1842.] A Sixth Memoir on the Law of Storms in India. 699 



board, being blown away — ship lying with lee rail under water until 

 1 a. m. ; wind blowing a hurricane from N. E. Both pumps at work, 

 the men obliged to be lashed to keep them agoing. The weather 

 moderated at 1 a. m. for a short time, when the wind shifted to the 

 N. W. and blew with still greater fury, and from thence suddenly 

 shifted to S. W. at 3 a. m., blowing a complete hurricane, heavier 

 than at any time before. At 6 a. m. the wind hauled round to S., 

 and then to S. S. E., and it began to moderate at 8 a. m. During the 

 gale the barometer ranged as follows : — 



At noon of the 29th, (sea account,) 29-70 



4 p.m. 30th 29.60 



6 „ 29.40 



8 „ 29.40 



11 „ 28.40 



2 a. m 28.30 



3 „ 28.20 



Noon 29.55 



[Singapore Free Press, Dec. 24. 



We may from these accounts deduce, I think fairly enough, that 

 La Magicienne was dismasted in the N. W. quadrant of a storm of 

 which the centre did not pass far from the Bombay Shoal. The 

 frigate was probably drifted upon the shoal by a N. W. current occa- 

 sioned by S. Westerly wind in the S. E. quadrant of the storm, or by 

 a N. Westerly current, created by the S. E. wind in its N. Easterly 

 quadrant, according as she was to the S. E. or the N. W. of the shoal. 

 The last is the most probable, because the usual track lies within 

 the shoal. 



We may take the centre then, in the absence of better data, to have 

 passed over the Bombay Shoal, and about noon on the 29th, and we 

 find that at 3 a. m. on the 30th, civil time, it had passed the St. Paul, 

 which ship might then be about in latitude 11° N., longitude 111° E. 



This gives a track of N. 75° W. and S. 75° E., and a distance of 

 360 miles in the 15 hours, or 24 miles per hour. This rate of travelling 

 is also higher than any we have yet obtained for either the China 

 Seas or Bay of Bengal, but it is not an excessive one compared with 

 those of the Western hemisphere, and if we admit the two ships to 

 have experienced the same storm, which is quite as probable as that 



