although the general trough-like form of the storm remained, yet
another secondary storm center, and one of very great energy, formed
off shore, north of Hatteras, as soon as the line had passed the coast.
It was this center, fully equal to a tropical hurricane in violence,
and rendered still more dangerous by freezing weather and blinding
snow, which raged with such fury off Sandy Hook and Block Island for
two days,--days likely to be long memorable along the coast. Its long
continuance was probably due to the retardation of the center of the
line, in its eastward motion, by the area of high barometer about
Newfoundland; thus this storm center delayed between Block Island and
Nantucket while the northern and southern flanks of the line swung
around to the eastward, the advance of the lower one gradually cutting
off the supply of warm moist air rushing up from lower latitudes into
contact with the cold northwesterly gale sweeping down from off the
coast between Hatteras and Montauk point. So far as the ocean is
concerned, the 12th of March saw the great storm at its maximum, and
its wide extent and terrific violence make it one of the most severe
ever experienced off our coast.
The deepening of the depression is well illustrated by the fact that
the lowest reading of the barometer at 7 A.M. was 29.88, at Augusta,
Ga.; at 3 P.M., 29.68, at Wilmington, N. C.; at 11 P.M., on board the
"Andes," 29.35; and at 7 A.M., the following morning it was as low as
29.20,--an average rate of decrease of pressure at the center of very
nearly .23 in eight hours, and a maximum, from reliable observations,
of .33.
MARCH 12TH, 13TH, AND 14TH.
The Weather Chart for 7 A.M., March 12th, shows the line, or trough,
with isobars closely crowded together southward of Block Island, but
still of a general elliptical shape, the lower portion of the line
swinging eastward toward Bermuda, and carrying with it violent squalls
of rain and hail far below the 35th parallel. The high land of Cuba and
Santo Domingo prevented its effects from reaching the Caribbean Sea,
although it was distinctly noticed by a vessel south of Cape Maysi, in
the Windward channel, where there were three hours of very heavy rain,
and a shift of wind to NW by N. The isotherm of 32° F. reaches from
Central Georgia to the coast below Norfolk, and thence out over the
Atlantic to a point about one hundred miles south of Block Island, and
thence due north, inshore of Cape Cod, explaining the fact that so
little snow, comparatively, fell in Rhode Island and southeastern
Massachusetts; from about Cape Ann it runs eastward to Cape Sable, and
farther east it is carried southward again by the northeasterly winds
off the Grand banks. These northeasterly winds are part of the cyclonic
system shown to the eastward of this and the preceding chart; farther
south they become northerly and northwesterly, and it will be noticed
that they have now carried the isotherm of 70° below the limits of the
chart. Thus this chart shows very clearly the positions of warm and
cold waves relative to such cyclonic systems: first there is this cool
wave in rear of the eastern cyclonic system, then a warm wave in front
of the system advancing from the coast, and finally a cold wave of
marked intensity following in its train.
It was probably during the night of the 12th that the lowest barometric
pressure and the steepest gradients occurred. Although several vessels
report lower readings, yet a careful consideration of all the data at
hand indicates that about the lowest reliable readings are those taken
at 10 P.M. at Wood's Holl, Mass. (28.92), Nantucket (28.93),
Providence, R. I. (28.98), and Block Island (29.00). The steepest
barometric gradients, so far as indicated by data at hand, are also
those that occurred at this time, and are as follows, taking Block
Island as the initial point and distances in nautical miles: at New
London, 26 miles, the barometer stood 29.11, giving a difference of
pressure in 15 miles of .063 inch; New Haven, 62 miles, 29.36, .087;
New York, 116 miles, 29.64, .083; Albany, 126 miles, 29.76, .090. At 7
A.M. the following day, very low readings are also reported: New
Bedford, Mass., 28.91, Block Island, 28.92, and Wood's Holl, 28.96.
