On three several hurricanes of the Atlantic, and their relations to the northers of Mexico and Central America, with notices of other storms / by W.C. Redfield.

  • William C. Redfield
Date:
1846
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On three several hurricanes of the Atlantic, and their relations to the northers of Mexico and Central America, with notices of other storms / by W.C. Redfield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Oct. 4th, wind N. E., hardly sensible ; cloudy ; noon, wind E. N. E., fresh, drizzling rain with intermissions; 8 p. u. wind n. e., strong and constant; continued rain ; at 10 p. M. less rain and more wind. Oct. 5ih, 1 a. m., no longer wind—it is a destructive hur- ricane ; 4 a. m., some rain, wind N. N. E., frightful; G a. m., houses falling, roofs blowing off, &c. &c.; some rain ; 9 a. m., wind N., more furious ; noon, rain ceased ; wind N. N. E., relaxing ; at 6 p. m. ihe sun shone a quarter of an hour; wind N. W., light. 32. At Havana, flat. 23° 9', Ion. 82° 19', about 85 miles L.] as per Capt, Foster, ship St. Mary, Oct. 2d, it blew a gale from E. N. E., sufficiently strong to require the aid of the best bovver anchor ; atmosphere continued dry, but enveloped by a fine haze. To- ward sunset the wind moderated, and during the night veered to E. S. E., with an over- cast sky. This state of weather continued during the 3d, and in the evening there was much lightning in the S. E. quarter. Early on the 4th, the wind was moderate from S. E., and cloudy, weather apparently unsettled. About 9 a. m. the wind veered gradually to E. S. E., E. N. E., and finally set- tled at IS. E. by E., with squalls of wind and rain, and dense masses of clouds came swiftly from that quarter, but no lightning was seen. The squalls increased in violence with torrents of rain, continuing so through the night till early on the morning of the 5th, when it blew a terrific hurricane. As day dawned on the 5th, vessels in all directions were drifting their anchors, coming in collision, dismasting and sinking each other. The St. Mary [which we have seen was roughly handled in the two former hurricanesj was the only American vessel that rode out the gale without damage. At 10 a. m. the wind veered to North, and thence gradually to N. W. Even then the gusts were not exceeded in vio- lence. By 5 p. m. the wind subsided to a moderate gale, with streaks of clear sky in the West. By 9 p. m. the wind became nearly calm, with a brilliant starry sky. Sunday, Oct. 0th, ushered in most delightful weather. The extent of damage to the shipping was very great. Many were dismasted, numbers were sunk, and several had overset, remaining bottom up. The southwestern shores of the harbor were strewed with wrecks, and this in a port unrivalled for its secure anchorage.* 33. A barque and a brig arrived at Havana on the 6th, which had encountered the gale of the previous day to the N. W. of the Torlugas, where they experienced only an ordinary gale of wind, reducing them to reefed topsails. [ ( ? ) 2G0 miles L.] 34. At Matanzas, [lat. 23° 3', Ion. 81° 41', about 50 miles L.J during September, the barometer exhibited few remarkable variations ; but on the 1st of October it was 29-60 inches. In a few hours appeared a strong N. E. wind, which continued without change till the 4th, when the wind ceased and it began to rain abundantly. But the barometer, which generally stood at 30 inches, notwithstanding the calm re- mained at 29 inches on the 4th, which gave reason to suspect that we should have heavy N. E. winds. In fact on the morning of October 5th it fell to 28 inches, thus indicating the terrible hurricane which almost immediately made its appearance. The wind, which at 10 r. m. of the 4th had begun to increase by degrees, at 2 a. m. on the 5th blew with such violence that no doubt could remain of the immense destruction which it threatened. When the day dawned it continued to blow from the N. E. with unheard of fury, and it was not till 10 or half past 10 a. m. that it began at all to abate. Shortly afterwards it veered continually and finally settled at West, whence it again began to blow with the same violence as in the morning. But at 2 p. m. the barometer began to rise, promising the cessation of the gale, which soon after took place. In fact, at three o'clock the storm * Capt. Boxer, of R. M. steamer Trent, says in his journal:—On arriving at Havana [Oct. 7tli] we found the shores of the port strewed with wrecks—some bottom up, others with their masts out of water, and others washed partly on the wharves. From the consul's statement it appeared they had a heavy gale on the 2d of October, which lasted 21 hours. The weather then became hazy, (unusually so,) with light rain, rapidly driven. On the 4th, the sympiesometer and barometer gave indication of some awful change, particularly the former: and shortly after this warning, a furious hurricane set in from N. E.. such as the oldest inhabitants have never be- fore witnessed. Seventy two ships were either upset or driven on shore, and others dismasted. Houses were unroofed, windows blown in, and the crops seriously injured ; damage computed at a million sterling. I tried to obtain the particulars of the fall of the barometer, but singular to say, no one could give me an exact account All they stated was, they had never seen it lower.