96 Ocean Waves 



How far the largest vessels are influenced by wave motion 

 is shown by the early attempts to lay submarine telegraph 

 cables, in which the wave motion of the ship was not pro- 

 vided for. Of the first Atlantic cable, we are told " the 

 stern of the Niagara was down in the trough of a sea, and 

 the extra strain caused by her rising was the immediate 

 cause of the cable's parting." — (London Times, August 15, 

 1857.) 



The Agamemnon also, was so seriously damaged by 

 the shifting of a coil of the cable, as to cause 

 serious apprehensions for her safety (" Prescott's Electric 

 Telegraph," p. 180). The first Mediterranean cable was also 

 destroyed from the same cause, viz. : the plunging of the 

 ship (New York Times, August 28, 1857). Improved 

 machinery, of course, now averts these disasters, but the 

 facts show the extent of wave influence on vessels, so 

 great as are employed in these undertakings. 



The facts also show the singular inattention* bestowed on 

 the great phenomenon of waves in itself Thus, Lieut. 

 Raper (" Practice of Navigation ") repeatedly refers to the 

 sudden rise of a heavy swell " without any known cause, 

 generally very quickly and subsiding very soon, and which 

 constitutes a formidable danger." H.M.S. Julia was wrecked 

 in a calm at Tristen dAcunha in a few minutes. More 

 recently, very severe loss was experienced at St. Helena. 

 The U. S. Exploring Expedition anchored ofl' San Francisco, 

 Nov. 1, 1841 ; the Vincennes being in seven fathoms and 

 three miles ofl' shore ; About 10 p.m., the rollers got up and 

 broke with the continued roar of a surf. At midnight, a 

 sea broke heavily on board the Vincennes, a ship of 780 

 tons, displaced the booms and boats, and killed a man." 



Now, these occurrences admit of easy explanation on 

 referring to what has been here said on the permanence of 

 waves (1) ; such rollers being the product of a sudden and 

 transient squall, perhaps hundreds of miles distant, and 

 whose existence may have ceased many days before 

 the waves propagated reached the point of observation. 

 Thus, we are told that " H.M.S. Isis, 450 miles to the 



* There is perhaps no other subject which has so excited the universal 

 attention and awe of mankind, as that of the waves of the ocean. From 

 time immemorial poets have dehghted in portraying the magnitude of the 

 powers which work the deep and rule the highway of nations. Yet, it is not 

 a little curious that this subject, which, of all others, would be thought most 

 likely to engage the common interest, should only just now be entering into 

 the ken of scientific research. 