The chart for 7 A.M., March 13th, shows a marked decrease in the
intensity of the storm, although the area over which stormy winds are
blowing is still enormous, comprising, as it does, almost the entire
region charted. From the Great Lakes and northern Vermont to the
northern coast of Cuba the wind is blowing a gale from a direction
almost invariably northwest, whilst westerly winds and low temperatures
have spread over a wide tract of ocean south of the 40th parallel.
North of this parallel, the prevailing winds are easterly, the isobars
extending in a general easterly and westerly direction. At the storm
center off Block Island the pressure is 28.90, but the gradients are
not so steep as on the preceding chart, and the severity of the storm,
both ashore and at sea, has begun to diminish. About this center, too,
the isobars are noticeably circular in form, showing that, although it
first formed as an elliptical area, it gradually assumed the character
of a true revolving storm, remaining almost stationary between Block
Island and Nantucket until it had actually "blown itself out," while
the great storm of which it was a conspicuous but not essential part
was continuing its eastward progress. The enormous influx of cold air
brought down by the long continued northwesterly gale is graphically
shown on this chart by the large extent and deepening intensity of the
blue tint, where the temperatures are below the freezing point. From
the northwestern to the southeastern portion of the chart we find a
difference in temperature of more than 80° F. (from below -10° to above
70°); the steepest barometric gradient is found to the northwest of
Block Island, where the pressure varies 1.80 inches in 750 miles
(gradient, .036 inch in 15 nautical miles), and .66 inch in 126 miles
(Block Island to Albany, N. Y.; gradient, .079).
On the chart for 7 A.M., March 14th, the depression off Block Island
has almost filled up, and the stormy winds have died out and become
light and variable, with occasional snow squalls. The other storm
center has now regained its ascendency, and is situated about two
hundred miles southeast from Sable Island, with a pressure about 29.3.
The great wave of low barometer has overspread the entire western
portion of the North Atlantic, with unsettled squally weather from
Labrador to the Windward Islands. The area of high pressure in advance
has moved eastward, to be felt over the British Isles from the 17th to
the 21st of the month, followed by a rapid fall of the barometer as
this great atmospheric disturbance moves along its circuit round the
northern hemisphere. The isotherm of 32° is still south of Hatteras,
reaching well out off shore, and thence northward, tangent to Cape Cod,
as far as central Maine, and thence eastward to St. Johns,
Newfoundland. Great contrasts of temperature and pressure are still
indicated, but considerably less marked than on the preceding chart,
and the normal conditions are being gradually restored.
CONCLUSION.
The great storm that has thus been briefly described, as well as can be
done from the data now at hand and in the limited time at our disposal,
has furnished a most striking and instructive example of a somewhat
unusual class of storms, and this on such a grand scale, and in a part
of the world where the data for its study are so complete, that it must
long remain a memorable instance. Instead of a more or less circular
area of low barometer at the storm center, there is here a great trough
of "low" between two ridges of "high," the whole system moving rapidly
eastward, and including "within the arc of its majestic sweep," almost
the entire width of the temperate zone. The "trough phenomena," as an
eminent meteorologist has called the violent squalls, with shifts of
wind and change of conditions at about the time of lowest barometer,
are here illustrated most impressively. Such changes are, of course, to
be expected and guarded against in every storm, and sailors have long
ago summed them up, to store away in memory for practical use when
occasion demands, in the well-known lines,--
"First rise after low
Indicates a stronger blow."
One thing to which attention is particularly called is the fact that
storms of only ordinary severity are likely, upon reaching the coast,
to develop greatly increased energy. As has been already pointed out,
there can be no doubt but that this is especially so in a storm of this
kind, where the isobars are elongated in a north and south direction.
