From The Ascending Motion Of The Bird, And Several Other
Circumstances, It Was Very Plain To Us That These Spouts Were Caused By
Whirlwinds, And That The Water In Them Was Violently Hurried Upwards, And
Did Not Descend From The Clouds As I Have Heard Some Assert.
The first
appearance of them is by the violent agitation and rising up of the water;
and, presently after, you see a round column or tube forming from the
clouds above, which apparently descends till it joins the agitated water
below.
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.
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