Waterspout

“ The appearance usually presented by a waterspout is that of a column of aqueous vapour reaching from the sea to the clouds, sometimes straight, more frequently a little bent, and thicker above and below than in the centre of the column.
Mr. Ellis, the missionary, in his "Polynesian Researches," mentions having, with a companion, met and narrowly escaped being overwhelmed by several waterspouts, when passing on one occasion in an open boat between two islands about thirty miles apart. ”

“ From the lashed and rippling sea surface, where it upcones into the base of the spout, some water is carried aloft as spray mingling with the mist of the chilled vapor, but not necessarily in very large proportion, and never rising in solid body to the cloud, as popularly supposed. On the contrary, waterspouts, however massive and formidable looking, are very tenuous, and may occur on land or water indifferently. ”

“ I heard Swede groaning and calling a breathless chantey as he led his watch lashing down the main boom. Bulgar, Nelson and McLean were straddled on the foot ropes of the jibboom struggling to lash down the jibs which flapped and ballooned.
It was all chance and our fate rested in the lap of the gods.
Now there are all sorts of sea traditions and superstitions about waterspouts. Some grave scientists who never went to sea write learnedly that a waterspout does not and cannot sink a ship. ”

“ The waterspout was slowly but surely ceasing to be a waterspout when it disappeared from view in the misty distance some fifteen minutes or more from the time it was sighted.
The Slavonia's encounter with the waterspout took place in latitude 42 degrees 22 minutes north and longitude 52 degrees 35 minutes west. This is rather far north for waterspouts so early in the year. The waterspout crop is generally more plentiful when thunder and lightning are on top, which is in warmer weather. ”

“ Another extraordinary occurrence would be an overwhelming waterspout, such as not infrequently is seen in the tropics, especially along the Chinese coast, where it often plays havoc with fishing junks. A third unusual, yet possible, peril is the meeting with those waves of sudden and extraordinary size and volume which sometimes engulf vessels in storms that otherwise might be safely weathered, or are surmounted only by a miracle, as it were. ”

“ The other waterspout passed some distance astern. In this gulf some years ago a dreadful catastrophe occurred to a West Indiaman homeward bound, caused by one of the sucking clouds or waterspouts. Several had formed very near her, one of them so near that the master of her was afraid to fire as it might endanger the vessel. It appeared to be passing when a flaw of wind came, and being heavily surcharged with water, broke it. Fortunately the hatches were on, and only the master, mate and four men on deck. ”

“ When the cloud and the marine base of the waterspout move with equal velocity, the lower cone is often seen to incline sideways, or even to bend, and finally to burst in pieces. A noise is then heard like the noise of a cataract falling in a deep valley. Lightning frequently issues from the very bosom of the waterspout, particularly when it breaks ”

“ The vast commotion of those solitudes has its gamut, a terrible crescendo. There are the gust, the squall, the storm, the gale, the tempest, the whirlwind, the waterspout—the seven chords of the lyre of the winds, the seven notes of the firmament. The heavens are a clear space, the sea a vast round; but a breath passes, they have vanished, and all is fury and wild confusion.
Such are these inhospitable realms.
The winds rush, fly, swoop down, dwindle away, commence again; hover above, whistle, roar, and smile; they are frenzied, wanton, unbridled, or sinking at ease upon the raging waves. ”

“ There is no doubt that waterspouts are to a great extent, if not altogether, due to the presence of electricity in the air. When the clouds have been raging for some time in the skies of tropical regions, rendering the darkness bright, and the air tremulous with their dread artillery, they seem to grow unusually thirsty; the ordinary means of water-supply through the atmosphere do not appear to be sufficient for the demand, or war-tax in the shape of water-duty, that is levied on nature. ”

“ Persons have seen hundreds of waterspouts standing on the water of the lake at one time, as though the columns were supporting the weight of the clouds. The Indians' balsas are built with so much beam, and being a bundle of rushes, shaped like a canoe before it is dug out, that the falling of one of the waterspouts only washes the dust off the Indians as they pass through this wonderful phenomenon. We are nearly suffocated at times with the whirling up of the dust all around us. ”

“ A farther value is given to it by its waterspouts, for in order to avoid loading it with weight of water in the gutter at the edge, where it would be a strain on the fastenings of the pipe, it has spouts of discharge at intervals of three or four feet,—rows of magnificent leaden or iron dragons’ heads, full of delightful character, except to any person passing along the middle of the street in a heavy shower. ”

“ A few minutes suffices in general for the duration of the phenomenon, but several have been known to continue for near an hour. Instances of repeated disruption and formation have been witnessed, and in the Mediterranean, as many as sixteen waterspouts have been observed at the same time. ”

“ In tunnel form, when they can no longer quench their thirst from the surrounding atmosphere, they descend near the surface of the sea, and appear to lap the water directly up with their black mouths. They are not always accompanied by strong winds; frequently more than one is seen at a time, whereupon the clouds whence they proceed disperse, and the ends of the Waterspouts bending over finally causes them to break in the middle. They seldom last longer than five minutes. As they are going away, the bulbous tube, which is as palpable as that of a thermometer, becomes broader at the base ”

