TIDES AND WAVES 75 



mns of water at one time, two of which passed 

 ithin a few hundred feet of the ship. The 

 ommon belief that waterspouts are very dan- 

 erous to vessels has little foundation in fact, 

 for as a rule they can readily be avoided by 

 steamers and even if they do hit a ship com- 

 paratively little damage results. The deluge 

 of water may smash boats and light upper 

 works and the tornado-like wind, which ac- 

 companies the waterspouts, may tear away 

 awnings, sails or similar objects, but serious in- 

 juries from waterspouts are very rare. Some- 

 times a waterspout may actually be watched 

 as it forms and it is a strange sight to see a 

 dark, angry-looking cloud descend towards 

 the water, where, almost instantly, a little, 

 white-crested wave rises from the sea, in- 

 creases rapidly in size, — churning and boiling 

 as if agitated by some great force below, and 

 then with a sudden rush springs upward in a 

 slender, tapering column and joins the low- 

 hung cloud above. Sometimes the waterspout 

 is very slender, curved and twisted; at other 

 times it is stout, funnel-shaped and almost 

 vertical, while occasionally the conical, whirl- 



