1845.] Eleventh Memoir on the Law of Storms in India. 51 



of all the ships sufficient to put them out of sight of each other.* This 

 ship had also, up to noon, a fresh breeze and squally weather, and her 

 Bar. at 29.78. the wind at West and W. b. S. and becoming more 

 squally as she ran to the S. Eastward between noon and midnight. 

 The Futtle Rozack was the next ship to the Southward, being in 5° 32' 

 S. and 84° 49' E. on this day. As will be seen by her log, which is 

 well worth an attentive perusal, she had indications of suspicious wea- 

 ther from the 21st in 1° 22' S. and these were increasing every day; her 

 weather on this day (the 24th) being dark and gloomy, with variable 

 squalls and even calms at times, but with a tremendous high sea from 

 the South, u the wind" lulling and coming on again with a moaning 

 noise," her Bar. was yet at 29.64.f We have thus four ships, the John 

 Fleming, Flowers of Ugie, Elizabeth Anslie, and Futtle Rozack, in a 

 space comprised within 45 miles of Lat. and 25 of Long, so that allowing 

 for slight errors of instruments and observations the whole were within 

 less than a square degree of each other, and as we have seen they seem 

 to have had just such variable streams of wind and intervals of calms 

 or light breezes, with even fine weather, as we might suppose a priori 

 to exist on the outer verge of a storm, and which those who have fol- 

 lowed the investigations of them, both here and through Col. Reid. and 

 Mr. Redfield's works have found in both Hemispheres. It is curious 

 that none of the other ships remark on this day, though they do so on 

 the 25th, upon the heavy sea, so carefully noticed in Captain Rundle's 

 remarks ; I shall advert to this again. We may thus consider the gale 

 of the John Fleming as perhaps a commencing stream of wind on the 

 circumference of a vortex, for I must again reiterate here that while of 

 course a storm must begin somewhere and somehow, we are profoundly 

 ignorant, both of the how and the where it begins, whether at the centre 

 or on the circumference, and what its effects at the circumference 

 are both when beginning and after it is in progress, and can only 

 therefore carefully register every fact which may tend to throw the 

 faintest light upon the manner in which these tremendous phcenomena 



* This however may not be the case ; a Commander of one of the ships told me 

 that there were " several of us close together when the gale commenced" and he 

 meant in sight, for he remarked upon the want of preparation apparent in one or two 

 vessels. 



t Nearly correct, for its slight error of .07 was ascertained here. 



