THE ANTI-TBADES OE PASSAGE WINDS. 189 



follow Captain Inglis' example (110), and in the Northern Hemisphere to 

 stand on the port tack until the wind shifts to West or N.W., when the 

 starboard tack would be the most favourable. 



Then, again, the strength of these gales certainly seems to bear some 

 relation to the amount of atmospheric depression ; but gales that com- 

 mence at South and end at West or N.W., with an absence of Easterly 

 winds, cannot be dealt with as ordinary Cyclones, though there can be 

 little doubt that the starboard, being the " coming up " tack, is the best 

 to lie-to upon in the Northern Hemisphere, as it enables a ship to stem 

 the sea. 



(125.) The Eeport of the Director of the New York Meteorological 

 Observatory for 1872 contains some interesting information respecting 

 Storms in the North Atlantic Ocean. Charts are constructed in the 

 Observatory, illustrating the progress and direction of barometrical and 

 thermometrical waves crossing the United States, and the influence exer- 

 cised by them on the regions which they pass, and endeavours have been 

 made to trace from these data the progress of American Storms across the 

 Atlantic, and to predict the time of their arrival on the European coasts. 

 For this purpose the registers at the New York Observatory were com- 

 pared with those kept at Valentia and Falmouth, distant about 3,100 miles, 

 and it was thus found that there are many atmospheric waves which 

 traverse the Atlantic, and that within certain limits the times of their 

 passage may be pretty accurately predicted. "If, in the case of a Westerly 

 wind, which is travelling about 200 miles in twenty-four hours, the 

 exact time be found at the lowest reading of the barometer, and the 

 speed be ascertained for 24 hours before and after that time, the mean of 

 these two numbers will give the true rate of the storm in 24 hours. Thus, 

 if 4,200 be divided by the number thus found, the result will be the number 

 of days which the Storm will take to cross from New York to Valentia or 

 Falmouth." An actual example of the application of this rule is given, 

 and is worth quoting : — " On the 4th of October, 1869, there occurred a 

 low barometer at the New York Observatory at 1 p.m. In the 24 previous 

 hours the wind had travelled 313 miles ; and, in the 24 succeeding, it made 

 286 miles. The mean of these numbers is 299, by which, if 4,200 be divided, 

 the result is 14 days for the passage of the Storm across the Atlantic." 

 This calculation was exactly right, for the Storm arrived at Falmouth on 

 the 18th of October. 



It is stated in the report that, from the year 1869 to 1872, the computa- 

 tions made respecting 86 atmospheric disturbances expected to cross the 

 Atlantic failed in only three instances to give accurate results. Further 



♦ It is not within the province of this work to advise the commander how to manoeuvre 

 his vessel in stormy weather, as he must naturally be the best judge of her behaviour 

 and capabilities under the stress of wind and sea. We may, however, call attention to a 

 correspondence in the "Nautical Magazine," 1882 and 1883, regarding the management 

 of screw steamers when lying-to, with engines stopped. The Illinois, wfth engines disabled 

 in a storm, safely lay-to for 12 hours, with the wind and sea from two to four points 

 abaft the beam, and on another occasion succegsfully repeated the same operation. See, 

 also, the Remarks on the Use of Oil in Storms at Sea, given hereafter. 



