WATER SPOUT AT SEA.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 78, 29 November 1864, Page 3

WATER SPOUT AT SEA.

The barque Jane Pqull, Captain Smith, which .irrived in the river on Tuesday from Bermuda, had "an exceedingly ■■narrow r espivpe {eo.ia. destruction by a water spout at 'sea. " She left Bermuda on Sunday, August 14, and shortly after, the wind hiving fallen to a dead" falm, she came to anchor oSP-ihe Great Sound. ." The eve ling," writes one of the " p^as^en-jers, - " Wiia- : sultry > 'and r6vervrhelmingly oppressive ; not a breath of air.ripplei tht* water lor .'cooled ;tjie;ht>t atmosphere. The night was equally miserable, the heat wa3 intense ; the wind was dead; the broad expanding waters iinooth as glass, and "everything inTnature seemed to denote some unusual phenomenon at. hand. The morning came, but ho change 'with' it. ' At wr-n, the clouds gathered thick and bx-avy, and f r in^fclie distanee',we could ; Bea 'the rain beating dawn tb.B sea in lines 'of "Water.'- Our attention was sooij diverted from the rain. Captain Smith, and Mr. Virgin,' the" pilot, asked if we coul I not hear a distant roar as if there.were a f naval engagement going on" at s6me "shorfrfdistahce — a dull rumbling roar could distinctly be heard. We next . observed, about Sve miles from us, a cylindrical column reaching from the sea to the altitude of of£.fe hundred .feet, '/^rprn ourvpoint of devf, it appeared about three feet in diameter! It was of a greyish. hue,. an;l assimilated in hue with the clouds above: : '•' ' : lt-'restied : upda the water, and by the aid of our glasses we eoul 1 distinctly obserr* the salt water .ascending and the fresh water deacendins in torrents — the sea in a state of great .agitation. Around this cylindrical column. th« ! wiTid^se'enred^to : be'-'rbsliingf? withpthe force of a volcano. A smaller one, wiiich appeared aboafe this time, was" apparently ' swallowed ' by the larger one. for some fifteen minutes we watched ! this remaTtableJand;4Qlus novel phenomenon. The pilot then pronounced it a waterspbut. Ab we bal never s©en~6ne we felt no alarm till warned that if it struck tlie vess.-l we must sare oursel ves'J D WhUeVWe.lwere^yet conjecturing what, would be result of this "extraordinary formation. >thelgi?<iat line of black clouds solemnly advanced ou eaoh wing of 'the spout. The rain was pouring in wild torrents,-anj then the spout droppeld down life'rai-jhty of ] water, jop^ ths ses, while the winds^raa-tlr ruslied it towards us. We now became alarjned. The roar of the falling waters came to us like the distant sound of th« N<af arWi- <?£he seal' was ia'shgljinjo great waves ; - the°waters poured, and. bubbled, and rose -'m sw.iyingKiujisses -oyer-sixr feet in height. Witk deftlly aim and oirHui "purpose the awful column airancod. Nat_ono_on board the ship but felt the danger, and knew that nothing could save ub ?if ierstrucjkjthe-ship.; •? Thank; GpfL it burst about thirty- yards from us. ahd v the' last remnant of waterjt^^edjrwithin ;^boufe^, ten feet. otthe stem." The weather lramediafely cleared, a breeze sprung up; v.Jane Doull pro edded, arriving safely at this port on Tuegday last. * "'"*- ' : f ',°'- ;'';' '-""

"THe 1 foim3atlohs of the AlbeVt -Meraorial in Hy-'le Park are progressing. We understand that the first stone will bel aid 'without public ceremonial ; but that her Majesty is likely to be present at some' stage of the 'progress a little lat« »pn, — AtAeiußi-m. . ,