[ 284 ] 
LI. An Account of the EfeBs of Lightning 
on three Ships in the Eaft- Indies ; By 
Mr . Robert Veicht. . Communicated by 
William Lewis, Mi D . and F. R. S. 
% 
Read Nov. 22 , \ TJGUST the I ft 175°* Lilt. 
•7 6 4- /A j° 5 6 ' N. Malacca bearing about 
N. E. All this day there was a frefh breeze, S. to 
S. S. E. the weather being hot and iultry. The 
evening was fair and clear ; and when day-light was 
gone, there was not a cloud in the fky ; and the wa- 
ter was fo clear of vapour or mift, that the ftars 
could be feen to rife out of the horizon. 
This ferenity continued till about 2 A. M. when a 
black cloud appeared above the horizon in the W. 
and W. N. W. and continued to rife very faft ; and 
the flafhes of lightening, which proceeded from it, 
fucceeded each other very faft. In 4 of an hour, it 
covered almoft half the hemifphere, and as it ap- 
proached, the wind from the S. E. began to fan, 
and died quite away at laft. 
By the time the clouds had covered half the he- 
mifphere, the wind proceeded iiom it in great 
violence, and the flafhes of lightening were very 
frequent, and we judged of their nearnefs to the 
fhip by the interval betwixt the flatb and repoit, 
according as this interval was longer or fhorter. The 
whole heavens were now covered with this cloud, 
and the ftafhes of lightening happened at times on 
different fides of the fhip, which had all the tails 
, furled 
