On the Cyclones of Tasmania, ce. 397 
possible sail, hoping to be able to hang to windward till 
daylight ; but at midnight the gale had increased to such 
a fearful extent, that I was obliged to bring the brig under 
close-reefed topsails, after the main-trysail gaff had been 
carried ‘away. During the whole of Thursday, (29th), the 
gale raged with unabated fury; but the barometer being 
stationary at 28°95, I hoped I had the weight of the gale 
at sun-down, although the weather looked, if anything, even 
worse. At 8 p.m. the barometer again falling, and at 9 p.m. 
barometer 28°80. It was at this time blowing harder than 
I ever remember before, and a terrific sea was running. At 
10 p.m. our decks were filled with lightning, and immediately 
after a peal of thunder burst close on our weather bow. We 
had then a calm for about a minute, which I well knew 
would be followed by something awful, and we were imme- 
diately struck by a squall, which drove the brig’s lee rail 
under. About 4 a.m. of the 80th the weather moderated a 
little, and continued so till noon, when it again assumed a 
threatening appearance, and finding myself as far to the 
eastward as Cape Portland, (148° E.), I bore up for Swan 
Island, and anchored there at 2p.m. Just when bearing up, 
we were struck by one of the furious westerly squalls, and 
snapped the starboard bower cable. ‘The second anchor 
brought the ship up with 90 fathoms of cable. I remained 
here till Tuesday, the 8rd August, when the wind came away 
at S.E., then weighed, and came through the Straits, and 
arrived at Launceston at day-break on the 4th, twenty-one 
days from Sydney, and through the severest gales I have 
ever experienced on the coast.” 
The deck filled with lightning, the single peal of thunder, 
the calm, the minimum-barometric depression, and furious 
westerly squalls, are so many well-known marks of the 
passage of the northern margin of the central portion of the 
