HUEKIGANES. 241 



with square sai! set whilst scudding. On lying-to, no sail would stand the 

 disruptive puffs for five seconds ! 



We have ourselves, in utter ignorance of the operations as they occur 

 and are here stated, been scudding in a frigate, partly dismasted, with 

 reefed main-sail (the only sail available), before the furious blast of a 

 Hurricane, after the wind had veered to the S.W. As it happened, we had 

 fortunately dropped into the second quadrant, and were drawing near our 

 exit, but we knew nothing of that ; and if it had happened in the fourth 

 quadrant, and we had got into the centre, there is no doubt but that the 

 ship must have foundered. But to proceed : — 



No other resource is available to us under such circumstances as de- 

 scribed above : and no other alternative remains except the desperate one 

 of heaving-to, defying the fury of the Storm, and taking the chance of 

 being thrown directly into the centre of commotion ; where, if the ship do 

 not founder, she would, there is scarcely a doubt, lose her masts, and be 

 otherwise completely assailed at all points by the raging elements. 



The N.W. verge of the Hurricane, whilst it advances in that direction, 

 is the "very head and front" of the danger, the nucleus of which follows, 

 in a direct line, the advance of that point. The consequences, be they the 

 foundering of the ship, or the loss of her masts, &o., are inevitable, if 

 prompt and active measures are not taken to get out of that position. 



Should the wind, at first, keep steady at E.N.B. for some time, which 

 it would do (if the storm is of great extent) when a ship enters under the 

 N.N.W. verge, the navigator may be a little puzzled how to act, as antici- 

 pating a shift, to determine hie position ; he need be under no apprehen- 

 sion ; the shift will come in due time (according to the extent of the cir- 

 cumference) from the E. by N., and so gradually round (but quickening 

 as he approaches the centre) to the Southward : he may, however, expect 

 to lose some of his spars when the crisis arrives. 



We have dwelt longer upon the action of the wind in the fourth or N.W. 

 quadrant, because under this anterior verge the greatest peril may follow; 

 and we may now be permitted to express a hope that mariners may derive 

 some little advantage from the perusal of this paper, as the writer has 

 devoted his best attention to the subject with the sole view of rendering 

 them, as brother sailors, a service. John Evans. 



(182.) We will close this portion of our remarks with some gencio,! 

 observations on the subject by Captain Bichard Leighton, of Montrose, to 

 whom we are indebted for numerous additions to hydrography : — 



" 1st. Outward-bound ships. As the S.E. storm- wind i-s generally nearly 

 directly in front of the Storm, on meeting with that wind and a falling 

 barometer, &c., you should bear off freely to the North- Westward, that is, 

 nearly at right angles with the route of the gale, and all that you run that 

 way wiU increase your distance from the centre when it passes you; whilst, 

 if you run Westward, you will pass so near to the centre that you will be 

 taken aback by the wind flying into the North- Westward ; the object is to 

 Bkirt the gale, and haul more Westerly as the wind veers to the Eastward. 



" 2nd. When the wind is to the Southward of S.E., it appears that you 



N. A. 0. 32 



