20 Seventeenth Memoir on the Law of Stowns. [Jan. 



Track I. 



The John 0' Gaunt appears to have had the Cyclone commencing with 

 her from North soon after midnight of the 7th, and by noon of the 8th, 

 in Lat. 19° 3'; Long. 117° 8' E., it was a heavy gale at N. N. W. 

 which would place the centre to the E. N. E. of that position and at a 

 considerable distance, or moving down slowly, for the wind remained ap- 

 parently at this point till 5 a. m. on the 9th, or for nearly 17 hours, 

 when it is marked at west, the centre not being far to the northward, for 

 at 1 p. m. it is said the wind shifted* to the south, and by the following 

 day, the 10th, it had veered to E. S. E. when the Barometer was rising, 

 so that the vessel was apparently drifted far to the northward and the 

 Cyclone was passing her slowly without much southing in its track. 

 But the notes obtained are unfortunately very meagre, as the logs pro- 

 bably were, and in the absence of the log we can deduce little but esti- 

 mates. The two notes I have of this vessels log also disagree, so far as 

 can be made out, in dates, which adds greatly to the difficulty. 



The John 0' Gaunt is the only vessel from which we can fix the bear- 

 ing of the centre of the Cyclone approximately on the 8th, and on the 

 9th she was very near the Ann, with which vessel it did not commence 

 till the afternoon or rather night, though it was certainly seen approach- 

 ing her soon after noon, by the "peculiar appearance"^ noted in the 

 log. It is evident from the position of these ships that the Cyclone was 

 not one of any great extent, for they were at most, and with every allow- 

 ance for errors, not more than 100 miles apart on the 9th, when the 

 John O' Gaunt was close to the centre, having the shift at 1 p. m., 

 while the Ann was just remarking the peculiar appearance quoted 

 above. 



Hence we cannot include the gale experienced by H. M. Brig Espie- 

 gle and the Edith on the coast, and by //. M. S. Agincourt at Hong 



* These words shifted and veered are used so indiscriminately that we can deduce 

 nothing exact from them, unless we ate told from which point the shift took place. 

 If it was at once a shift from West at 5 a. m. to South at 1 p. m., this would indi- 

 cate a very slow motion of the Cyclone, or that the ship was carried along with the 

 storm wave to the Westward faster than she drifted to the Eastward. All we can 

 conclude is that from 5 a. m. to 1 p. m. she was very close upon the centre. 



t It is to be regretted this peculiar appearance is not more accurately detailed. 

 One of the greatest services seamen can render to science and to each other is to 

 give exact and full accounts of all these phenomena. 



