ROUND THE COOOS AND SEYCHELLES. 131 



hoisted to the topmost notch of the cranes, and secured 

 as thoroughly as experience could suggest ; but at every 

 lee lurch we gave it seemed as if we must dip them 

 under water, while the wind threatened to stave the 

 weather ones in by its actual solid weight. It was now 

 blowing a furious cyclone, the force of which has never 

 been accurately gauged (even by the present elaborate 

 instruments of various kinds in use). That force is, 

 however, not to be imagined by any one who has not 

 witnessed it, except that one notable instance is on 

 record by which mathematicians may get an approximate 

 estimate. 



Captain Toynbee, the late highly respected and admired 

 Marine Superintendent of the British Meteorological 

 Office, has told us how, during a cyclone which he rode out 

 in the Hotspur at Sandheads, the mouth of the Hooghly, 

 the three naked topgallant-masts of his ship, though of 

 well-tested timber a foot in diameter, and supported by 

 all the usual network of stays, and without the yards, 

 were snapped off and carried away solely by the violence 

 of the wind. It must, of course, have been an extreme 

 gust, which did not last many seconds, for no cable that 

 was ever forged would have held the ship against such a 

 cataclysm as that. This gentleman's integrity is above 

 suspicion, so that no exaggeration could be charged 

 against him, and he had the additional testimony of his 

 officers and men to this otherwise incredible fact. 



The terrible day wore on, without any lightening of 

 the tempest, till noon, when the wind suddenly fell to 

 a calm. Until that time the sea, although heavy, was 

 not vicious or irregular, and we had not shipped any 

 heavy water at all. But when the force of the wind 

 was suddenly withdrawn, such a sea arose as I have 



