3/8 



NA TURE 



[August i6, 1900 



Lexington in Virginia, the distances being about 123 and 125 

 miles respectively (Nature, vol. liii. p. 296). When the 

 Alabama was sunk nine miles off Cherbourg on the morning of 

 Sunday, June 19, 1864, the sound of the guns was heard in 

 Jersey, at Clyst St. George, near Exeter (108 miles from 

 Cherbourg), and at Brent Tor, near Bridgwater (about 125 miles). 

 The great naval review at Spithead on July 17, 1867, was held 

 during rough, boisterous weather ; but the noise of the guns is 

 said to have been heard at Exeter (105 miles), Morebath, near 

 Tiverton (105 miles). Great Malvern (107 miles), and Castle 

 Frome in Herefordshire (no miles). In all the above cases 

 the sound was, of course, the aggregate of that of many guns of 

 different sizes fired simultaneously. But, in naval reviews, the 

 charge is very much less than in actual warfare ; a 6inch gun, 

 for instance, would fire a blank charge of 7 lbs., whereas the 

 service charge for the same gun would be 48 lbs. fired with shot. 

 With regard to the distance to which the report of a single 

 gun can be heard, I have very little information. A no-ton 

 gun fired at Woolwich made a window shake at Chignall St. 

 James (24 miles), and was heard at Witham (32 miles) as a 

 rumbling sound which seemed to deafen the observer slightly 

 (Nature, vol. xli. p. 369). Time-guns at Bombay have been 

 often heard at the northern Mahim, distant more than 50 miles 

 (vol. Ivi. p. 223). The reports of the heavy guns at the battle of 

 Malvern Hill, mentioned above, could be easily distinguished 

 at Lexington from those of the smaller weapons ; and a similar 

 observation is recorded below. The subject is evidently one 

 on which useful contributions to our knowledge might be made 

 by residents near the south coast of England. 



Naval Review at Spithead 011 June 26, 1897. 

 Shortly before the great naval review held in honour of the 

 Queen's Diamond Jubilee, I wrote to the principal London news- 

 papers and to several published in the south of England, and I 

 have to thank the editors of these papers, and the ladies and 

 gentlemen who replied to my inquiries, for the help they have 

 kindly given me. The points to which I directed attention were 

 the times at which the reports were heard, whether the air- 

 vibrations were strong enough to make windows rattle, the 

 direction from which the sound appeared to come, and the 

 direction of the wind. 



The fleet collected on this occasion consisted of 165 vessels of 

 war of all classes arranged in five lines about six miles in length. 

 The position of the flag-ship (H.M.S. Renown) was about two 

 miles N. 20° E. of Ryde ; and the distances given below are all 

 measured from this point. As the Royal yacht entered the 

 lines immediately after 2 p.m., the first shot was fired from 

 the Renown, and was taken up by other ships in turn, each 

 firing a Royal salute of twenty-one guns. "The heaviest gun 

 employed," I am informed by the Secretary of the Admiralty, 

 " was probably a 6-inch l^reech-Ioading gun, firing a blank 

 charge of 7 lbs." ; but others of different sizes were also used. 

 It produced at first a dull crackling noise, according to a corre- 

 spondent on H.M.S. Sanspareil, but, as ship after ship took 

 up the salute, the firing grew more animated and the roll of 

 the guns louder ; until, after about five minutes, the report 

 of the last gun died away. 



The atmospheric conditions were fairly favourable for the 

 propagation of the sound. Light, but variable breezes, generally 

 between north-east and south- east, prevailed over most of the 

 south of England. The thunderstorms which occurred on that 

 day followed the salute in most places, but nearly all my 

 correspondents (several being retired military oflicers) agreed that 

 the sound of the guns could be readily distinguished from that of 

 thunder. 



In many of the records which I have received, the time is 

 given so roughly that it is difficult to feel confident that they 

 refer to the salute in question, and in several it is omitted alto- 

 gether. Under the former heading come records from Honiton 

 (90 miles from Spithead) and Shebbear, near Torrington (135 

 miles) ; and under the latter from near Rickmansworth (67 miles) 

 and Great Malvern (107 miles). Excluding all such cases, the 

 number of records is reduced to twenty, from nineteen places. 



At very few of these places, and at none more distant than 

 about 28 miles, were the vibrations strong enough to shake 

 windows. Distinct reports were heard at the beginning and 

 end of the salute as far as Farnham (34 miles), otherwise the 

 sound was a dull, continuous roar, with occasional booms from 

 the heavier guns. The sound was heard to the east as far as 

 Framfield (57^ miles), to the north-east at Wimbledon (62 



NO. 1607, VOL. 62] 



miles), to the north at Bloxham Green, near Banbury (88 

 miles), and to the west at Wellington in Somerset (93 miles). 

