606 A Sixth Memoir on the Law of Storms in India. [No. 127. 



to the Marine Board, and Captain Clapperton, Acting Master Attendant 

 at Calcutta, I have, as usual, received all the assistance they could 

 afford : I must not omit to mention, that amongst several of the 

 Hon'ble Company's retired officers who have given valuable notes, 

 I am specially obliged to Mr. Thos. Packman, for some twenty pages 

 of extracts and notices which he has been good enough to send me. 

 I have been careful to note at the head of every storm the sources 

 from which the documents are derived. 



It will perhaps be thought that I have here preserved some records 

 which afford but scanty proof of the truth of the theory of storms as 

 applied to the Chinas Seas; but it should be borne in mind that we 

 have to prove, first, that the great storms are circular ones, or nearly 

 so; secondly, that they turn from right to left outside; thirdly, that 

 they are progressive ; fourthly, the tracks on which they move ; and 

 fifthly, the rates at which they move, and any other peculiarities. 

 Now to shew all this of any one storm, requires a considerable body 

 of evidence, and such as can rarely be procured without great 

 trouble and a fortunate combination of circumstances ; but we may 

 prove it little by little, and separately, of several storms ; and above 

 all, we may shew that as far as all available record extends, there 

 is no contradiction to the theory to be found ! and by publishing 

 faithfully, make the data available for abler hands. With these 

 views then, I shall I trust be acquitted of accumulating useless details, 

 and I may add, that provided our data are but authentic, we can as 

 yet scarcely say what may be, eventually, their relative importance. 



TRACK No. I, 1780. 



The first storm of which I have obtained any record is the fol- 

 lowing, from a note of Captain Biden's : — 



An account of the distress of the London East Indiaman, 758 tons, 

 in a Hurricane on the Coast of China, in July last, taken from 

 Captain Webb's letter to the Directors of the East India Company. 

 From the Annual Register. — " On our arrival on the coast of China, 



off Macao, on July 17th 1780, after my packet was delivered to the 



