I Say Apparently, Because I Believe It Not To Be So In Reality, But
That The Tube Is Already Formed From The Agitated Water Below, And Ascends,
Though At First It Is Either Too Small Or Too Thin To Be Seen.
When the
tube is formed, or becomes visible, its apparent diameter increaseth till
it is pretty large; after that it decreaseth, and at last it breaks or
becomes invisible towards the lower part.
Soon after the sea below resumes
its natural state, and the tube is drawn, by little and little, up to the
clouds, where it is dissipated. The same tube would sometimes have a
vertical, and sometimes a crooked or inclined direction. The most rational
account I have read of water-spouts, is in Mr Falconer's Marine Dictionary,
which is chiefly collected from the philosophical writings of the ingenious
Dr Franklin. I have been told that the firing of a gun will dissipate them;
and I am very sorry I did not try the experiment, as we were near enough,
and had a gun ready for the purpose; but as soon as the danger was past, I
thought no more about it, being too attentive in viewing these
extraordinary meteors At the time this happened, the barometer stood at 29,
75, and the thermometer at 56.[1]
In coming from Cape Farewell to Cape Stephens, I had a better view of the
coast than I had when I passed in my former voyage, and observed that about
six leagues to the east of the first-mentioned cape, is a spacious bay,
which is covered from the sea by a low point of land. This is, I believe,
the same that Captain Tasman anchored in on the 18th of December, 1642, and
by him called Murderer's Bay, by reason of some of his men being killed by
the natives. Blind Bay, so named by me in my former voyage, lies to the
S.E. of this, and seems to run a long way inland to the south; the sight,
in this direction, not being bounded by any land. The wind having returned
to the west, as already mentioned, we resumed our course to the east; and
at day-light the next morning (being the 18th,) we appeared off Queen
Charlotte's Sound, where we discovered our consort the Adventure, by the
signals she made to us; an event which every one felt with an agreeable
satisfaction. The fresh westerly wind now died away, and was succeeded by
light airs from the S. and S.W., so that we had to work in with our boats
a-head towing. In the doing of this we discovered a rock, which we did not
see in my former voyage. It lies in the direction of S. by E. 1/2 E.,
distant four miles from the outermost of the Two Brothers, and in a line
with the White Rocks, on with the middle of Long Island. It is just even
with the surface of the sea, and hath deep water all round it. At noon,
Lieutenant Kemp of the Adventure came on board; from whom I learnt that
their ship had been here about six weeks. 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. As the water rose, the end of the cloud
descended, and in a little time they joined; after which the water
appeared to me to ascend out of the sea into the cloud, with great
velocity. I think that none of these spouts, as they are usually
called, continued entire more than ten minutes; perhaps not quite so
long. I saw four complete at one time; but there were great numbers
which began to form, and were dispersed by what cause I know not,
before the cloud and water joined. One of them came, I was told,
within thirty or forty yards of the ship, which lay becalmed; but I
was then below looking at the barometer; when I got upon deck, it was
about 100 fathoms from her. It is impossible to say what would have
been the consequences if it had gone over her; but I believe they
would have been very dreadful. At the time when this happened, the
barometer stood at 29,75 inches, and the thermometer at 56 deg.. The whole
of this passed within the space of an hour, or thereabouts; for at
five o'clock a small breeze of wind sprung up in the south-east
quarter, and dispersed every appearance of this kind, although the
black clouds remained until about ten, when the wind veered round to
the W.S.W., and settled there in a moderate steady gale, and the
weather cleared up." - W.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 49 of 235
Words from 48848 to 49896
of 239428
