HUEEICANES. 229 



sight ; but a careful study of what has been stated, together with the 

 following remarks and rules, should enable any shipmaster to see the 

 approach of one of these dreaded Storms with some amount of equanimity.' 

 When there is abundance of sea-room, the danger of these Hurricanes 

 becomes very much diminished, and the mariner is left much more free to 

 choose the best course for avoiding their fury. 



There is one position in which a ship may enter a revolving Storm which 

 is attended with the utmost danger, that is directly in its path. In this 

 case the wind will not shift, as it would on either side of the line of pro- 

 gress, but will continue in its first direction until the centre or focus be 

 passed, when it would suddenly shift to exactly the opposite point, a change 

 which the seaman would dread. The focus, as before mentioned, is the 

 most dangerous part of the Hurricane, as there the strength of the wind 

 concentrates, sudden shifts of wind take place, and heavy and confused 

 seas break. It is obvious that the nearer the vortex is approached the 

 quicker the shift of wind will be, and vice versa. Here, too, the sea 

 becomes confused ; the waves raised by the opposing winds surrounding it 

 here interfere with each other, and the appearance, as described by some, 

 is that of the water rising and falling in pyramidal heaps, the usual succes- 

 sion of waves being obliterated. Sometimes the sea rises or subsides in a 

 very sudden manner. 



(168.) Bearing of the Centre. — The description of these Storms must 

 be carefully studied, to avoid getting entangled in the central regions of 

 the Cyclone, where fierce squalls and heavy seas often make it dangerous 

 for any vessel, even a high-powered steamer, to manoeuvre in such a way 

 as to run out of the Storm. 



The natural inference from what has been stated in the foregoing pages, 

 concerning the form and movements of these Storms, is that the ship-' 

 master's first care must be to avoid their centre and path, and, to do this, 

 certain clear rules have been evolved, by which the bearing of the centre 

 and the trr.ck of the Storm may be readily ascertained with some amount 

 of certainty. For, as we have already stated, it is one of the remarkable 

 laws of these storms that in opposite Hemispheres they revolve in opposite 

 directions — in North latitudes against the course of the sun, that is to say 

 from right to left, or in a direction contrary to the movement of the hands 

 of a watch ; and in South latitudes from left to right ; and, secondly, it is 

 known that, no matter how great or how little may be the size of the storm- 

 field, the wind continually blows in a more or less circular course round 

 and round a centre or vortex. It therefore necessarily and demonstratively 

 follows that this centre must always be more or less at right angles to that 

 circular course ; or, in other words, that the bearing of the centre lies from 

 eight to thirteen (or more) points of the compass from the direction of the 

 wind, as stated in (158). In (155) it is also shown that in the rear of a 

 Cyclonic Storm the wind sometimes blows nearly directly towards the 

 centre. 



The diagram facing p. 225 is taken from the United States Pilot Chart 

 of the North Atlantic Ocean, September, 1887, and may be used as a 

 general guide for action when a Hurricane of normal character is met with 

 Here dotted lines are drawn from each wind-arrow at the margin to the 



