340 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



a. M., increasing to gale (7) from S.E. by E. ; barometer 29.56 ; noon same, with high, irregular 

 sea ; barometer 29.58 ; latitude 29°, longitude 124° 37' ; p. m., wind S.E. by S. (6) ; barometer 

 29.56 — 29.58. Ends with strong winds from S.E. and squalls. 



July 29. — 7 a. m., gale S.E. (7) ; barometer 29.55 ; low scuds flying to northward ; high and 

 irregular sea from S.S. W. Noon, latitude I). K. 28° 09', longitude D. K. 123° 22' ; in 45 fathoms 

 water ; barometer 29.56 ; gale S.E. by S. (7) ; scud flying to northward. At 3p. M.j gale S.S\E. 

 (7) ; barometer 29.52. 6 p. m., strong gale (9) and squally, with rain and heavy sea. At 11 

 p. m. , gale moderated to 5 ; barometer 29.58. 



July 30. — Clouds breaking, clear to E. and S.E. ; strong breezes S.S.E. to S.E. ; clouds 

 cumulo-stratus and nimbus, passing to N.N.W. At noon in 43 fathoms ; latitude 29° N., lon- 

 gitude 124° 30' E. ; heavy sea from S.E., and swell from S.S.W. ; barometer 29.55 to 29.61. 



July 31. — Strong breezes (6) from southward ; heavy swell from S.S.W. At noon under 

 double-reefed topsail and foresail ; latitude D. E. 28° 19', longitude 124° 17' ; barometer 

 ranging between 29.57 and 29.63. 



August 1. — Fresh breezes, force 5, moderating to 4 ; heavy swell from S.S.W. Noon, latitude 

 28° 35', longitude 125° 09 , in 50 fathoms. Barometer rises from 29.62 at 1 A. M. to 29.69 at 

 midnight, or nearly to the same point as at the commencement of this very extended period of 

 cyclonic action. 



The phenomenon thus presented may be regarded as of much scientific and practical interest. 

 It does not appear that the Caprice was at any time nearer to the axis of the cyclone than about 

 one hundred and fifty miles. Tbe greatly prolonged influence of the cyclone upon her barometer 

 was nearly equable ; its movement being unusually steady during its successive gradations. 

 The entire range of the barometer during a period of seventy-two hours, from 3 A. m. of the 22d 

 to same hour of 25th, was scarcely more than one-tenth of an inch, or between 29.27 and 29.16 

 inches. The lowest depression occurred about 1 p. m. of the 24th, and probably indicated the 

 nearest approach of the cyclonic axis, as it passed the ship. Its nearest approach to the Supply, 

 at Lew Chew, appears to have been about 3 p. m. of the 22d, which is earlier by seventy hours. 

 Hence, the rate of the advance of the cyclone, in this period, for the distance of little more than 

 two hundred nautical miles, appears to be only three nautical miles per hour. 



The earlier progress of this storm may have been at a faster rate, as has been shown in other 

 cyclones, while moving westward toward the places of their northwardly recurvation. The 

 minimum of the barometer, when properly observed, is believed to furnish more exact evidence 

 of the actual progress of the storm than is afforded by the specific direction and changes of the 

 winds, particularly in a wide spread cyclone. 



The entire absence of any winds other than from the eastern board, with the several ships, 

 would perhaps lead many navigators and meteorologists to infer that this gale was not a cyclone, 

 but a direct wind, moving in the manner of a great current ; and such inference might seem con- 

 firmed, on finding that these conditions must have extended over a breadth of track equal to 

 about ten degrees of latitude. Yet, we might well inquire whether any gales, other than cyclones, 

 are ever found to blow with great strength on the broad ocean. But the characteristic move- 

 ments of the barometer and the coincident changes in the direction and strength of the winds, 

 as also the advanced action and the subsequent changes in the direction of the heavy swell, 

 which often ran in a course different from the winds, as blowing at the several ships, are quite 

 sufficient to establish the cyclonic character of this extensive and slowly advancing gale. More- 

 over, the direction and strength of the winds with the steamships on the 20th and 21st, was 



