THE SPEED AND SIZE OF ATLANTIC WAVES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1335, 24 March 1883, Page 4

THE SPEED AND SIZE OF ATLANTIC WAVES.

The London jS'tuuicul Magazine for 'bi;; mou'li contains an article by Cap'.■..in Kiildle, the Atlantic steamship cv.ißiuunc'er, on the he'ght and velocity vi' Aiirii.aii waves, a Bubject which, as h>' cays, is to seaman one of the most iffip-.-rtuit of the day. It has been that the average relocity of £trat Atlantic waves is about nine miles in a hour. But Captain Kiddle ;!>..ita that he has frequently measured -he speed in Atlantic gales and found it : 'twenty-five miles per hour, plui ■ ; ie raw at which the ship •was steam tog through the water when nearly 01 ijuiU' head to wind (say four knots an ho"r). M Thin estimate ib nodoubtmuuh !v;.:iivr tho truth than the former. Dr . ; .:orsiiy pave the rate of travel for wives of the lmgar size of about thirty •"') in:lts an hour, and Lieutenant Aiwiry gave it as rarely exceeding thirty miles, while other observert mention still higher figures as occasion•UyaUaimdbywavtßofexcessivelength. it is known that some of the great Atlantic gales which assail the British ci'Wtsmove progressively as the Englisl. umniiologist Ley recently recorded at a rate of more than sixty miles an hour, aud ic is, therefore, highly probablt that in the severest huiricane the ocean wave may he driven with greater force than eventhemost observant navigators suppose. Admirable Fitzroy mentions that Scorsby was sceptical as to the report* of suameii who record waves thirty feet high until his lust voyage wheu lie made measurement of some exceeding this height. According to Captain Kiddle the heightfrom the trough to crest occasionally exceeds forty feet. The question is of great interest to safe Pftvigation in the heavy Atlantic-winter pales, and the able officers of Atlantic steamships would do well to make careful observations on the height, length, and velocity of the" mountainous seas" they encounter.