88 



EFFECTS OF PAMPERO, 



1829. 



gled hard to keep it fast, they could scarcely hold on, or get 

 off the yard, and one young man fell from the lee yard-arm 

 into the sea. Poor fellow, he swam well, but in vain : the 

 ship was unmanageable, almost overset, the weather quarter 

 boat stove, and the lee one under water : a grating was thrown 

 to him, and the life-buoy let go, but he was seen no more. 

 Another man was supposed to have been carried overboard 

 with the main-topmast, as he was last seen on the cap. 



The starboard quarter boat was stove by the force of the 

 wind ; and the other was washed away : and so loud was the 

 sound of the tempest, that I did not hear the masts break, 

 though standing, or rather holding, by the mizen rigging. 

 Never before or since that time have I witnessed such strength, 

 or, I may say, weight of wind : thunder, lightning, hail, and 

 rain, came with it, but they were hardly noticed in the presence 

 of so formidable an accompaniment. 



After seven the clouds had almost all passed away ; the 

 wind settled into a steady south-west gale, with a clear sky ; 

 the barometer rose to 29-8, and the thermometer fell to 46°. 

 Lobos Island was set S.E., bearing distant two miles. 



In this pampero the masts of a vessel, at anchor off Monte 

 Video, were carried away ; and the upper cabin bulkhead of a 

 Brazilian corvette was blown in while lying at anchor, head to 

 wind, with her masts struck. But Maldonado seemed to feel 

 its utmost violence ; and there it certainly commenced like 

 a whirlwind. A small boat, belonging to a poor man who 

 carried fruit and vegetables to ships in the bay, was hauled 

 ashore, just above high- water mark, and fastened, by a strong 

 rope, to a large stone. After the storm it was found far from 

 the beach, shattered to pieces, but still fast to the stone, 

 which it had dragged along. Not many days after our disas- 

 ter, while lying in Maldonado bay, repairing damages, another 

 pampero assailed the Beagle ; but though it did her no injury, 

 it blew the boat, stove by its predecessor, away from the place 

 on shore where she was being repaired, and left no trace of her 

 behind. 