The accompanying Barometer Diagram, if studied in connection with the
Track Chart and the Weather Chart for March 11th, illustrates very
clearly this deepening of the depression at the storm center. The
formation and persistency off Block Island of a secondary storm center
of such energy as was developed in this case, however, it would seem
wholly impossible to have foretold, and a prediction to that effect
made under similar circumstances would probably prove wrong in at least
nine cases out of ten. But it may be safely said that the establishment
of telegraphic signal stations at outlying points off the coast is a
matter of great importance, not only to our extensive shipping
interests, but to the people of all our great seaboard cities as well.
To the northward, telegraphic reports from such stations would furnish
data by which to watch the movement of areas of high barometer, upon
which that of the succeeding "low" so largely depends; and to the
southward, to give warning of the approach and progress of the terrific
hurricanes which, summer after summer, bring devastation and
destruction along our Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and of which this great
storm is an approximate example and a timely reminder. In this
connection, also, there is another important result to be gained:
scientific research and practical inventive genius, advancing hand in
hand for the benefit of mankind, have discovered not only the laws
governing the formation of the dense banks of fog that have made the
Grand Banks dreaded by navigators but also the means by which certain
facts may be observed, telegraphed, charted, and studied a thousand
miles away, and the occurrence of fog predicted with almost unfailing
accuracy, even whilst the very elements themselves are only preparing
for its formation. By means of such predictions, the safety of
navigation along the greatest highway of ocean traffic in the world
would be vastly increased,--routes traversed yearly at almost railway
speed by vessels intrusted with more than a million human lives, and
property of an aggregate value of fully a billion dollars. What is
everybody's business is too often nobody's business, and if no single
nation is going to undertake this work, an international congress
should be formed to do so, with full authority to act and power to
enforce its decisions.
Probably nothing will more forcibly attract the attention of the
practical navigator than the new and striking illustrations which have
been furnished by reports from various masters of vessels, caught in
the terrific winds and violent cross seas of this great storm, relative
to the use of oil to prevent heavy broken seas from coming on board.
Although this property of oil has been known from time immemorial, it
has only recently come into general use, and it is good cause for
congratulation, considering the great benefits to be so easily and so
cheaply gained, that the U. S. Hydrographic Office is acknowledged to
have taken the lead in the revival of knowledge regarding it, and in
its practical use at sea. It is difficult to select one from among the
many reports at hand, but the following brief extract from the report
made by boat-keeper Robinson, in behalf of the pilots of New York
pilot-boat No. 3 (the "Charles H. Marshall"), cannot fail to be read
with interest. The gallant and successful struggle made by the crew of
this little vessel for two long days and nights against such terrific
odds is one of the most thrilling incidents of the storm, and well
illustrates the dangers to which these hardy men are constantly
exposed.
The "Charles H. Marshall" was off Barnegat the forenoon of the 11th,
and, as the weather looked threatening, two more reefs were put in the
sails and she was headed to the northward, intending to run into port
for shelter. During the afternoon the breeze increased to a strong
gale, and sail was reduced still further. When about 18 miles S.E. from
the lightship, a dense fog shut in, and it was decided to remain
outside and ride out the storm. The wind hauled to the eastward toward
midnight, and at 3 A.M. it looked so threatening in the N.W. that a
fourth reef was taken in the mainsail and the foresail was
treble-reefed. In half an hour the wind died out completely, and the
vessel lay in the trough of a heavy S.E. sea, that was threatening
every moment to engulf her. She was then about 12 miles E.S.E. from
Sandy Hook lightship, and in twenty minutes the gale struck her with
such force from N.W. that she was thrown on her beam ends; she
instantly righted again, however, but in two hours was so covered with
ice that she looked like a small iceberg. By 8 A.M. the wind had
increased to a hurricane, the little vessel pitching and tossing in a
terrific cross-sea, and only by the united efforts of the entire crew
was it possible to partially lower and lash down the foresail and
