1858.] A Twenty -Fifth Memoir on the Law of Storms. 177 



A Twenty-Fifth Memoir on the Law of Storms in India, being the 

 H. Company's Steamer Pluto's Cyclone in the Gulf of Martaban 

 23rd and 24<th April, 1854. — By Henry Piddington, President 

 of Marine Courts. 



This Cyclone is on many accounts a very remarkable one and a 

 great addition to our knowledge of that yet uncertain part of our 

 science, the tracks of Cyclones in narrow confined seas ; and the 

 vicinity of an active volcano to one part of what appears to have 

 been its singularly curved track, and its intense violence and limited 

 extent make it one of great scientific as well as of mere utilitarian 

 interest. I give first the abridged documents relating to it beginning 

 from the South as usual, and then a table of them and a detail of 

 the conclusions upon which the track is laid down. 



Abridged Log of the Ship Aratoon Apcar, Capt. Conniew, from 

 Singapore bound to Calcutta. Reduced to Civil Time. 



The Aratoon Apcar was at Noon on the 28th April, 1854, in 

 Lat. 7° 23' N. ; Long. 97° 44' East with the island of Pulo Rajah 

 bearing E. N. E. 35 miles. Daylight gloomy with lightning. Noon 

 fine and light airs Northerly, p. h. to midnight standing to the 

 N. W. b. N, with light variable airs to 8 p. m. when steady S. W. 

 breeze. At sunset a heavy swell from the Southward.* Midnight 

 fresh breeze S. West, passing clouds and heavy puffs. 



By Noon 22nd April. — The ship had run up to Lat. 10° 53' N. ; 

 Long. 95° 59' East with winds of variable force from calms to 

 stormy breezes and squalls, variable and Southerly throughout. 

 Her Barometer had risen from 29.90 at 11 p. m. on the 21st, to 

 30.00 at Noon of the 22nd. The sea is marked throughout as "a 

 high cross sea," "a terrific sea," and "a most turbulent sea keeping 

 the decks awash," and at 8. p. M. on the 21st, though a calm, it 'is 

 marked as " a turbulent sea breaking in all directions," and a protest 

 is entered in the log of the 22nd and 23rd on account of it. By 

 midnight 22nd and 23rd Barometer had fallen to 29.70. Gale " very 

 fresh" and a high sea spoon drift and sea passing like a sheet of 



* I note in italics this singular swell as it ocsurs on successive days, and shall 

 refer to it in the Summary. 



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