CAPRICIOUS WEATHER OF THE GULF STREAM--CAPTURE OF THE PACKET-SHIP
TONAWANDA, THE MANCHESTER, AND THE LAMPLIGHTER--A CYCLONE.
Though the month of October is remarkable for its fine weather, along the
American coast, yet here in the Gulf Stream, we had a constant succession
of changes, the wind going regularly around the compass every two or three
days, and thick, rainy weather predominating. We were now, besides,
experiencing a south-easterly current of about two knots per hour, and as
we were bound to the north-west, and frequently had the wind, as well as
the current ahead, we made but slow progress. On the second day after
capturing the _Dunkirk_, the familiar cry of "sail ho!" again came ringing
from the mast-head, and pretty soon a large ship loomed up above the
horizon. We gave chase, and, just before sunset, came up with a fine
packet-ship, whose deck, we could see, was crowded with passengers. This
was a somewhat unusual spectacle--a sailing ship filled with passengers
for Europe, during the month of October. Since the introduction of the
steam-packet, but few passengers, except emigrants, take passage in a
sailing ship, and the current of emigration sets the other way.
Upon being boarded, the ship proved to be the _Tonawanda_, of, and from
Philadelphia, bound to Liverpool. Some of the passengers were foreigners,
fleeing from the tyranny, and outrages of person and property, which had
overtaken them, under the reign of the Puritan, in the "land of the free,
and the home of the brave," and others were patriotic Puritans themselves
running away from the "City of Brotherly Love," to escape the draft. We
captured the _Tonawanda_, and the question immediately presented itself
what should we do with her? There being no claim, by any neutral, for the
cargo, both ship and cargo were good prize of war, but unfortunately we
could not burn the ship, without encumbering ourselves with the
passengers; and thirty of the sixty of these were women and children! The
men we might have disposed of, without much inconvenience, but it was not
possible to convert the _Alabama_ into a nursery, and set the stewards to
serving pap to the babies. Although I made it a rule never to bond a ship
if I could burn her, I released the _Tonawanda_ on bond, though there was
no legal impediment to her being burned. I kept her cruising in company
with me, however, for a day or two, hoping that I might fall in with some
other ship of the enemy, that might be less valuable, or might have a
neutral cargo on board, to which I could transfer the passengers, and thus
be enabled to burn her. But here, again, her owners were in luck, for the
finest, and most valuable ships, with cargoes entirely uncovered, would
persist in crossing my path.
On the second day after the capture of the _Tonawanda_--that ship being
still in our company, with a prize crew on board--the weather inclining to
be overcast, and the breeze light--a ship was reported, at early daylight,
on our weather-quarter. It was another heavy ship of the "junk fleet," and
as we were lying right across her path, we had nothing to do but await her
approach. She came along under a cloud of canvas, though, as the wind was
light, it took her some three or four hours to come up with us. To disarm
her of suspicion, I hoisted the American colors, and caused my prize to do
the same. She naturally concluded that the two ships were "visiting,"
which ships sometimes do at sea, when the wind is light, and there is not
much time lost by the operation, and came on without so much as shifting
her helm, or stirring tack or sheet. When she had approached sufficiently
near, I invited her, too, to visit me; my card of invitation being a blank
cartridge, and a change of flags. She hove to at once, and, upon being
boarded, proved to be the ship _Manchester_ from New York, bound to
Liverpool. I now threw the _Manchester's_ crew, together with the crews of
the _Wave Crest_, and _Dunkirk_, on board the _Tonawanda_, as being the
less valuable ship of the two, and permitted the latter to depart; but
before doing so, I took from on board of her, one of her passengers. This
was a likely negro lad of about seventeen years of age--a slave until he
was twenty-one, under the laws of Delaware. This little State, all of
whose sympathies were with us, had been ridden over, rough-shod, by the
Vandals north of her, as Maryland afterward was, and was arrayed on the
side of the enemy. I was obliged, therefore, to treat her as such. The
slave was on his way to Europe, in company with his master. He came
necessarily under the laws of war, and I brought him on board the
_Alabama_, where we were in want of good servants, and sent him to wait on
the ward-room mess.
