248 OBSEEVATIONtt ON THE WINDS. 



run immediately with the wind on the starboard quarter ; but if it is seen 

 that it veers to the Westward, the wind shifting to the right, lie-to with 

 the head to the Eastward. This last case is exceedingly dangerous, and 

 navigation in these waters should be avoided as much as possible during 

 the month of October. 



Knowing that occasions may arise when these observations will be of 

 use, they are recorded here in the hope that they may prove of benefit in 

 some emergency. The danger of navigating these waters is great, the 

 difficulties many and often insuperable, the losses and shipwrecks all too 

 frequent. If by means of these incomplete notes a single disaster should 

 be averted, they will not have been written in vain, — P. V. 



(190.) The Storm-Wave — the result of the Cyclone or Hurricane — and, 

 perhaps, the greatest terror to seamen, almost always appears in the 

 character of a heavy cross-sea, the period of which is irregular and uncer- 

 tain. The disturbance within the area of the Cyclone is not confined to 

 the air, but extends also to the Ocean, producing first a rolling swell, which 

 eventually culminates in a tremendous pyramidal sea and a series of storm- 

 waves, the undulations of which are propagated to an extraordinary dis- 

 tance behind, before, and on each side of the stcrm-field.* 



(191.) Oil on Rough Seas. — In conclusion, as being intimately connected 

 with the subject of Storms, we here call attention to the beneficial use of 

 Oil in allaying the roughness of the sea, when applied in a proper manner. 

 At the end of this work will be found a special article on this subject, with 

 examples of its use by vessels in distress and otherwise. 



(192.) EXAMPLES. — To illustrate the preceding remarks and directions, 

 accounts of a series of Eevolving Storms are given, illustrated by the 

 diagram, before alluded to, at the commencement of this section. 



Routes on the Chart. — No. I. Trinidad to Yucatan, over the middle of 

 the Caribbean Sea ; June 23 to 28, 1831. 



No. II. Barbadoes to the Mississippi ; August 10 to 17, 1831. 



No. III. Guadaloupe to the Bank of Newfoundland ; August 17 to 29, 

 1827. 



No. IV. Guadaloupe and Antigua to Charleston, and thence to the Bay 

 of Fundy ; September 3 to 10, 1804. 



No. V. Antigua, passing over Cuba, to the coast of Texas ; August 12 

 to 18, 1835. 



No. VI. Barbuda to Charleston, and thence to the Bank of Newfound- 

 land ; August 12 to 19, 1830. 



No. VII. From the intersection of lat. 20° N. and long. 60° W, (N.E. of 

 Barbuda), passing to the West of Bermuda, and thence N.E. to the parallel 

 of 42^° ; September 29 to October 2, 1830. 



No. VIII. From the parallel of 22° (North of Porto Bico) to Cape Hat- 

 teras and the coast of Maine ; September 1 to 5, 1821. 



No. IX. From near the same spot as No. VIII., on a similar route, but 

 more to the Eastward ; August 22 to 27, 1830. 



No. X. From the parallel of 30° N., on the East side of the Gulf Stream, 

 to Cape Sable of Nova Scotia ; January 13 to 16, 1831. 



" Remarks on Waves," in th« Nautical Magazine, September, 1887, page 759, 



