Many persons have advocated placing barometers at exposed fishing
villages; and the Board of Trade has sanctioned the principle of some
assistance by Government to a limited extent, depending on the necessity
of each case, and other contingencies, such as the care, publicity, and
setting of the barometers.
It was thought advisable to substitute a few words on the scales of
these instruments in place of those usually engraved (which are not the
most suitable), and to compile brief and plain information respecting
the use of weather-glasses.
The following pages were prepared; but only the first few were intended
particularly for this purpose.
After writing these, it was suggested that some remarks might be added
for the benefit of many persons, especially young officers at sea, and
the suggestion was complied with; yet not so as to diminish the
portability of this compilation, or increase its price.
These remarks, derived from the combined observation, study, and
personal experience of various individuals, are in accordance,
generally, with the results obtained by eminent philosophers.
The works of Humboldt, Herschel, Dové, Sabine, Reid, Redfield, Espy, and
others, are appealed to in confirmation of this statement.
To obviate any charge of undue haste, or an insufficiently considered
plan--which may be fairly brought against many novelties--the following
testimony to the first published suggestion of such a measure is
submitted.
In the First Report of the Committee on Shipwrecks (1843), at pages 1,
2, 3, the following evidence was printed by order of the House of
Commons.
"I think that the neglect of the use of the barometer has led to the
loss of many ships. From a want of attention to the barometer, they
have either closed the land (if at sea), or have put to sea (being
in harbour in safety) at improper times; and in consequence of such
want of precaution the ships have been lost, owing to bad weather
coming on suddenly, which might have been avoided had proper
attention been paid to that very simple instrument. While alluding
to the use of barometers, I may remark, that if such weather-glasses
were put in charge of the Coast-guard, at the principal stations
round the coast, so placed as to allow any one passing by to look at
them, they might be the means, not only of preventing ships from
going to sea just before bad weather was coming on, but of
preventing the great losses of life which take place every year on
our coasts (particularly in the Orkney Islands and on the coasts of
Scotland and Ireland), owing to fishing vessels and boats going to
sea when bad weather is impending. No bad weather ever comes on our
coasts without timely warning being given by the barometer. The
oldest seaman are often deceived by the look of the weather, but
there is no instance on record of very bad weather, such as would
have involved loss of life to the extent we have heard of in several
years, having come on without the barometer having given timely
warning. By the very small expense of an establishment of
barometers, so placed as to be accessible to any fishermen, boatmen,
or others on the coasts, much loss of life, as well as loss of
boats, and even shipping, might be prevented.
"What state of the barometer indicates danger?--It varies in
different climates according to the range. The range is small
between the tropics, but very large in the higher latitudes. In our
climate the range is usually about two inches. The barometer falling
considerably below its average height is at once an indication that
some considerable change is going to take place, and when it falls
low, as for instance (in our climate) to near 29 inches, or below 29
inches, a gale is certain to follow.
"Are the Committee to understand that you are of opinion that every
ship ought to have a barometer on board?--I think that every ship
ought to have either a barometer or sympiesometer, which is an
efficient substitute for a barometer.
"Does the barometer show a sudden change of wind as well as the
coming on of bad weather? Supposing a gale of wind is blowing, and
you are sailing with a fair wind, does the barometer show any change
of wind?--Decidedly.
"Supposing the wind was at West-north-west and it shifted suddenly
to West-south-west, would the barometer indicate that?--It requires
some practice to be able to say _exactly what is likely to take
place_ after a change in the barometer; but the principal point for
a seaman is, that no violent wind will blow without the barometer
giving warning. He may not know exactly from what quarter the wind
will come, but no strong wind will come on without warning being
given.
"You recommend that at the Coast-guard stations there should be a
barometer, by means of which people would know when a violent wind
was coming on; but as it would not indicate the quarter from which
it was coming, would you have the merchant ship always remain in
port till the barometer showed fine weather?--Being accustomed to
the barometer on our coast, one could tell from what quarter the
wind would probably come by the height of the barometer, taken in
connexion with its previous height, and the state of the weather,
and the strength of winds that had prevailed before. Taking the
state of the barometer in connexion with the appearance of the
weather one could make a satisfactory conclusion as to the quarter
from which any violent wind would come. And the barometer, after
very little practice, can be used by any man. There is no difficulty
in using it sufficiently to know that danger is coming on; and if
danger is coming on, a man refrains, of course, from exposing
himself to it; the quarter from which the wind comes being of minor
consequence.
"With a North-easterly wind, in this part of the world, the
barometer stands, on an average, about half an inch higher than with
the same strength of wind from the South-westward. All over the
world there is a similar difference proportionate to the range of
the mercury for which allowance should always be made in considering
the height of the barometer."[1]
In the first Number of Meteorological Papers, published by the Board of
Trade, 1857, is the following passage respecting the use of
weather-glasses:--
"The variety of interesting and useful, if not always important,
subjects included within the range of meteorology, is not perhaps
sufficiently realized in the minds of active participators in the
world's stirring work. Irrespective of any scientific object, how
much utility is there to all classes in what is commonly called
'weather wisdom'? In our variable climate, with a maritime
population, numbers of small vessels, and especially fishing boats,
how much life and property is risked unnecessarily by every
unforeseen storm? Even animals, birds, and insects have a presaging
instinct, perhaps a bodily feeling, that warns them; but man often
neglects his perceptive and reasoning powers; neither himself
observes, nor attends to the observations of others, unless special
inclination or circumstances stimulate attention to the subject.
Agriculturists, it is true, use weather-glasses: the sportsman knows
their value for indicating a good or bad scenting day; but the
coasting vessel puts to sea, the Shetland fisherman casts his nets,
without the benefit of such a monitor, and perhaps without the
weather wisdom which only a few possess, and cannot transfer to
others.
"Difficult as it is to foretell weather accurately, much useful
foresight may be acquired by combining the indications of
instruments (such as the barometer, thermometer, and hygrometer)
with atmospheric appearances. What is more varying than the aspect
of the sky? Colour, tint of clouds, their soft or hard look, their
outline, size, height, direction, all vary rapidly, yet each is
significant. There is a peculiar aspect of the clouds before and
during westerly winds which differs from that which they have
previous to and during easterly winds, which is one only of the many
curious facts connected with the differing natures of easterly and
westerly currents of air throughout the world, which remain
unchanged, whether they blow from sea to land, or the reverse.[2]
"Perhaps some of those who make much use of instruments rather
undervalue popular knowledge, and are reluctant to admit that a
'wise saw' may be valuable as well as a 'modern instance;' while
less informed persons who use weather-glasses unskilfully too often
draw from them erroneous conclusions, and then blame the barometer.
"Not only are reliable weather-glasses required at the smaller
outlying ports and fishing places, but plain, easily intelligible
directions for using them should be accessible to the seafaring
population, so that the masters of small vessels, and fishermen,
might be forewarned of coming changes in time to prepare for them,
and thus become instrumental in saving much property and many
lives."
_June 1858._