The boy was a little alarmed at first, but, when he saw kindly faces
beaming upon him, and heard from his new masters, and the servants of the
mess, some words of encouragement, he became reassured, and, in the course
of a few days, was not only at home, but congratulated himself on the
exchange he had made. He became, more especially, the servant of Dr. Galt,
and there at once arose, between the Virginia gentleman and the slave boy,
that sympathy of master and servant, which our ruder people of the North
find it so impossible to comprehend. Faithful service, respect, and
attachment followed protection and kind treatment, and the slave was as
happy as the day was long. David soon became to Galt what Bartelli was to
me--indispensable--and the former was really as free as the latter, except
only in the circumstance that he could not change masters. I caused his
name to be entered on the books of the ship, as one of the crew, and
allowed him the pay of his grade. In short, no difference was made between
him and the white waiters of the mess. His condition was in every respect
bettered; though, I doubt not, a howl went up over his capture, as soon as
it became known to the pseudo-philanthropists of the North, who know as
little about the negro and his nature, as they do about the people of the
South.
It was pleasant to regard the affection which this boy conceived for Galt,
and the pride he took in serving him. As he brought the doctor's
camp-stool for him to the "bridge," placed it in the cosiest corner he
could find, and ran off to bring him a light for his cigar, his eyes
would dilate, and his "ivories" shine. Dave served us during the whole
cruise. He went on shore in all parts of the world, knew that the moment
he touched the shore he was at liberty to depart, if he pleased, and was
tampered with by sundry Yankee Consuls, but always came back to us. He
seemed to have the instinct of deciding between his friends and his
enemies.
The following correspondence took place between the Liverpool Chamber of
Commerce, and Earl Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, on the occasion
of the two last captures:--
TO THE RT. HON. EARL RUSSELL, ETC., ETC.:--
MY LORD:--I have been requested by the Council of this Chamber to
inform you that they have had brought before them the facts of the
destruction at sea, in one case, and of seizure and release under
ransom-bond in another case, of British property on board Federal
vessels, (the _Manchester_ and the _Tonawanda_,) by an armed cruiser
sailing under the Confederate flag, the particulars of which have
been already laid before your Lordship. As the question is one of
serious importance to the commerce of this country, the Council wish
me most respectfully to solicit the favor of your Lordship's
acquainting them, for the information of the mercantile community,
what, in the opinion of her Majesty's Government, is the position of
the owners of such property, in these and other similar cases.
Submitting this question with every respect to your Lordship, I have
the honor to be, my Lord, your most obedient humble servant,
THOMAS CHILTON,
_President Chamber of Commerce_.
LIVERPOOL, 8th Nov., 1862.
TO THOMAS CHILTON, ESQ., CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, LIVERPOOL.
SIR:--I am directed by Earl Russell to acknowledge the receipt of
your letter of the 8th inst., calling attention to the recent
proceedings of the armed vessel _Alabama_, with regard to British
property on board the Federal vessels _Manchester_ and _Tonawanda_,
and requesting the opinion of her Majesty's Government with regard to
the position of the owners of such property in those and other
similar cases which may arise; and I am to request that you will
inform the Council of the Chamber of Commerce that the matter is
under the consideration of her Majesty's Government.
I am, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
E. HAMMOND.
FOREIGN OFFICE, Nov. 7th, 1862.
After the usual period of gestation, Earl Russell informed his
questioners, that British owners of property, on board of Federal ships,
alleged to have been wrongfully captured by Confederate cruisers, were in
the same position as any other neutral owners shipping in enemy's bottoms
during a war; they must look for redress to the country of the captor. But
these British owners did what was more sensible--they withdrew, in due
time, their freights from the enemy's ships; and British and other neutral
ships soon became the carriers of the American trade. It is claimed in the
above correspondence, that there was British property destroyed on board
the _Manchester_. If so, it was the fault of the British owner, in failing
to document his property properly, for there was no certificate or other
paper found on board that ship, claiming that any part of the cargo
belonged to neutrals.
