Rough Weather In the English Channel.

Manawatu Herald, 27 March 1894, Page 2

Rough Weather In the English Channel.

The officers and passengers of the R.M.S. Orizaba had a most unusual experience at the close of the last outward passage to London. After rounding Cape Ushant a strong gale from the east set in, and bl<-w with such force as to delay the steamer's arrival at Plymouth for nearly twelve hours. Beaching Plymouth at 9 pan on January 8, she sailed again for London at 10 o'clock the same evening. The gale continued up the English Channel, running up high head seas, and being followed by fierce snow storms. The thermometer fell several degrees below zero, so that everything about the ship rapidly became coated with ice. The cold was so intense that the spray breaking over the bows of the ship congealed imo thin flakes of ice b fore falling on deck. The steam pipes were fr zen, while icicles hang in profusion from the ironwork on the forward stokehole. Before moving into dock great difficulty wav encountered in ge.tting the anchors over the bows. The ropes and rigging were frozen hard, and' in fact the whole of the forepart of the steamer was covered with several inches of ice. She occupied forty hours in steaming from Plymouth, and when she berthed in the dock her general appearance resembled that of a ship which had cruised for several days among the bergs and icefloes of the Antarctic regions. During the run up the Channel the }/> boatswain and an A. 13. were badly frostbitten, while other seamen had vory narrow escapes from sustaining similar injuries. One A.B. is still laid up on the Orizaba with several of hi* toes severely frostbitten. The •• blizzard." for so it is described by Captain Ciaike, was the worst known in i he Channel for over fifty years. — Exchange.