478 MR MILNE ON TWO STORMS WHICH SWEPT OVER 



or extent of the storm, and the track which it followed over the surface of the 

 globe. 



It has been shewn, that the storm must have extended far to the west of the 

 British islands. It can also be shewn, that it stretched considerably to the east- 

 ward. The meteorological register kept at the Paris observatory, under the super- 

 intendence of M. Arago, records a storm which begun there on the morning of 

 the 28th November, and continued till the 1st December. During this period, 

 the wind veered (between 9 p. m. on the 27th of November, and 9 a. m. on the 1st 

 December), from SE. to SW. The most violent part of the storm occurred be- 

 tween noon on the 28th and 3 p. m. on the 30th ; and the barometer reached its 

 lowest depression sometime between 3 p. m. on the 28th and 9 a. m. on the 29th. 

 In all these respects, the coincidence with the registers at Greenwich, and other 

 places in England and Ireland, is so complete, that there cannot be a doubt that 

 it was the same storm which was recorded at aU of them. At Groom' s-hill, 

 Greenwich, where the direction and strength of the wind are noted twice a-day, 

 the register shews that the gale commenced on the evening of the 28th November, 

 and ended on the afternoon of the 30th, during which interval the wind veered 

 from E. to SW. The most violent part of the gale was there comprised betwixt 

 the afternoon of the 28th and night of the 29th. The Paris and Greenwich re- 

 gisters thus also afford additional proofs of the truth of the remark before made, 

 that the amount of veering, and the rate of progressive movement, diminished 

 towards the eastward. 



The storm thus reaching beyond Paris with its eastern limb, and having its 

 central parts situated to the west of Ireland, must have had a radius of at least 

 550 miles, and extended therefore more than half across the Atlantic ocean. It 

 is natural to suppose, that, if this inference be correct, ample evidence of it should 

 be found in Lloyd's List, and other records of maritime disasters. 



On examining the Shipping Gazette, and other papers, I find that, at 

 Royan, near the mouth of the Garonne, there was a storm on the 27th, 28th, and 

 29th. It there begun at S. and veered to W.SW. on the 28th, accompanied by a 

 very heavy sea. At Oporto, the storm commenced on the 24th, and continued 

 on the 27th, by which time the wind had veered to W.SW., and dismasted several 

 vessels there. At Lisbon (180 miles south of Oporto), the storm commenced on 

 the night of the 23d, with the wind at S. ; it veered to SW. on the following day, 

 and caused wrecks on the coast. So violent was this gale off" the north-west 

 coast of Portugal on the 28th November, that the Falmouth steam-packet was 

 obliged to take shelter during that day and the next, in Vigo Bay. The storm 

 ended there on the night of the 29th, and the steamer proceeded on her voyage 

 to England on the morning of the 30th. Proceeding stiU farther south, I find 

 notice of a storm at Madeira on the 23d, which drove a number of ships fi-om 

 their anchorage, and caused others to slip their cables and run to sea. Now, it 