The _Manchester_ brought us a batch of late New York papers, and I was
much obliged to the editors of the New York "Herald," for valuable
information. I learned from them where all the enemy's gunboats were, and
what they were doing; which, of course, enabled me to take better care of
the _Alabama_, than I should otherwise have been enabled to do. The
Americans effected many reforms in the art of war during our late
struggle. Perhaps this was the only war in which the newspapers ever
explained, beforehand, all the movements of armies, and fleets, to the
enemy.
The reader will observe, that I received my mails quite regularly, now,
from the United States. They were sometimes daily, and rarely less
frequent than tri-weekly. I appointed my excellent clerk, Mr. Breedlove
Smith, whom I am glad to have this opportunity of introducing to the
reader, postmaster, and he delivered the mail regularly to the officers
and crew--that is to say, the newspaper and periodical mail--the letters I
considered as addressed to myself personally. They might give valuable
information of the objects and designs of the enemy, and throw some light
upon the true ownership of cargoes, falsely documented. I therefore took
the liberty, which the laws of war gave me, of breaking the seals. There
were some curious developments made in some of these letters, nor were
they all written on business. Sometimes, as I would break a seal, a
photograph would tumble out, and the first few lines of the letter would
inform me of a tender passion that was raging in the heart of the writer.
These epistles, photographs, and all, were always pitched, with a pshaw!
into the waste-paper basket, and were soon afterward consigned by Bartelli
to the sea. So that the fair writers--and some of the writers were fair if
I might judge by their portraits--may rest satisfied that their secrets
are safe. My young officers became so accustomed to their morning's
newspaper, as they sat down to the breakfast-table, that if it was not
forthcoming, they would wonder "what the d----l _Alabama_ had been about,
the past night, that she had not gotten hold of a mail?"
For two or three days after capturing the _Manchester_, we fell in with
nothing but neutral vessels. When the nationality of these was distinctly
marked, as generally it was, we forbore to chase them. The weather began
now to give unmistakable signs, of a general disturbance of the
atmospheric machine. On the 15th of October, we captured our next ship. It
was blowing half a gale of wind, with a thick atmosphere, and
rain-squalls. We were lying to, under topsails, when she was reported. As
in the case of the _Manchester_, we had only to await her approach, for we
were still in the beaten track of these lone travellers upon the sea. She
came along quite fast, before the gale, and when within reach, we hove her
to, with the accustomed gun. She proved, upon being boarded, to be the
bark _Lamplighter_, of Boston, from New York, for Gibraltar, with a cargo
of tobacco. There was no attempt to cover the cargo, and when we had
removed the crew to the _Alabama_, we burned her.
From the frequent mention which has been made of "uncovered cargoes," the
reader will see how careless the enemy's merchants were, and how little
they dreamed of disaster. They had not yet heard of the _Alabama_, except
only that she had escaped from Liverpool, as the "290." They looked upon
her, yet, as a mere myth, which it was not necessary to take any
precautions against. But the reader will see how soon their course will
change, and in what demand British Consular certificates, vouching for the
neutrality of good American cargoes, will be, in the good city of Gotham,
toward which, the _Alabama_ is slowly working her way.
