came in the east, but such a light as no one would wish to see. It
was a lurid glare, such as may be seen playing over a cupola of Bessemer
steel when the speigeleisen is added, only on such an extensive scale
that its brilliancy was dulled into horror. Then, beneath it we saw the
mountainous clouds fringed with dull violet and with jagged sabres of
lightning darting from their solid black bosoms. The wind began to rise
steadily but rapidly, so that by eight a.m. it was blowing a furious
gale from E.N.E. In direction it was still unsteady, the ship coming up
and falling off to it several points. Now, great masses of torn,
ragged cloud hurtled past us above, so low down as almost to touch the
mastheads. Still the wind increased, still the sea rose, till at last
the skipper judged it well to haul down the tiny triangle of storm
stay-sail still set (the topsail and fore stay-sail had been furled long
before), and let her drift under bare poles, except for three square
feet of stout canvas in the weather mizen-rigging. The roar of the
wind now dominated every sound, so that it might have been thundering
furiously, but we should not have heard it. The ship still maintained
her splendid character as a sea-boat, hardly shipping a drop of water;
but she lay over at a most distressing angle, her deck sloping off fully
thirty-five to forty degrees. Fortunately she did not roll to windward.
It may have been raining in perfect torrents, but the tempest tore off
the surface of the sea, and sent it in massive sheets continually flying
over us, so that we could not possibly have distinguished between fresh
water and salt.

The chief anxiety was for the safety of the boats. Early on the second
day of warning they had been hoisted to the topmost notch of the cranes,
and secured as thoroughly as experience could suggest; but at every lee
lurch we gave it seemed as if we must dip them under water, while the
wind threatened to stave the weather ones in by its actual solid weight.
It was now blowing a furious cyclone, the force of which has never been
accurately gauged (even by the present elaborate instruments of various
kinds in use). That force is, however, not to be imagined by any one who
has not witnessed it, except that one notable instance is on record by
which mathematicians may get an approximate estimate.

Captain Toynbee, the late highly respected and admired Marine
Superintendent of the British Meteorological Office, has told