fore-staysail. No one but those on board can realize the danger she was
in from the huge breaking seas that rolled down upon her; the snow and
rain came with such force that it was impossible to look to windward,
and the vessel was lying broadside to wind and sea. A drag was rigged
with a heavy log, anchor, and hawser, to keep her head to sea and break
the force of the waves, but it had little effect, and it was evident
that something must be done to save the vessel. Three oil bags were
made of duck, half filled with oakum saturated with oil, and hung over
the side forward, amidships, and on the weather quarter. It is admitted
that this is all that saved the boat and the lives of all on board, for
the oil prevented the seas from breaking, and they swept past as heavy
rolling swells. Another drag was rigged and launched, although not
without great exertion and danger, and this helped a little. Heavy iron
bolts had to be put in the oil bags to keep them in the water, and
there the little vessel lay, fighting for life against the storm,
refilling the oil bags every half hour, and fearing every instant that
some passing vessel would run her down, as it was impossible to see a
hundred feet in any direction. The boat looked like a wreck; she was
covered with ice and it seemed impossible for her to remain afloat
until daylight. The oil bags were replenished every half hour during
the night, all hands taking turn about to go on deck and fill them,
crawling along the deck on hands and knees and secured with a rope in
case of being washed overboard. Just before midnight a heavy sea struck
the boat and sent her over on her side; everything movable was thrown
to leeward, and the water rushed down the forward hatch. But again she
righted, and the fight went on. The morning of the 13th, it was still
blowing with hurricane force, the wind shrieking past in terrific
squalls. It cleared up a little towards evening, and she wore around to
head to the northward and eastward, but not without having her deck
swept by a heavy sea. It moderated and cleared up the next day, and
after five hours of hard work the vessel was cleared of ice, and sail
set for home. She had been driven 100 miles before the storm, fighting
every inch of the way, her crew without a chance to sleep,
frost-bitten, clothes drenched and no dry ones to put on, food and fuel
giving out, but they brought her into port without the loss of a spar
or a sail, and she took her station on the bar as usual.
Do the pages of history contain the record of a more gallant fight!
Nothing could show more graphically than this brief report, the
violence and long duration of the storm. No wonder that this terrific
northwest gale drove the ocean itself before it, so that the very tides
did not resume their normal heights for nearly a week at certain ports
along the coast, and the Gulf Stream itself was far south of its usual
limits. The damage and destruction wrought ashore are too fresh in mind
to be referred to here, and losses along the coast can only be
mentioned briefly. Below Hatteras there was little damage done to
shipping. In Chesapeake Bay, 2 barks, 77 schooners, and 17 sloops were
blown ashore, sunk, or damaged; in Delaware Bay, 37 vessels; along the
New Jersey coast and in the Horse-shoe at Sandy Hook, 13; in New York
harbor and along the Long Island coast, 20; and along the New England
coast, 9. The names of six vessels that were abandoned at sea have been
reported, and there are at least nine others missing, among them the
lamented New York pilot boats "Phantom" and "Enchantress," and the
yacht "Cythera." Several of these abandoned vessels have taken their
places amongst the derelicts whose positions and erratic tracks are
plotted each month on the Pilot Chart, that other vessels may be warned
of the danger of collision; the sch. "W. L. White," for instance,
started off to the eastward in the Gulf Stream, and will soon become a
source of anxiety to the captains of steamships along the transatlantic
route, and furnish a brief sensation to the passengers when she is
sighted. There is thus an intensely human side to the history of a
great ocean storm, and to one who reads these brief records of facts
and at the same time gives some little play to his imagination, there
is a very pathetic side to the picture. In the words of Longfellow,--
"I see the patient mother read,
With aching heart, of wrecks that float
Disabled on those seas remote,
Or of some great heroic deed
On battle fields, where thousands bleed
To lift one hero into fame.
Anxious she bends her graceful head
Above these chronicles of pain,
And trembles with a secret dread
Lest there, among the drowned or slain,
She find the one beloved name."
[Illustration: WEATHER CHART.--MARCH 11.
Meteorological conditions at noon, Greenwich mean time (7 A.M., 75th
meridian time).
