64
sion experienced by the British ship Mary, on her passage from Liverpool to Caldera, being 12 miles North of the equator, in long. 19° W. A rumbling noise was heard to issue from the Ocean, which gradually increased until the uproar became deafening. The sea rose in mountainous waves; the wind blew from all points of the compass; the control over the ship was lost, and she pitched frightfully, all on board expecting every moment to be their last. This continued 15 minutes, the water then gradually subsided, when several vessels, in sight at the commencement of the convulsion, were found to have disappeared. It is noteworthy that the phenomenon occurred in October 1851, one of the hurricane months in the West Indies.
Typhoons seldom appear without giving notice of their approach, and some indications may almost be relied on as being sure messengers of warning. Among the principal of these is the barometer. Not unfrequently upon the approach of a typhoon, the barometer seems restless and the mercury keeps oscillating in the tube:—often, when on the borders of a typhoon, the barometer rises suddenly one or two tenths; and Col. Reid gives an instance where two barometers on board the same ship rose half an inch above their usual level. If these indications by the barometer should be accompanied by a long, heavy swell, unaccounted for in any other way; an unusual appearance of the sky steel-grey or with a greenish tint; blood-red, or bright yellow sunset: and, added to these, the appearance of peculiar or unusual forms or motions of the clouds, or a threatening appearance of the weather, I should have no hesitation in asserting that a typhoon was in the vicinity, approaching or passing; but either one of these things—taken separately—ought not to be disregarded, and the careful seaman will always be on his guard should any of these things appear to warn him of approaching danger. Mr. Peddington relates the case of the “Earl of Hardwicke”, Captain Neller, as follows:—
“In the Southern Indian Ocean, when near the borders of a typhoon, she was standing off and on to keep out of
