50 



INDICATIONS OF SQUALLS. 



Jan. 



weather, although no change should be foretold by the glasses. 

 A mistake may be made by the observer, or a variation in the 

 height of the column may have passed unheeded ; while it is 

 seldom that a practised eye can be deceived by the visible 

 signs of an approaching squall or gale of wind. 



Undoubtedly the worst wind, next to a hurricane, which a 

 vessel can encounter, is a violent ' white squall,' so called 

 because it is accompanied by no cloud or peculiar appearance 

 in the sky, and because of its tearing up the surface of the sea, 

 and sweeping it along so as to make a wide sheet of foam. By 

 squalls of this description, frequent in the West-Indies, and 

 occasionally felt in other parts of the world, no notice will be 

 given much above the horizon ; but by consulting a good 

 barometer or sympiesometer, and frequently watching the 

 surface of the sea itself, even a white squall ma^ be guarded 

 against in sufficient time. 



Squalls accompanied by clouds are so common, and at sea 

 every one is so much accustomed to look out for them, that I 

 may cause a smile by these notices ; yet as there is often mucJi 

 doubt in a young officer's mind, whether an approaching cloud 

 will be accompanied by wind or rain, or by both, and 

 many persons are unable to distinguish, by the mere appearance 

 of a cloud, what is likely to come with or from it, I will 

 venture to mention that when they look hard, or hard- 

 edged (like Indian ink rubbed upon an oily plate), they 

 indicate wind, and perhaps rain; but before the rain falls, 

 those clouds will assume a softer appearance. When they are 

 undefined, and look soft, rain will follow, but probably not 

 much wind. 



Dark clouds, hard mixed with soft, and inky fragments 

 in rapid motion beneath them, accompanied perhaps by light- 

 ning and distant thunder, are the fore-runners of a heavy 

 squall. Soft, shapeless clouds, in which it is impossible to 

 point out a definite edge, usually bring rain, but not wind : 

 ai)d, generally speaking, the more distinctly defined the edges 

 of clouds are, the more wind they foretell. A little attention 



