston on the Cunard 

 S.S. Ivernia, December, 1900, of which some par- 

 ticulars have already been given, I often saw the 

 effect (which others have frequently described) of 

 showers of spray from every wave -crest during each 

 gust. The steepness and the slowness of the waves 

 were such that the cohesion of the water at the 

 crests could not resist any increase of the upward 

 suction and the horizontal pressure there. Hence 

 in the gusts the water was torn in showers of 

 spray from the crests, falling finally, one must 

 presume, mainly in the sheltered troughs, thus 

 tending to flatten out the sea. 



On March 1 1, 1901, on the Red Star S.S. Vater- 

 land, east-bound from New York to Southampton, I 

 saw the much greater lowering effect of a wind meet- 

 ing the waves. We were in N. Lat. 44 $6'* 

 W. Long. 36 54', with a rough sea from the star- 

 board, the waves occasionally rising above the 

 horizon of our promenade deck. At about 4 p.m. 



