28 Seventeenth Memoir on the Law of Storms. [Jan 



from North to N. E. ; and increasing in force to 9., or strong gale for a man-of- 

 war ; thick squally weather. 



loth Sept. — Wind N. E. 8 ; at 6 a. m. North 9, and at Noon the same and 10. 

 Lat. 24° 8' North; Long, by bearings of Chapel Island, 118° 35' E.; Bar. 

 30,10; 5 p. m. 29.80. Midnight 29.80; wind to midnight North; 10, ship's 

 head to the Eastward, squally, cloudy, and rain. 



16th Sept. — Wind N. b. E. 10, to 4 a. m. when it fell calm to 5 p. m. Breeze 

 springing up S. W. misty and drizzling, which continued to Noon, when it was 

 still S. W. 7, having been at 8 from 8 a. m. ; Bar. 5 a. m. 29.63. At Noon 29.84 ; 

 Position when in the calm and shift about 23° 42'; Long. 118.55 East; 

 p. m. wind S. b. E. force 7 ; weather still overcast and cloudy, but subsequently 

 clearing up. 



The shift of wind was from N. b. E. to S. W., which would give a 

 track of from E. S. E. to the W. N. "W. but with due allowance for the 

 vessel's standing to the Westward, and drifting as she must have done 

 to the Southward, we shall find that the average track would be about 

 from the S. E. to the N. "W., at which I have marked it. We do not 

 know in truth, also, how much the track may have been influenced by the 

 land, but for all practical purposes the estimated track will be quite near 

 enough to the truth : for the essential question for the seaman in all 

 narrow seas is to know if the tracks of the Cyclones lie across or directly 

 through the channels. 



Track M. 

 H. M. S. Agincourt, Bashee Passage, September, 1846. 



I am also indebted for this log to Mr. Elliott, Master of H. M. S. 

 Agincourt, who forwarded with it a sketch chart shewing very clearly 

 that a Cyclone must have passed over or near to the south extreme 

 of Formosa, of which the Agincourt had the southern quadrants only, 

 while H. M. S. Vestal and Dcedalus, which vessels parted company 

 in the forenoon, and stood to the northward, had it much more severe. 

 Their logs unfortunately have not reached me.* 



* Probably under a notion prevalent among some Commanders that, unless a 

 Cyclone amounts to a furious or damaging hurricane or tyfoon, it is of no conse- 

 quence, or useless to send us the details. This is a great mistake. Whenever there 

 is anything Cyclonic in a breeze, I shall be glad to have details of it, and especially 

 when other vessels have also felt it. A moderate Cyclone may be as instructive as 

 the most violent one for the great object of tracing out the track at that season of 

 the year. 



