The wonders of the world

by John Loraine Abbott

The inferences which Sir Richard draws from what he saw and heard, are as follows. That the phenomenon called a waterspout is a mere collection of clouds, of the same rarity as the mass whence they are drawn. That the descent is a mechanical effect of the whirlwind, which creating a vacuum, or high degree of rarefaction, extending between the clouds and the earth, the clouds descend in it by their gravity, or by the pressure of the surrounding clouds or air. That the convolutions of the descending mass, and the sensible whirlwind felt at the earth, as well as the appearance of the commencement, increase and decrease of the mass, all demonstrate the whirl of the air to be the mechanical cause. That the same vortex, whirl or eddy of the air, which occasions the clouds to descend, occasions the loose bodies on the earth to ascend. That, if in this case the lower surface had been water, the same mechanical power would have raised a body of foam, vapor and water, toward the clouds. That, as soon as the vortex or whirl exhausts or dissipates itself, the phenomena terminate by the fall to the lower surface of the light bodies or water, and by the ascent of the cloud. That when water constitutes the light body of the lower surface, it is probable that the aqueous vapor of the cloud, by coalescing with it, may occasion the clouds to condense, and fall at that point, as through a siphon. That if the descending cloud be highly electrified, and the vortex pass over a conducting body, as a church steeple, it is probable it may be condensed by an electrical concussion, and fall at that spot, discharging whatever has been taken up from the lower surface, and producing the strange phenomena of showers of frogs, fish, &c. And, lastly, it appears certain, that the action of the air on the mass of clouds, pressing toward the mouth of the vortex as to a funnel, (which, in this case, it exactly represented,) occasioned such a condensation as to augment the simultaneous fall of rain to a prodigy.

In the month of July, 1800, a waterspout was seen rapidly to approach a ship navigating between the Lipari islands. It had the appearance of a viscid fluid, tapering in its descent, and proceeding from the cloud to join the sea. It moved at the rate of about two miles an hour, with a loud sound of rain, passing the stern of the ship, and wetting the after part of the mainsail. It was thence concluded that waterspouts are not continuous columns of water, which has been confirmed by subsequent observations.

In November, 1801, about twenty miles from Trieste, in the Adriatic sea, a waterspout was seen eight miles to the southward: round its lower extremity was a mist, twelve feet high, nearly of the form of an Ionian capital, with very large volutes, the spout resting obliquely on its crown. At some distance from this spout, the sea began to be agitated, and a mist rose to the hight of about four feet: a projection then descended from the black cloud which was impending, and met the ascending mist about twenty feet above the sea, the last ten yards of the distance being described with great rapidity. A cloud of a light color appeared to ascend in this cloud like quicksilver in a glass tube. The first spout then snapped at about one-third of its hight, the inferior part subsiding gradually, and the superior curling upward. Several other projections from the cloud, appeared with corresponding agitations of the water below, but not always in spouts vertically under them: seven spouts in all were formed, and two other projections reabsorbed. Some of the spouts were not only oblique, but curved, the ascending cloud moving most rapidly in those which were vertical. They lasted from three to five minutes, and their dissipation was not attended with any fall of rain. For some days before the weather had been very rainy, with a south-east wind, but not any rain had fallen on the day of observation.

In some cases, however, the waterspout at sea, is a continuous column of water, carried upward from the surface of the waves, and possibly meeting with water brought down from the clouds and condensed by the force of the revolving hurricane. Such waterspouts are now and then seen on the ocean, having an appearance like that represented in the cut on the next page. And as the wind blows first this way, and then that, they often writhe and bend, from one point to another, while the sea below, and all around, is agitated and covered with foam. Woe to that vessel that comes within the reach of one of these mighty phenomena. It would be crushed and sunk like a leaf on the waters. The usual defense at sea is to fire a cannon-shot into the whirling waterspout, which commonly breaks and dispels it, and causes the water to fall in a tremendous cataract or shower.

WATERSPOUT ON THE OCEAN.

