I 
1831.] STORM AT SEA. 61 
In approaching the Cape of Good Hope, but more frequently 
to the south and east of that promontory, navigators have often to 
encounter storms from the northvi^ard, which rage with great vio- 
lence. With these winds, the sea always runs high, and one of 
the most dangerous features in the character of such gales, is the 
sudden, and often instantaneous, change which occurs from the 
wind breaking out, with equal or even augmented fury, from 
another and nearly opposite quarter. The experienced navigator 
of these seas, therefore, always keeps a bright lookout during the 
prevalence of such gales, to the southwest. However strong the 
squall may be raging, however rough the sea may be rolling, or 
copiously the rain may be falling, yet, a bright spot in the west, 
or southwest, is a sure indication of a sudden change of wind. 
It was on Tuesday, the fifteenth of November, in latitude 34° 
south, and longitude 30° east. The morning opened with strong 
gales from the northwest, which increased in violence until the 
afternoon. Sail after sail was taken in, or reefed, until the Po- 
tomac wore little else than a storm dress. The sea was exceed- 
ingly high, rough, and unpleasant ; and the ship rolled and 
laboured heavily. The white spot was seen in the south, but 
experience alone could tell the power it contained.' In an instant 
the gale from the north " let go its hold ;" the little canvass that 
remained spread flapped loosely on the yards ; and, ere there was 
time for thought or action, a gale from the southwest struck the 
vessel with such power, and with a change so sudden, that it 
required the utmost exertion, of professional skill to prepare her 
to meet the fierce encounter. 
" It comes resistless, and with foaming sweep 
Upturns the whit'ning surface of the deep ; 
In such a tempest, borne to deeds of death, 
The wayward sisters scour the blasted heath." 
Falconer. 
The high and combing waves, running quick from the north- 
east, thus met and arrested in their course by*^ violent gusts from 
the southwest, created upon the whole extent of the ocean's 
, surface, at least as far as the eye could reach, sheets of flying 
foam, as the water was carried from the cap of each rolling 
billow in masses to leeward. This sudden encounter of the 
