470 MR MILNE ON TWO STORMS WHICH SWEPT OVER 



27th,* and that it did not reach Tarbet Ness and Cape Wrath till the following 

 day, viz. the 28th, i. e. about a day after it had entirely ceased in the southern 

 part of England. 



Thus, then, by noting the different places at which this gale successively ar- 

 rived, and marking the time taken in passing from one place to another, we find 

 that it had a progressive motion to the north, altogether independent of the di- 

 rection of the wind ; and that the rate at which it travelled to the north, was 

 about ten or eleven miles an hour. 



There are other facts which confirm this inference, and help us moreover to 

 approximate to the probable track or path which this storm followed, in its course 

 northwards. I have mentioned that the wind veered or shifted during the gale 

 from E. to W. As this veering occurred at every place comprehended within the 

 limits of the storm, the period of its occurrence becomes an element in the calcu- 

 lation, as important as the periods of its arrival and cessation. Now, I find that 

 the veering from SE. to S.SW., which happened in Cornwall during the forenoon 

 of the 27th, did not happen at DubUn till the evening of the 27th, and that the 

 storm ceased there during the night. At Plymouth the wind veered to the west- 

 ward about 9 p. M. on the 27th. I find also from the Lighthouse returns, that 

 the westerly gusts, which may be considered the expiring breath of the storm, and 

 which were felt at Truro and Penzance shortly after ?ioon on the 27th, did not 

 begin at Pladda (off" the coast of Ayr) till the night of the 28th. 



These, and other similar data too minute to be detailed at length, lead to the 

 conclusion that this gale travelled northwards up the Irish Channel, and at a rate 

 of about ten or eleven miles an hour, a result exactly the same as is brought 

 out by the previous calculation. 



The storm must have come, then, from southern latitudes. This inference 

 is fully confirmed by the accounts brought by ships that were navigating the 

 seas, off the coasts of France and Spain. 



I find that, at Royan, near the mouth of the Garonne, a stoi-m commenced 

 on the 21st, with the wind at E.NE. On the 22d it veered to SE., and ultimate- 

 ly to S., after which it moderated, and the gale ended at Royan on the 23d. In 

 the north part of the Bay of Biscay, at the mouth of the Loire, the gale continued 

 on the 23d.f Off Capes Ortegal and Finisterre, (on the north-west coast of Por- 

 tugal), there was a severe gale, which dismasted several vessels.:]: Going stiU 



* This statement is confirmed by other registers. At Cameron House, on Loch Lomond, an ac- 

 curate register is kept by Mr Smollett of the wind and weather; from which, it appears that the gale 

 commenced there on the evening of the 27th, with the wind at E.NE., accompanied by snow. 



t On the 23d November, the William and Robert was seen waterlogged in Lat. 48° and Long. 3°. 



X The names and exact positions of these vessels may here be stated. The Ellen experienced a 

 heavy gale from S.SW. in Lat. 43° 10' and Long. 10° 13'. The Everton oi Dundee encountered it in 

 Lat. 44° 51' and Long. 10° 12'. 



