On the Gales and Hurricanes of the Western Atlantic. 115 



Art. VIII. — On the Gales and Hurricanes of the Western Atlan- 

 tic;* by W. C. Redfield, Esq. of New York. 



From the U. S. Naval Magazine. 



As an accurate knowledge of the dangers to which the navigator 

 is liable, is of the first importance to the nautical profession, I ven- 

 ture to point out an error, relating to the storms of the Atlantic, 

 which has found its way into Purdy's Memoir of the Atlantic Ocean, 

 and has also been copied from that useful manual, into the nautical 

 books of other countries. 



The error alluded to, is found in the following paragraph : — " In 

 the year 1782, at the time the Ville de Paris, Centaur, Ramilies, 

 and several other ships of war, either foundered, or were rendered 

 unserviceable, on or near the banks, together with a whole fleet of 

 West Indiamen, excepting five or six, they were all lying-to, with 

 a hurricane from west ; the wind shifted in an instant to east, and 

 blew equally heavy, and every ship lying-to, under a square course, 

 foundered." — Memoir of the Atlantic, 1th edition, page 96. 



In the examination which 1 have been led to make of the storms 

 of the Western Atlantic, I have found them to pursue a generally 

 uniform course, which is always north-westerly, in the tropical lati- 

 tudes, and till they approach the latitude of 30° N. In the vicinity 

 of this parallel, the storms turn to the northward, and their course 

 then becomes north-easterly, on a track which appears to incline 

 gradually to the east, as they sweep over the higher latitudes of the 

 Atlantic. The course thus pursued, is entirely independent of the 

 direction of wind which the storm may exhibit at the different points 

 over which it passes ; the wind in all such storms being found to 

 blow after the manner of a whirlwind, around a common center or 

 vortex, during their entire progress, in a circuit which is commensu- 

 rate with the lateral extent of the storm ; and in a determinate di- 

 rection or course of rotation, which is from right to left, (that is, in 

 the direction from west to south,) horizontally. 



From this uniform course and regular rotative action, result cer- 

 tain regular phases or characteristic changes, which are peculiar to 



* These remarks, and the chart which they are designed to illustrate, were ori- 

 ginally prepared for the London Nautical Magazine, but the importance of the 

 subject in its relation to our marine interests, as well as the cause of science, has 

 induced the author to revise the same for publication on this side of the Atlantic. 



