88 ALLISON — ON THE METEOROLOGY OF HALIFAX. 



the S. S. '' EobertLowe" at sea, Lat. 43^2' N., Long. 65^3^ W., 

 <« the night" (of 3rd — 4th Sept. 1870) *' was very dark, and the 

 wind from E. via S. to W., must have been at its height quite 

 equal to, if not exceeding the velocity given in the accompanying 

 paper" — say 25 lbs — " The sudden and fitful gusts were of enor- 

 mous force, more resembling the escape of steam from a high pres- 

 sure engine than anything else. Our Barometer reached at 4 a. m. 

 28.700." " Steaming head to wind throughout the storm our drift 

 would not exceed a radius of seven miles." These four sets of 

 observations alone clearly shew a general E. N. E. direction of the 

 storm path. Lowest Barometer, '' Robert Lowe," 4 a. m. ; Glace 

 Bay, 3 p. m. ; or a distance of about 250 miles in 11 hours — 23 

 miles, nearly, per hour was this cyclone travelling ; but its speed, 

 it may be noticed, was accelerated as it progressed eastward. This 

 has been noticed in cyclones in the north temperate zone before, 

 (see Dove's Law of Storms,) and I wish now to draw particular 

 attention to this fact. We cannot speak confidently of the rate of 

 velocity sustained across the Atlantic, without any ocean observa- 

 tions ; but reasoning from what we do know of this particular 

 storm, and from comparison of other known storms, this cyclone 

 was due (or rather its south eastern edge) in the Bay of Biscay on 

 the evenino; of the 6th. 



Now let us transport ourselves to that locality, and off Cape 

 Finisterre we find a British squadron cruising on that evening. 

 Shortly after 5 p. m. the Admiral Sir Alexander Milne had left the 

 turret ship Captain, and had gone on board his ov/n flag ship. A 

 wind and boisterous sea were rising ; at midnight a gale was upon 

 them ; and before 1 a. m. of the 7th September the " Captain" had 

 foundered, with more than a hundred gallant souls. Many of them, 

 from the Commander Burgoyne of the Victoria Cross to the noble 

 young Gordon the midshipman, too well known in Halifax for me 

 to dwell on this episode. Much has been said and written of the 

 construction and loss of this ship ; but it is with the external cause 

 of that loss — the gale — that this paper has to do. Unlike the pat- 

 tern of the iron clad its formation could not have been avoided ; but 

 its advent could have been anticipated. Let the meteorological sys- 

 tem now finding favour have been carried to completion, and let the 