We captured the _Lamplighter_ early in the day, and it was well for us she
came along when she did. If she had delayed her arrival a few hours, we
should probably not have been able to board her, so much had the gale
increased, and the sea risen. For the next few days, as the reader will
speedily see, we had as much as we could do to take care of ourselves,
without thinking of the enemy, or his ships. We had a fearful gale to
encounter. As this gale was a cyclone, and the first really severe gale
that the _Alabama_ had met with, it is worthy of a brief description. We
begin, in our generation, to have some definite knowledge of the
atmospheric laws. To our ancestors, of only a generation or two back,
these laws were almost a sealed book. It is now well ascertained, that all
the great hurricanes which sweep over the seas, are cyclones; that is,
circular gales, revolving around an axis, or vortex, at the same time that
they are travelling in a given direction. These gales all have their
origin in warm latitudes, or, as has been prettily said, by an officer of
the Dutch Navy writing on the subject, they "prefer to place their feet in
warm water." They do not, however, confine themselves to the places of
their origin, but, passing out of the tropics, sweep over large tracts of
extra-tropical seas. These circular gales are the great regulators, or
balance-wheels, as it were, of the atmospheric machine. They arise in
seasons of atmospheric disturbance, and seem necessary to the restoration
of the atmospheric equilibrium.
In the East Indian and China seas, the cyclone is called a typhoon. It
prevails there with even more destructive effect than in the western
hemisphere. It takes its origin during the change of the monsoons.
Monsoons are periodical winds, which blow one half of the year from one
direction--the north-east for example--and then change, and blow the other
half of the year, from the opposite direction, the south-west. When these
monsoons are changing, there is great disturbance in the atmospheric
equilibrium. A battle of the winds, as it were, takes place; the out-going
wind struggling for existence, and the in-coming wind endeavoring to
throttle it, and take its place. Calms, whirlwinds, water-spouts, and
heavy and drenching rains set in; the black, wild-looking clouds,
sometimes rent and torn, sweeping with their heavy burdens of vapor over
the very surface of the sea. Now, the out-going, or dying monsoon will
recede, for days together, its enemy, the in-coming monsoon, greedily
advancing to occupy the space left vacant. The retreating wind will then
rally, regain its courage, and drive back, at least for a part of the way,
the pursuing wind. In this way, the two will alternate for weeks, each
watching the other as warily, as if they were opposing armies. It is
during these struggles, when the atmosphere is unhinged, as it were, that
the typhoon makes its awful appearance. Every reader is familiar with the
phenomenon of the miniature whirlwind, which he has so often seen sweep
along a street or road, for a short distance, and then disappear; the want
of local equilibrium in the atmosphere, which gave rise to it, having been
restored.
These little whirlwinds generally occur at street-corners, or at
cross-roads, and are produced by the meeting of two winds. When these
winds meet, the stronger will bend the weaker, and a whirl will ensue. The
two winds still coming on, the whirl will be increased, and thus a
whirlwind is formed, which immediately begins to travel--not at random, of
course, but in the direction of least pressure. The meeting of two
currents of water, which form a whirlpool, may be used as another
illustration. It is just so, that the typhoon is formed. It steps in as a
great conservator of the peace, to put an end to the atmospherical strife
which has been going on, and to restore harmony to nature. It is a
terrible scourge whilst it lasts; the whole heavens seem to be in
disorder, and that which was only a partial battle between outposts of the
aerial armies, has now become a general engagement. The great whirl sweeps
over a thousand miles or more, and when it has ceased, nature smiles
again; the old monsoon has given up the ghost, and the new monsoon has
taken its place. All will be peace now until the next change--the storms
that will occur in the interval, being more or less local. We have
monsoons in the western hemisphere, as well as in the eastern, though they
are much more partial, both in space and duration.
The cyclones which sweep over the North Atlantic are generated, as has
been remarked, to the eastward of the West India Islands--somewhere
between them and the coast of Brazil. They occur in August, September, and
October--sometimes, indeed, as early as the latter part of July. In these
months, the sun has drawn after him, into the northern hemisphere, the
south-east trade-winds of the South Atlantic. These trade-winds are now
struggling with the north-east trade-winds, which prevail in these seas,
for three fourths of the year, for the mastery. We have, thus, another
monsoon struggle going on; and the consequence of this struggle is the
cyclone. The reader may recollect the appearances of the weather, noted by
me, some chapters back, when we were in these seas, in the _Sumter_, in
July and August, of 1861; to wit, the calms, light, baffling winds,
water-spouts, and heavy rains.