Barometer.--Isobars in full black lines for each tenth of an inch,
reduced pressure. The trough of low barometer is shown by a line of
dashes.
Temperature.--Isotherms in dotted black lines for each ten degrees
Fahr. Temperatures below freezing (32° F.) in shades of blue, and above
freezing in red.
Wind.--The small black arrows fly with the wind at the position where
each is plotted. The force of wind is indicated in a general way by the
number of feathers on the arrows, according to the scale given in the
following table:
PLOTTED ON | FORCE, BY SCALES IN PRACTICAL USE.
CHART. | 0-12 | 0-10 | 0-8 | 0-7 | 0-6
-------------+-------+-------+------+------+------
O Calm. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
Feathers 1 | 1- 2 | 1- 2 | 1 | 1-2 | 1
" 2 | 3- 4 | 3- 4 | 2 | 3-4 | 2
" 3 | 5- 7 | 5- 6 | 3-4 | 5 | 3
" 4 | 8-10 | 7- 8 | 5-6 | 6 | 4-5
" 5 | 11-12 | 9-10 | 7-8 | 7 | 6
-------------+-------+-------+------+------+------
PLOTTED ON | POUNDS PER | MILES PER | KILOMETERS | METERS PER
CHART. | SQUARE FOOT. | HOUR. | PER HOUR. | SECOND.
-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-----------
O Calm. | 0. | 0. | 0. | 0.
Feath. 1 | 0. - .40 | 0. - 9. | 0. - 14.4 | 0. - 4.
" 2 | 0.41- 2.53 | 9.1-22.5 | 14.5- 36.2 | 4.1-10.1
" 3 | 2.54- 8.20 | 22.6-40.5 | 36.3- 65.2 | 10.2-18.1
" 4 | 8.21-22.90 | 40.6-67.5 | 65.3-108.7 | 18.2-30.1
" 5 | 22.91 and | 67.6 and | 108.8 and | 30.2 and
| over. | over. | over. | over.
-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-----------
It will be noticed that the Beaufort scale (0-12), in general use at
sea, has been converted into the international scale (0-10) for the
sake of clearness in plotting data on the chart. The absence of arrows
over large areas indicates absence of simultaneous data; at sea,
however, this has been partly compensated for in the construction of
the chart by information obtained from journals and special storm
reports of vessels in the vicinity.]
[Illustration: WEATHER CHART.--MARCH 12.
Meteorological conditions at noon, Greenwich mean time (7 A.M., 75th
meridian time).
Barometer.--Isobars in full black lines for each tenth of an inch,
reduced pressure. The trough of low barometer is shown by a line of
dashes.
Temperature.--Isotherms in dotted black lines for each ten degrees
Fahr. Temperatures below freezing (32° F.) in shades of blue, and above
freezing in red.
Wind.--The small black arrows fly with the wind at the position where
each is plotted. The force of wind is indicated in a general way by the
number of feathers on the arrows, according to the scale given in the
following table:
PLOTTED ON | FORCE, BY SCALES IN PRACTICAL USE.
CHART. | 0-12 | 0-10 | 0-8 | 0-7 | 0-6
-------------+-------+-------+------+------+------
O Calm. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
Feathers 1 | 1- 2 | 1- 2 | 1 | 1-2 | 1
" 2 | 3- 4 | 3- 4 | 2 | 3-4 | 2
" 3 | 5- 7 | 5- 6 | 3-4 | 5 | 3
" 4 | 8-10 | 7- 8 | 5-6 | 6 | 4-5
" 5 | 11-12 | 9-10 | 7-8 | 7 | 6
-------------+-------+-------+------+------+------
PLOTTED ON | POUNDS PER | MILES PER | KILOMETERS | METERS PER
CHART. | SQUARE FOOT. | HOUR. | PER HOUR. | SECOND.
-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-----------
O Calm. | 0. | 0. | 0. | 0.
