124 On the Gales and Hurricanes of the Western Atlantic. 



St. Martin's and St. Thomas on the 18th; passed the north-east 

 coast of Hayti on the 19th ; Turks Island on the 20th; the Bahamas 

 on the 21st and 22d ; was encountered off the coast of Florida and 

 South Carolina on the 23d and 24th ; off Cape Hatieras on the 25th ; 

 off the Delaware on the 26th ; off Nantucket on the 27th ; and off 

 Sable Island, and the Porpoise Bank, on the 28th. Its ascertained 

 course and progress is nearly 3,000 milesj.* in about eleven days ; 

 or at the average rate of about eleven miles an hour. The direction 

 of its route before crossing the tropic, may be set down at N. 61° 

 west, and in lat. 40° while moving eastward, at N. 58° E. 



Track No. IV, represents the route of the hurricane which rav- 

 aged the islands of Antigua, Nevis, and St. Kitt's on the afternoon 

 and night of August 12, 1835; St. Thomas, St. Croix, and Porto 

 Rico on the 13th ; Hayti and Turks Island on the 14th ; the vicinity 

 of Matanzas and Havana on the 15th; vas encountered off the 

 Tortugas in the gulf of Mexico on the 16th ; in lat. 27° 21', ion. 

 94°, and other points on the 17th and 18th ; and also at Metamora, 

 on the coast of Mexico, (lat. 26° 04') on the 18th, where it was most 

 violent during the succeeding night.f This storm is remarkable, as 

 moving more directly, and farther to the-west, than is usual for storms 

 which pass near the West India Islands, it having reached the shores 

 of Mexico before commencing its sweep to the northward. Its 

 course so far as known, is N. 73° west : — its progress more than 2,200 

 miles in six days ; which is nearly equal to 15^ miles per hour. 



Track No. V, is that of the extensive hurricane of Septetnber, 

 1804. It swept over the Windward Islands on the 3d of that month ; 

 the Virgin Islands and Porto-Rico on the 4th ; Turks' Island on the 

 5th ; the Bahamas and gulf of Florida on the 6th ; the coast of 

 Georgia and the Carolinas on the 7th ; the great bays of Chesapeake 

 and Delaware, and the contiguous portions of Virginia, Maryland, 



* All the distances are expressed in nautical miles. 



t Since writing the above it is ascertained that this storm also passed over Gal- 

 veston bay, on the coast of Texas, where the hurricane blew with violence from 

 the northeast, while at the mouth of the Mississippi and along the northern shores 

 of the gulf, the gale was not felt. Such facts appear quite sufficient to overthrow 

 the hypothesis of Franklin relating to northeast storms, and are equally fatal to the 

 more common theories. At Galveston this storm, in passing over, veered by east 

 to the southeast ; the rationale of which may be made evident by drawing a line 

 through the northern side of the figure on the chart, parallel to the track of the 

 storm. A little further attention to the figure will also illustrate the general char- 

 acter of other northers, which are so common on the coast of Mexico during a 

 considerable portion of the year. 