If the reader will pay a little attention to the diagram on page 473, it
will assist him, materially, in comprehending the nature of the storm into
which the _Alabama_ had now entered. The outer circle represents the
extent of the storm; the inner circle, the centre or vortex; the arrows
along the inner edge of the outer circle represent the direction, or
gyration of the wind, and the dotted line represents the course travelled
by the storm. The figures marked, 1, 2, and 3, represent the position of
the _Alabama_, in the different stages of the storm, as it passed over
her; the arrow-heads on the figures representing the head of the ship.
If the reader, being in the northern hemisphere, will turn his face toward
the sun, at his rising, and watch his course for a short time, he will
observe that this course is from left to right. As the course of the
arrows in the figure is from right to left, the reader observes that the
gyration of the wind, in the storm, is _against the course of the sun_.
This is an invariable law in both hemispheres; but, in the southern
hemisphere, the reader will not fail to remark, that the gyration of the
wind is in the opposite direction from its gyration in the northern
hemisphere, for the reason, that, to an observer in the southern
hemisphere the sun appears to be moving, not from left to right, but from
right to left. Whilst, therefore, the storm, in the northern hemisphere,
gyrates from right to left, in the southern hemisphere, it gyrates from
left to right; both gyrations being _against the course of the sun_.
This is a curious phenomenon, which has, thus far, puzzled all the
philosophers. It is a double puzzle; first, why the storm should gyrate
always in the same direction, and secondly, why this gyration should be
different in the two hemispheres. The law seems to be so subtle, as
utterly to elude investigation. There is a curious phenomenon, in the
vegetable world, which seems to obey this law of storms, and which I do
not recollect ever to have seen alluded to by any writer. It may be well
known to horticulturists, for aught that I know, but it attracted my
attention, in my own garden, for the first time, since the war. It is,
that all creeping vines, and tendrils, when they wind themselves around a
pole, invariably wind themselves from right to left, or _against the
course of the sun_! I was first struck with the fact, by watching, from
day to day, the tender unfolding of the Lima bean--each little creeper, as
it came forth, feeling, as with the instinct of animal life, for the pole,
and then _invariably_ bending around it, in the direction mentioned. I
have a long avenue of these plants, numbering several hundred poles, and
upon examining them all, I invariably found the same result. I tried the
experiment with some of these little creepers, of endeavoring to compel
them to embrace the pole from left to right, or _with the course of the
sun_, but in vain. In the afternoon I would gather blades of grass, and
tie some of the tendrils to the poles, in a way to force them to disobey
the law, but when I went to inspect them, the following morning, I would
invariably find, that the obedient little plants _had turned back_, and
taken the accustomed track! What is the subtle influence which produces
this wonderful result? May it not be the same law which rides on the
whirlwind, and directs the storm?
The cyclone, of which I am writing, must have travelled a couple of
thousand miles, before it reached the _Alabama_. Its approach had been
heralded, as the reader has seen, by several days of bad weather; and, on
the morning of the gale, which was on the 16th of October, the
barometer--that faithful sentinel of the seaman--began to settle very
rapidly. We had been under short sail before, but we now took the close
reefs in the topsails, which tied them down to about one third of their
original size, got up, and bent the main storm-staysail, which was made of
the stoutest No. 1 canvas, and scarcely larger than a pocket-handkerchief,
swung in the quarter-boats, and passed additional lashings around them;
and, in short, made all the requisite preparations for the battle with the
elements which awaited us. If the reader will cast his eye upon the
diagram, at _Alabama_, No. 1, he will see that the ship has her head to
the eastward, that her yards are braced up on the starboard tack, and that
she took the wind, as indicated by the arrows, from S. to S. S. E.
[Illustration: Diagram of the Cyclone experienced by the _Alabama_ on the
16th of October, 1862.]
