1848.] Fifteenth Memoir on the Law of Storms. 53 



was, it is said, not deeper than usual, nor leaky. I do not know, but 

 presume that she would have touched at Point de Galle for coal ; but ne- 

 vertheless we may fairly suppose that her coal and provisions brought 

 her as low as possible. 



Capt. Carless, who knew the vessel and had every opportunity of 

 information on the spot as to probable winds and weather, and the 

 route she would have followed, thinks she would have passed down 

 midway between the Easternmost Laccadive Islands and the coast. He 

 supposes her average speed up to noon of the 16th " could not have 

 exceeded 7 knots." This would place her then in about Lat. 13°. And 

 he then considers that " she may have made to the next day A\ 

 knots." This would place her at midnight, between the 16th and 

 17th, 54 miles to the S. S. E. of this position, or more probably due 

 South of it, as she must have made much leeway from noon, and as I 

 shall now show ; was probably before midnight unmanageable, and at that 

 time involved in the centre. I have therefore chosen the conjectural track 

 laid down for her at this time. We can only in cases like this conjec- 

 ture the unknown from the known, and before I proceed, I am desirous 

 of adverting to two well known instances of Steamers running headlong 

 into hurricanes, and by the avowal of the commanders, escaping only 

 by a sheer miracle, and we put aside, for the sake of argument, the 

 remote probability of the Cleopatra's having been destroyed by fire, or 

 lost through a mutiny on board, because there would be in such cases 

 so many chances of one boat at least escaping. 



The first of these instances is that of the Great Western Steamer, in 

 October 1846, which vessel indubitably steamed into the Southern side of 

 a hurricane, and apparently into or close to the centre. Though I have 

 only a newspaper account of her distress, yet it seems evident that this 

 fine vessel, though built to cross the Atlantic, was next to unmanageable, 

 and nearly swamped when in the central portion of the hurricane ! In 

 the same storm a Royal Mail Steamer slacked her speed on the ap- 

 proach of the hurricane and at the proper time bore up and ran round 

 the heel of the storm with a fair wind ! 



The next instance is one in our own seas, and very closely resembles 

 the Cleopatra's probable case. It is that of the H. C.'s War Steamer 

 Pluto, which vessel left Hong Kong on the 27th June, 1846, bound 

 to Borneo, to join II . M. squadron under Rear Admiral Sir Thos., 



