With The Assistance Of A Light
Breeze, Our Boats, And The Tides, We At Six O'clock In The Evening, Got
To
an anchor in Ship Cove, near the Adventure, when Captain Furneaux came on
board, and gave me the following
Account of his proceedings, from the time
we parted to my arrival here.
[1] "This afternoon we had an opportunity of observing, in as complete
a manner as could be wished, one of the most curious, and perhaps the
most extraordinary and powerful, of Nature's productions. The forenoon
had been in general pretty clear, but subject to heavy squalls of
wind, and some flying clouds, which were very black and heavy, and
moved with great velocity from the S.W. towards the N.E., (the
direction of the wind.) About four o'clock in the afternoon it became
calm, and the heavens were almost covered with very black clouds,
particularly towards the W. and N.W., and presently after we saw
several tail-like appearances, descending from the clouds in that
quarter: These appearances were whiter than the clouds they hung from,
which made them very conspicuous, and they increased gradually in
length, until they extended, as near as I could judge, about one-sixth
part of the distance between the clouds and the surface of the sea.
About this time, the water under them began to be violently agitated,
and lifted up with a whirling motion towards the impending part of the
cloud, which, on account of a motion they all had the contrary way to
that the wind had blown, was not directly over it, but a little
towards the south-west.
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