The ship is lying still, and the storm, which the reader sees, by the
dotted line, is travelling to the north-east, is approaching her. She was
soon enveloped in its folds; and the winds, running around the circle, in
that mad career represented by the arrows, howled, and whistled, and
screeched around her like a thousand demons. She was thrown over, several
streaks, and the waves began to assault her with sledge-hammer blows, and
occasionally to leap on board of her, flooding her decks, and compelling
us to stand knee-deep in water. By this time, we had furled the
fore-topsail; the fore-staysail had been split into ribbons; and whilst I
was anxiously debating with myself, whether I should hold on to the
main-topsail, a little longer, or start its sheets, and let it blow to
pieces--for it would have been folly to think of sending men aloft in such
a gale, to furl it--the iron bolt on the weather-quarter, to which the
standing part of the main-brace was made fast, gave way; away went the
main-yard, parted at the slings, and, in a trice, the main-topsail was
whipped into fragments, and tied into a hundred curious knots. We were now
under nothing but the small storm-staysail, described; the topgallant
yards had been sent down from aloft, there was very little top-hamper
exposed to the wind, and yet the ship was pressed over and over, until I
feared she would be thrown upon her beam-ends, or her masts swept by the
board. The lee-quarter-boat was wrenched from the davits, and dashed in
pieces; and, as the sea would strike the ship, forward or aft, she would
tremble in every fibre, as if she had been a living thing, in fear of
momentary dissolution.
But she behaved nobly, and I breathed easier after the first half hour of
the storm. All hands were, of course, on deck, with the hatches battened
down, and there was but little left for us to do, but to watch the course
of the storm, and to ease the ship, all it was possible to ease her, with
the helm. Life-lines had been rove, fore and aft the decks, by my careful
first lieutenant, to prevent the crew from being washed overboard, and it
was almost as much as each man could do, to look out for his own personal
safety.
The storm raged thus violently for two hours, the barometer settling all
the while, until it reached 28.64. It then fell suddenly calm. Landsmen
have heard of an "ominous" calm, but this calm seemed to us almost like
the fiat of death. We knew, at once, that we were in the terrible vortex
of a cyclone, from which so few mariners have ever escaped to tell the
tale! Nothing else could account for the suddenness of the calm, coupled
with the lowness of the barometer. We knew that when the vortex should
pass, the gale would be renewed, as suddenly as it had ceased, and with
increased fury, and that the frail little _Alabama_--for indeed she looked
frail and small, now, amid the giant seas that were rising in a confused
mass around her, and threatening, every moment, to topple on board of her,
with an avalanche of water that would bury her a hundred fathoms
deep--might be dashed in a thousand pieces in an instant. I pulled out my
watch, and noted the time of the occurrence of the calm, and causing one
of the cabin-doors to be unclosed, I sent an officer below to look at the
barometer. He reported the height already mentioned--28.64. If the reader
will cast his eye upon the diagram again--at figure No. 2--he will see
where we were at this moment. The _Alabama's_ head now lies to the
south-east--she having "come up" gradually to the wind, as it hauled--and
she is in the south-eastern hemisphere of the vortex. The scene was the
most remarkable I had ever witnessed. The ship, which had been pressed
over, only a moment before, by the fury of the gale as described, had now
righted, and the heavy storm staysail, which, notwithstanding its
diminutive size, had required two stout tackles to confine it to the deck,
was now, for want of wind to keep it steady, jerking these tackles about
as though it would snap them in pieces, as the ship rolled to and fro! The
aspect of the heavens was appalling. The clouds were writhing and
twisting, like so many huge serpents engaged in combat, and hung so low,
in the thin air of the vortex, as almost to touch our mast-heads. The
best description I can give of the sea, is that of a number of huge watery
cones--for the waves seemed now in the diminished pressure of the
atmosphere in the vortex to _jut up into the sky_, and assume a conical
shape--that were dancing an infernal reel, played by some necromancer.
They were not running in any given direction, there being no longer any
wind to drive them, but were jostling each other, like drunken men in a
crowd, and threatening, every moment, to topple, one upon the other.