Feath. 1 | 0. - .40 | 0. - 9. | 0. - 14.4 | 0. - 4.
" 2 | 0.41- 2.53 | 9.1-22.5 | 14.5- 36.2 | 4.1-10.1
" 3 | 2.54- 8.20 | 22.6-40.5 | 36.3- 65.2 | 10.2-18.1
" 4 | 8.21-22.90 | 40.6-67.5 | 65.3-108.7 | 18.2-30.1
" 5 | 22.91 and | 67.6 and | 108.8 and | 30.2 and
| over. | over. | over. | over.
-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-----------
It will be noticed that the Beaufort scale (0-12), in general use at
sea, has been converted into the international scale (0-10) for the
sake of clearness in plotting data on the chart. The absence of arrows
over large areas indicates absence of simultaneous data; at sea,
however, this has been partly compensated for in the construction of
the chart by information obtained from journals and special storm
reports of vessels in the vicinity.]
[Illustration: WEATHER CHART.--MARCH 13.
Meteorological conditions at noon, Greenwich mean time (7 A.M., 75th
meridian time).
Barometer.--Isobars in full black lines for each tenth of an inch,
reduced pressure. The trough of low barometer is shown by a line of
dashes.
Temperature.--Isotherms in dotted black lines for each ten degrees
Fahr. Temperatures below freezing (32° F.) in shades of blue, and above
freezing in red.
Wind.--The small black arrows fly with the wind at the position where
each is plotted. The force of wind is indicated in a general way by the
number of feathers on the arrows, according to the scale given in the
following table:
PLOTTED ON | FORCE, BY SCALES IN PRACTICAL USE.
CHART. | 0-12 | 0-10 | 0-8 | 0-7 | 0-6
-------------+-------+-------+------+------+------
O Calm. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0
Feathers 1 | 1- 2 | 1- 2 | 1 | 1-2 | 1
" 2 | 3- 4 | 3- 4 | 2 | 3-4 | 2
" 3 | 5- 7 | 5- 6 | 3-4 | 5 | 3
" 4 | 8-10 | 7- 8 | 5-6 | 6 | 4-5
" 5 | 11-12 | 9-10 | 7-8 | 7 | 6
-------------+-------+-------+------+------+------
PLOTTED ON | POUNDS PER | MILES PER | KILOMETERS | METERS PER
CHART. | SQUARE FOOT. | HOUR. | PER HOUR. | SECOND.
-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-----------
O Calm. | 0. | 0. | 0. | 0.
Feath. 1 | 0. - .40 | 0. - 9. | 0. - 14.4 | 0. - 4.
" 2 | 0.41- 2.53 | 9.1-22.5 | 14.5- 36.2 | 4.1-10.1
" 3 | 2.54- 8.20 | 22.6-40.5 | 36.3- 65.2 | 10.2-18.1
" 4 | 8.21-22.90 | 40.6-67.5 | 65.3-108.7 | 18.2-30.1
" 5 | 22.91 and | 67.6 and | 108.8 and | 30.2 and
| over. | over. | over. | over.
-----------+--------------+-------------+-------------+-----------
It will be noticed that the Beaufort scale (0-12), in general use at
sea, has been converted into the international scale (0-10) for the
sake of clearness in plotting data on the chart. The absence of arrows
over large areas indicates absence of simultaneous data; at sea,
however, this has been partly compensated for in the construction of
the chart by information obtained from journals and special storm
reports of vessels in the vicinity.]
[Illustration: WEATHER CHART.--MARCH 14.
Meteorological conditions at noon, Greenwich mean time (7 A.M., 75th
meridian time).
Barometer.--Isobars in full black lines for each tenth of an inch,
reduced pressure. The trough of low barometer is shown by a line of
dashes.
Temperature.--Isotherms in dotted black lines for each ten degrees
Fahr. Temperatures below freezing (32° F.) in shades of blue, and above
freezing in red.