358 Nineteenth Memoir on the Law of Storms. [No. 5. 



PART II. 



The Jumna's Cyclone. 



Abridged Extract from the Log and Admiralty Report of H. M. 



Brig Jumna, Lieut. Rodney, Commander, from Bombay to England. 



I have received from Capt. Fitzgerald, H. M, S. Vernon y then 

 senior officer at Bombay, from Lt. Rodney himself, and from friends, 

 copies of public and private reports and accounts of the dismasting 

 of this fine new Brig, which was on her way from the dock-yard at 

 Bombay to England, but they are all singularly deficient in one respect, 

 viz. that they do not give the vessel's run from the 22nd, though one 

 report actually gives every thing in the Logs of 22nd to 24th April, 

 hut the distances and positions at noon ! An omission no doubt of the 

 copyist's but a very vexatious one to us. The position of the vessel 

 at noon 23rd, (and thence at 11 p. m. when she was dismasted) is 

 however given by Lt. Rodney, but for comparisons with other ships the 

 want of the exact positions, from fine weather to fine weather again, is 

 always requisite, as this serves moreover to fix the limits of the Cyclone 

 influence. The italics in the following abridgment are mine. 



From Bombay to Lat. 8° 59' S. ; Long. 85° 34/ east, which position H. M. 

 Brig reached in ten days from Bombay arid at 3 a. m. of the 23rd April 1848, 

 the Jumna had the usual fair winds, with heavy squalls thunder and lightning, 

 especially at night. At 3 a. m. it came on to blow from N. West; and at 5> 

 veered to West ; at 6 a. m. to W. N. W. ; and at § past 8 (force 10) to noon 

 N. N. W.* The Brig in this interval, 3 a. m. to noon 23rd. had run from 9 to 

 12 knots to the South and S. S. W., mostly S. S. W.; and is placed at noon 23rd 

 April, by Lt. Rodney in Lat. 10° 28' south; Long. 85° 0' east. The Barometer 

 having fallen from 29.57 to 29.33. The Ther. 82° and 82^°. 



At 1 p. m. wind is marked N ? b. W. (force 10) ; at 3, N. N. W. ; (force 9) and 

 at 4, calm ; by which time the Brig had reached Lat. 11° 08' S ; Long. 84° 43' 

 east by her Log. the Bar. being now at 29.21 and falling ; Ther. 82° ; great 

 numbers of birds apparently much terrified, hanging about the ship, alighting on 

 the deck and rigging, and allowing themselves to be caught without resistance. 

 Blue sky appeared around the horizon with the exception of the N. E. where a 



* There is a discrepancy here which should be noted, and is perhaps again an 

 error of the copyist. Lieut. Rodney's Admiralty Report says, " a gale sprung up 

 at 3 a. m. from North veering at times to N. N, W." while his own copy of tho 

 Log and two others which I have, give the winds as above stated. All three can- 

 not be wrong we should suppose ? I therefore take them as correct. 