 These are more or less isolated places, but there is a fairly con- 

 tinuous series of observations in a north-westerly direction, ex- 

 tending to Melksham (61 miles), Monkton Farleigh, near Brad- 

 ford-on- Avon (67 miles), Bath (two observations, 69 miles), and 

 Weston, near Bath (71 miles). 



In the evening the fleet was illuminated, and a final Royal 

 salute, similar to that at 2 p.m., was fired on the return of the 

 Prince of Wales shortly after 1 1 p. m. I have only two accounts 

 which may refer to this salute, one from Cosham in Hampshire 

 at 11.30 p.m., the other from Ashburton in Devonshire (116 

 miles) at n. 59 p.m. The recorded times differ too widely to 

 give much value to these observations. 



Naval Review at Cherbourg on July 18, 1900. 

 About 10 p.m. a sham fight took place between two portions 

 of the French fleet at Cherbourg in honour of the visit of the 

 President, M. Loubet, to that town. The number of vessels 

 engaged was forty-three, including thirteen of the largest and 

 most modern battle-ships in the world. During the next few days 

 accounts appeared in various English newspapers of a series of 

 supposed earthquake-shocks felt shortly after 10 p.m. at different 

 places along the southern coast, from Torquay to Bognor. The 

 long duration of the disturbances and their apparent transmission 

 through the air being opposed to a seismic origin, I wrote 

 letters to a number of London and south-country papers, and 

 the account which follows is chiefly based on the replies which 

 I received to these letters. 



As some doubt has been expressed with regard to the con- 

 nection between the two phenomena, it may be well to mention 

 the evidence in its favour. (i) With two exceptions, not one 

 of the places (forty in number) from which records have come 

 is more than a mile or two from the coast. There are several 

 from the south of the Isle of Wight, but none from that part 

 of Hampshire shielded from Cherbourg by the higher ground 

 of the island. (2) Though a few persons in the open air assert 

 that a tremor was felt, the great majority state that the sound 

 travelled through the air and not through the ground ; windows 

 rattled loudly without there being any movement of the floor, 

 and at Lancing (100 miles from Cherbourg) and Seaton in Devon 

 (97 miles) observers placing their hands on the wall felt it dis- 

 tinctly vibrating ; the noise caused a drumming in the ears at 

 several places more than a hundred miles from Cherbourg. (3) 

 The sounds were recognised as those of heavy guns by many 

 persons, and with less hesitation the smaller the distance from 

 Cherbourg. (4) The night was very still, hardly a breath of 

 wind could be felt, and the sea perfectly calm ; and the sound 

 was heard to the east and west along the English coast at almost 

 equal distances from Cherbourg. (5) Lastly, heavy guns are 

 rarely, if ever, fired from English ships or forts at so late an 

 hour ; whereas more than 24,000 charges are said to have been 

 fired in Cherbourg harbour during almost the same interval in 

 which the sounds were heard in England. 



Though the times of occurrence are roughly given, they agree 

 for the most part in placing the commencement of the disturb- 

 ances just after 10 p.m., and the end shortly before 10.30. 

 Clearer evidence as to the identity of the sounds throughout the 

 whole area affected is provided by the similarity in their relative 

 duration and intensity. The first began about 10.2 or 10.3, 

 and lasted nearly four minutes. Then came a pause of five 

 minutes, when there was another burst of about the same 

 intensity and nearly the same duration. About ten minutes 

 later the third followed, slighter in intensity and of shorter 

 duration, perceived almost as far as the others (at Torquay and 

 Brighton, loi and 104 miles respectively), though not by all 

 observers. 



I have no information as to the size of the guns used on this 

 occasion, but they were probably much heavier than those em- 

 ployed for the salutes at Spithead in 1897. To the west, the 

 sound was heard at Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth and Torquay 

 (lOl miles from Cherbourg), Paignton (102 miles), and Dawlish 

 and Exmouth (104 miles); to the east at Lancing (100 miles), 

 Brighton (104 miles), and near Henfield (107 miles, and seven 

 miles from the sea). At all of these places, and at many 

 between, the air-vibrations were strong enough to make 

 windows shake and rattle, and there are accounts of this or a 

 similar effect being observed at a greater distance than the 

 sound— at Plymouth (123 miles), and Menheniot, near Liskeard 

 (136 miles, and five miles from the sea). At the latter place 



