340 Cyclones. 



gales are thus produced in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 

 south-west gales upon the coasts of Europe — occasioned, 

 doubtless, by circular storms that range at large upon the 

 unimpeded surface of the ocean. 



Telegraphic storm-warnings to shipmasters were first 

 despatched in the year 1842, from Chicago to Buffalo, across the 

 great American lakes. Similar systems, as already described, 

 have more recently been adopted in almost all countries in 

 Europe, and seaports are thus secured from the dangerous 

 arrival of unexpected storms. 



About the close of the year 1859, a collection of meteoro- 

 logical facts, in and around the North Atlantic Ocean, was 

 begun in England and America, such as never could have been 

 accumulated at any former time. In that year, on the 25th of 

 October, a cyclone known as the "Royal Charter Storm" 

 sprang up at the entrance of the English Channel. The storm 

 was of the greatest magnitude and violence, and not less 

 remarkable for its distinctly cyclonic character. 



Two ships, the ""Alipore" and the "Neikar," one ap- 

 proaching to and the other leaving the English Channel, 

 encountered no cyclone approaching the English Channel from 

 south-west. On board these ships, 28*98 inches was the lowest 

 registered pressure. Its first appearance was near the Eddy- 

 stone Rock, where the channel fleet at that time was stationed. 

 At three in the afternoon, the centre passed over the fleet, the 

 wind blowing suddenly from opposite directions, with an 

 intervening calm space of about half an hour, during which 

 the barometer fell to 28*50 inches. The focal calm, having 

 thus a diameter of about seven to ten miles, passed from 

 Cornwall, across the centre of England, to the borders of 

 Lincolnshire, in eighteen hours, with a progressive speed of 

 fourteen miles an hour. At sunrise, on the morning of the 

 26th of October, the centre was advanced not quite so far as 

 Nottingham, and a vast whirlwind, revolving in a direction 

 contrary to the hands of a watch, extended over England. 

 The " Royal Charter" was lost towards seven in the morning, 

 with nearly all on board, on a lee shore on the northern coast 

 of Anglesea. At the same time, the west coast of Ireland, 

 and a large proportion of that island, were not affected at all ; 

 and the weather in France continued fine. The greatest 

 diameter of the whirl was therefore little more than 400 miles. 

 In the north-western half of this area, the velocity of the wind 

 cannot have been less than 60, nor in the south-eastern half 

 much less than 100 miles an hour, being increased by the 

 progressive motion of the storm. The storm advanced 

 towards the North Sea, and severely assailed the coasts of 

 Scotland, when a calm state of the atmosphere was already 