Waterspouts, however, are not confined to the ocean. They are occasionally witnessed on the great fresh-water lakes of our own country, as they have been on the inland seas of other parts of the globe. Several of these remarkable phenomena were seen in 1854, on Lake Ontario, two of which were visible at Sodus point. They were dense, cone-shaped columns, and formed a continuous line from the earth to the clouds. One of them, the largest, which was nearly thirty feet in diameter, was precipitated against the bluffs, and broke with a deafening noise upon the rocks below, causing so great a commotion of the waters that a large quantity of logs and lumber were torn from their moorings and washed far out into the lake. The smaller of the two pursued its terrific and onward course as far as the eye could reach, filling the beholders with wonder and astonishment, and awakening such a feeling of grandeur and sublimity that they stood almost mute and statue-like, until the sound of this gigantic column of water died far away in the distance. A portion of the pier of the light-house was swept away by the elements, and considerable damage was done to the light-house. There was a severe storm out on the lake, and several schooners, brigs, &c., came scudding in, under bare poles, seeking security from the tempestuous billows without, upon the placid bosom of the harbor. The velocity and power of the whirlwind which caused these waterspouts, were very great. As it passed on westward in its furious course, it is said that in a town in Ohio, a grove of oak-trees was almost entirely blown down by it. The trunk of one of these trees, on being measured, was found to be about three feet in diameter. Assuming, however, that its diameter was but two and a half feet, it would require to break it, a force of one hundred and forty-nine thousand pounds. The surface of the tree exposed to the action of the wind, was about one thousand square feet, which would give a pressure by the wind of one hundred and forty-seven pounds to the square foot, or a velocity of not less than one hundred and seventy-one miles per hour, which is nearly one-fourth the velocity of a cannon-ball just leaving the cannon. Allowing the hight of the hurricane or whirlwind to have been sixty feet, the whole force exerted, at one time, along its track, was equal to more than half the steam power of the globe!

These corresponding phenomena of whirlwinds have been occasionally productive of much mischief, as the following brief narratives will show. On the thirtieth of October, 1669, about six in the evening, the wind being then westwardly, a formidable whirlwind, scarcely of the breadth of sixty yards, and which spent itself in about seven minutes, arose at Ashly, in Northamptonshire, England. Its first assault was on a milkmaid, whose pail and hat were taken from off her head, and the former carried many scores of yards from her, where it lay undiscovered for some days. It next stormed a farmyard, where it blew a wagon body off the axletrees, breaking in pieces the latter, and the wheels, three of which, thus shattered, were blown over a wall. Another wagon, which did not, like the former, lie across the passage of the wind, was driven with great speed against the side of the farm-house. A branch of an ash-tree, so large that two stout men could scarcely lift it, was blown over a house without damaging it, although torn from a tree one hundred yards distant. A slate was carried nearly two hundred yards, and forced against a window, the iron bar of which it bent. Several houses were stripped; and in one instance, this powerful gust, or stream of air, forced open a door, breaking the latch; whence it passed through the entry, and, forcing open the dairy door, overturned the milk-pans, and blew out three panes of glass. It next ascended to the chambers, and blew out nine other panes. Lastly, it blew a gate-post, fixed two feet and a half in the ground, out of the earth, and carried it many yards into the fields.

On the thirtieth of October, 1731, at one in the morning, a very sudden and terrific whirlwind, having a breadth of two hundred yards, was experienced at Cerne-Abbas, in Dorsetshire. From the south-west side of the town, it passed to the north-east, crossing the center, and unroofing the houses in its progress. It rooted up trees, broke others in the middle, of at least a foot square, and carried the tops a considerable distance. A sign-post, five feet by four, was broken off six feet in the pole, and carried across a street forty feet in breadth, over a house opposite. The pinnacles and battlements of one side of the church-tower were thrown down, and the leads and timber of the north aisle broken in by their fall. A short time before, the air was remarkably calm. It was estimated that this sudden and terrible gust did not last more than two minutes.

About the middle of August, 1741, at ten in the morning, several peasants being on a heath near Holkham, in Norfolk, perceived, about a quarter of a mile from them, a wind like a whirlwind approach them gradually, in a straight line from east to west. It passed through the field where they were plowing, and tore up the stubble and grass in the plowed ground, for two miles in length, to the breadth of thirty yards. In reaching an inclosure at the top of a rising ground, it appeared like a great flash or ball of fire, emitting smoke, and accompanied by a noise similar to that of carts passing over a stony ground. Both before and after the wind passed, there was a strong smell of sulphur; and the noise was heard long after the smoke had been perceived. This fiery whirlwind moved so slowly forward, that it was nearly ten minutes in proceeding from the inclosure to a farm-house in the vicinity, where it did much mischief.