110 On the Law of Storms in the 
believe that they originate in the centres of great volcanic 
action. 
I shall now examine some storms met with in high southern 
latitudes, in 1840, by the respective exploring expeditions of 
America and Great Britain. 
The United States Squadron, consisting of the Vzn- 
cennes, a first-class sloop of 780 tons, the two brigs 
Peacock and Porpoise, and the schooner Flying Fish, 
left Sydney for the Antarctic Ocean on December 26, 1839. 
A few days before the hurricane all the vessels were near the 
latitude 66° S., and longitude 150° E., or about 1300 miles 
to the southward of Van Diemen’s Land. -The Peacock was 
standing northwards for Sydney to repair injuries received 
among the ice: the others making to the southward and 
westward along the icy barrier, and the supposed Antarctic 
Continent. In the annexed diagram (jig. 2), the vessels 
are denoted by their respective initials, and the successive 
positions of each indicated by the subscript numerals. 
The dotted line represents that part of the storm which 
passed over the Vincennes as she sailed from V, to V,. A 
full report is given of the proceedings of each ship during 
the storm in the second volume of the “‘ Narrative of the 
United States Exploring Expedition,” by Lieut. Wilkes, the 
Commander of the Expedition. I shall extract the parts 
necessary to determine the characteristic features of the 
storm. 
It will be seen that Lieut. Wilkes speaks of several simul- 
taneous gales, and thinks it “‘ remarkable that, while the 
Peacock had a strong gale from the N.W., the Vincennes, 
450 miles to the 8.W. of her, should have met with another 
gale from the S.E.,” without recognizing the obvious truth 
that these subordinate gales were consistent parts of the 
same great progressive whirlwind storm. 
