42 NOTES ON AN ABNORMAL WAVE OCCURRENCE 



hauled them up on the beach to a place where they were 

 considered to be in safety. A light wind began to draw from 

 the land, and all the usual signs in which fishermen believe 

 promised a fine night. Judge of the surprise of those men 

 when on coming to the beach in the very early morning not 

 only were their boats gone, but they were not even in sight 

 on the sea. Eventually, one or two were found along the 

 shore, but others were found only after some days had elapsed, 

 picked up at great distances from the starting-place. The 

 marks on the beach showed plainly that the tide had come 

 up very much higher than usual, and while at this place, it 

 seemed to have been the highest, it was also noted as an 

 unusually high tide at Pleasant Bay on the west, and Bay 

 St. Lawrence and Aspy Bay to the eastward. One man 

 near Bay St. Lawrence, at about eleven o'clock, saw it 

 come in the form of two large seas succeeding each other, 

 and rushing on shore. A fishing schooner lying some two 

 miles off shore also reports several heavy seas striking the 

 vessel about the hour mentioned; otherwise the night was 

 calm. Some six years before, this same vicinity was visited 

 by something of the same nature, but as it came in the day, it 

 occasioned no loss." 



The above account shows plainly that the disturbance 

 was abnormal. That it falls outside the category of tide 

 phenomena is evident. It occurred on a calm night and 

 consisted of a succession of high waves which continued 

 for a brief period of time. Tidal waves of the nature of a 

 bore or as the result of conflicting currents are in the highest 

 degree improbable as an explanation. In searching about 

 for a probable cause, one recalls some well-known and strik- 

 ingly disastrous effects of great abnormal sea-waves. 



In 1755, Lisbon was laid in ruins by an earthquake which 

 had its origin about 50 miles off the coast. About half an 

 hour after the shock, a succession of high waves, one of 

 which had a height of 60 feet, reached the city and added 



