28 A Twentieth Memoir on the Law of Storms, [No. 8. 



storm was over, intending to send them up again when it had passed ; they had 

 scarcely got on deck when we lost the Jibboom ; cut away the wreck and soon 

 got clear of it, and we had no sooner done so then with a terrible lurch to 

 leeward accompanied by a dreadful squall of wind and rain that actually 

 screeched through the rigging as it passed, away went the whole three topmasts 

 just above the caps with all their top hamper ; in their fall they carried away the 

 fore and crossjack yard arms, and we had thus only the main yard left; in the 

 space of one hour from daylight from being all in trim and fair sailing condition 

 we were reduced to a perfect wreck. The ship being now deprived of any sail 

 to steady her rolled at times most terribly, all our efforts to secure the lower 

 yards by guys, &c. &c, proved quite ineffectual. On again looking at our 

 treacherous Barometer we found that now when the mischief was done it had 

 fallen to 29.45 ; and we now to our sorrow found out also by the shifting of 

 the wind to the N. N. Eastward that we had become involved in a circular 

 tempest, and not as we first thought an ordinary gale, such as is usual about 

 the full and change; from the circumstance of the Barometer giving no warning, 

 and also because we experienced no swell setting on shore which is always 

 regarded as a sure precursor of such tempests. It was too late now to attempt 

 to run out of it, as it would have been too hazardous to scud or do any thing 

 else (excepting to lay to) at the height to which the storm had risen. Up to 

 noon the same tempestuous weather continued ; carried away the starboard cutter. 

 Lat. by Acct. 18° 00' N. ; Long, by Acct. 86° 10' E. From the noon of this 

 day until midnight the gale or hurricane if possible more dreadful than at first; 

 indeed any measured description of it that we could give would fall far short 

 of the reality experienced by us, and as the night closed in, there was no pros- 

 pect that the vessel would live through the dreadful sea until daylight. She 

 laboured and strained at such a rate that any vessel less strong must have 

 perished in what she encountered, but happily at Midnight it began to break 

 and had fallen to little wind. 



2,8th April. — At daylight the prospect that presented herself was frightful. 

 During the whole of this day the people employed, when the terrible violence 

 of the storm abated at intervals, in cutting and clearing away the wreck.* 



Abridged Log of the Ship Atalanta, Capt. Farley, from Choo- 

 ramun (Balasore) to Madras, reduced to Civil Time. 

 At Noon, 25th April, 1850, in Lat. 19° 33' N.j Long. 87° 38' East; light 

 breeze from East, and cloudy with small rain. p. m. wind E. N. E. (course 

 S. S. W. 8' per hour) gradually veering to N. N. W. by 8 p. m. At 10, 

 threatening weather. 



* Capt. Shire states that no lightning was experienced till at the close of the 

 Cyclone, and then to the Southward. 