With watch in hand I noticed the passage of the vortex. It was just thirty
minutes in passing. The gale had left us, with the wind from the
south-west; the ship, the moment she emerged from the vortex, took the
wind from the north-west. We could see it coming upon the waters. The
disorderly seas were now no longer jostling each other; the infernal reel
had ended; the cones had lowered their late rebellious heads, as they felt
the renewed pressure of the atmosphere, and were being driven, like so
many obedient slaves, before the raging blast. The tops of the waves were
literally cut off by the force of the wind, and dashed hundreds of yards,
in blinding spray. The wind now struck us "butt and foremost," throwing
the ship over in an instant, as before, and threatening to jerk the little
storm-sail from its bolt-ropes. It was impossible to raise one's head
above the rail, and difficult to breathe for a few seconds. We could do
nothing but cower under the weather bulwarks, and hold on to the belaying
pins, or whatever other objects presented themselves, to prevent being
dashed to leeward, or swept overboard. The gale raged, now, precisely as
long as it had done before we entered the vortex--two hours--showing how
accurately Nature had drawn her circle.
[Illustration: The Alabama in a cyclone, in the Gulf Stream, on the 16th
October, 1862.
KELLY, PIET & CO. PUBLISHERS.----LITH. BY A. HOEN & CO. BALTO.]
At the end of this time, the _Alabama_ found herself in position No. 3.
The reader will observe that she is still on the starboard tack, and that
from east, she has brought her head around to nearly west. The storm is
upon the point of passing away from her. I now again sent an officer
below, to inspect the barometer, and he reported 29.70; the instrument
having risen a little more than an inch in two hours! This, alone, is
evidence of the violence of the storm. During the whole course of the
storm, a good deal of rain had fallen. It is the rain which adds such fury
to the wind. These storms come to us, as has been said, from the tropics,
and the winds, by which they are engendered, are highly charged with
vapor. In the course of taking up this vapor from the sea, the winds take
up, along with it, a large quantity of latent heat, or heat whose presence
is not indicated by the thermometer. As the raging cyclone is moving
onward in its path, the winds begin to part with their burden--it begins
to rain. The moment the vapor is condensed into rain, the latent heat,
which was taken up with the vapor, is liberated, and the consequence is,
the formation of a furnace in the sky, as it were, overhanging the raging
storm, and travelling along with it. The more rain there falls, the more
latent heat there escapes; the more latent heat there escapes, the hotter
the furnace becomes; and the hotter the furnace, the more furiously the
wind races around the circle, and rushes into the upper air to fill the
vacuum, and restore the equilibrium.
In four hours and a half, from the commencement of the gale, the _Alabama_
was left rolling, and tumbling about in the confused sea, which the gale
had left behind it, with scarcely wind enough to fill the sails, which, by
this time, we had gotten upon her, to keep her steady. Little more remains
to be said of the cyclone. If the reader will take a last look at the
diagram, he will see how it is, that the wind, which appears to him to
change, has not changed in reality. The wind, from first to the last, is
travelling around the circle, changing not at all. It is the passage of
the circle over the ship--or over the observer upon the land--which causes
it apparently to change. The _Alabama_ lay still during the whole gale,
not changing her position, perhaps, half a mile. As the circle touched
her, she took the wind from S. to S. S. E., and when it had passed over
her, she had the wind at north-west. In the intermediate time, the wind
had _apparently_ hauled first to one, and then to the other, of all the
intermediate points of the compass, and yet it had not changed a hair's
breadth.
The weather did not become fine, for several days after the gale. On the
following night, it again became thick and cloudy, and the wind blew very
fresh from the south-west. The sea, though it had somewhat subsided, was
still very rough, and the night was so dark, that the officer of the deck
could not see half the length of the ship in any direction. The south-west
wind was a fair wind from the enemy's ports, to Europe, and we kept a very
bright look-out, to prevent ourselves from being run over, by some heavy
ship of commerce, hurrying, with lightning speed, before wind and sea.