356 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



in-shore hurricane, of the Kingston. Hence we may infer that the great current of rotation in 

 which the cyclones are imbedded was at this period and in this region, at least, comparatively 

 sluggish and inactive. We have noticed a similar condition in the eastern Atlantic in the 

 previous month, in the case of the Cape Verde hurricane, of Track 23. 



Track 7. Captain Budd's gale, of October, 1851.- — Capt. Budd's steamer from San Francisco, 

 for Panama, was, on the 21st of October, in latitude 22° 07', off Cape San Lucas. At daylight 

 of 22d the wind was very high, hauling to S.E., preceded by a heavy swell from the same quarter. 

 The o-ale blew heavy from S.E., and then commenced hauling to N.E., and blew still more 

 heavy; barometer 29.75. He had now crossed the entrance of the Gulf of California, to within 

 sixty miles of Cape Corientes. At 4 p. M. gale abating, and hauling to the westward, going 

 round by the north. 



The winds in this case appear to indicate that Captain Budd fell under the right hand or 

 northern side of the gale as it first approached, and that the gale recurvated northward upon the 

 contiguous portion of Mexico before the axis of the storm had reached the position of the ship. 



Trade 8. Panama's gale, of July, 1852. — The Panama experienced a hurricane, July 16, 

 1852, in latitude 15° N., longitude 115° W., which lasted ten hours; carried away top-gallant- 

 masts, yards, sails, &c. 



Extract from logbook of ship Empire, bound for San Francisco : 



July 19, 1852, commences with heavy gales and bad sea from the north; under double-reefed 

 tojisails and courses. [Ship in front part of the gale, to the left of its axis path.] At 8 p. M. 

 heavy gale from N.N.W.; at 10 p. m. very heavy gale; hove the ship to under triple-reefed 

 main-topsail; midnight, gale increased to a hurricane; the mainmast went by the board, 

 together with the mizenmast, fore-top-gallant-mast, &c, with everything attached; blowing a 

 complete typhoon. At 5 A. M. succeeded in clearing the wreck; at 7 A. M. gale had in some 

 measure abated, at 8 A. m. got the ship before the wind, then blowing from S.S.W.; at noon 

 of 20th, only a brisk gale from S.S.E.; latitude, by account, 17° 4' N., longitude 117° 35' W. 



This could have been none other than the Panama's gale, moving on a course between 30° 

 and 40° north of west, and, if there be no error in the Panama's date, at the rate only of about 

 three miles and a half per hour ! 



This slowness of progression in the three hurricanes of the Panama, Amazon, and Kingston, 

 is of great interest for navigators in the Pacific. For it shows how perfectly the exposure and 

 safety of their vessels, during such hurricanes, are placed in their own control, at least in cases 

 where sea room on all sides is afforded them. Thus, if the master of the Amazon had compre- 

 hended the character of his hurricane, or its law of rotation and progression, he might have 

 run more eastward, and until the state of the barometer and winds would have allowed him to 

 come up to his desired course. This would have enabled him to make a safe, rapid, and suc- 

 cessful run towards his port of destination, while he kept in the outskirts of the gale. 



The Empire, when headed off by the north wind in the front of the cyclone, could not pursue 

 her course for San Francisco, nor safely heave-to on either tack. But she had opportunity to 

 run southward in the beginning of the gale, keeping the wind on the starboard quarter until 

 the state of the barometer and the diminished strength and westerly changes of the wind should 

 enable her to turn eastward, around the rear of the hurricane, and thus regain her course with 

 a fair wind. 



These eight cases were noticed in the American Journal of Science, in 1854 ; but their relation 

 to the storm chart, as well as their value to navigators, makes it proper that the condensed 