“ So summer waited for open water, and the tardy Yukon took to stretching of days and cracking its stiff joints. Now an air-hole ate into the ice, and ate and ate; or a fissure formed, and grew, and failed to freeze again. Then the ice ripped from the shore and uprose bodily a yard. But still the river was loth to loose its grip. It was a slow travail, and man, used to nursing nature with pigmy skill, able to burst waterspouts and harness waterfalls, could avail nothing against the billions of frigid tons which refused to run down the hill to Bering Sea. ”

“ A water-spout is a long column of water, rising out of the sea. It begins with a little ripple on the water like a whirlwind, increasing in diameter until ten or twelve feet in size; it then rises, up and up, until it reaches the clouds. ”

“ When a whirlwind is thus formed over the ocean, water is often drawn up the center of the whirl some distance, owing to the suction created, and at the same time the moisture in the air is condensed as it rises, so that the name 'water-spout' is very applicable. Indeed, sometimes a spout will burst over a vessel and flood her decks with water, as a cloud-burst does a mountain-side. When a spout is forming, its upper portion is often visible first, seeming to grow downward from the clouds. ”

“ The water-spout is then carried by the wind, sometimes gently, sometimes with violence, over the sea, sometimes up into the clouds, and then, bursting asunder, it descends in a deluge. This often happens over the land as well as over the sea; and it sometimes does much damage, but frequently it passes gently away. Now, Jack thought that the little fish might perhaps have been carried up in a water-spout, and so sent down again in a shower of rain. ”

“ But there are two kinds of water-spouts, the first of which, alluded to above, is no other than a thick compressed cloud, reduced to a small space by contrary winds, which, blowing at the same time from many corners, give it a cylindric form, and causes the water to fall by its own weight. The quantity of water is so great, and the fall so sudden and precipitate, that if unfortunately one of these spouts breaks on a vessel, it shatters it to pieces and sinks it in an instant. ”

“ We could see nothing of the kind at first, but the captain brought his glasses to bear, and reported that the lookout was correct.
Presently every one could see them from the deck. They appeared far away, like vast water-trees, growing from the sea to the sky, and expanding there in funnel shape; but as they appeared to be going away from us, we kept on our course, in order to overtake the brigantine.
The best definition of a water-spout represents it as a remarkable natural phenomenon, usually observed over the sea, but sometimes over the land. ”

“ When the spout breaks, a considerable part of the water in the air drops in a torrential deluge. Popular tradition has it that sea water drawn into a spout falls as fresh water—a tradition that is contrary to the facts of the case. ”

“ Wo to the vessel that is assailed by one of these meteors! The usual defence at sea, is to fire a cannon shot into the whirling tube, which usually dispels it, and the water falls in a tremendous shower.
Upon land, a water-spout sometimes commits the most fearful ravages: attended both by a furious wind and torrents of water, it often spreads devastation over the country which it visits. In 1839, a considerable district upon the Seine, in France, experienced the most dreadful calamities from a water-spout. ”

“ Soon after the sea below resumes its natural state, and the tube is drawn, by little and little, up to the clouds, where it is dissipated. The same tube would sometimes have a vertical, and sometimes a crooked or inclined direction. The most rational account I have read of water-spouts, is in Mr Falconer's Marine Dictionary, which is chiefly collected from the philosophical writings of the ingenious Dr Franklin. I have been told that the firing of a gun will dissipate them ”

“ This I cannot account for on the notion of a direct spout, but in the real descending one, it is easy. I take it, that the cloud begins first of all to pour out drops at that particular spot, or foramen; and, when that current of drops increases, so as to force down wind and vapour, the spout becomes so far as that goes opaque. I take it, that no clouds drop spouts, but such as make very fast, and happen to condense in a particular spot, which perhaps is coldest, and gives a determination downwards, so as to make a passage through the subjacent atmosphere. ”

“ The wind is commonly blowing first this way and then that, causing the spout to bend and writhe and move from one point to another. Beneath, where it nearly touches the water, the sea is agitated and covered with foam. ”

“ There are long investigations about water-spouts and whirlwinds,—whether a water-spout ever actually touches the surface of the sea, and whether its action is downward from the sky or upward from the water. ”

“ Wa′terspout, a pipe from which water spouts: a moving spout or column of water, often seen at sea, and sometimes on land; Wa′ter-sprin′kle (Spens.) , a water-pot; Wa′ter-sprite, a spirit inhabiting the water.—adj. Wa′ter-stand′ing (Shak.) , containing water, tearful.—ns. Wa′ter-strid′er, any aquatic heteropterous insect of the family Hydrobatidæ; Wa′ter-supply′, the obtaining and distribution of sufficient water to the inhabitants of a town: the amount of water thus distributed; Wa′ter-tā′ble, a moulding or other projection in the wall of a building to throw off the water ”

“ The active agent whatever it is, has been known to seize hold of a chain attached to a plow and draw the plow about, turning the stiff sod for a considerable [Pg 147] distance. (See Loomis on the tornado at Stow, Ohio, American Journal of Science, vol. xxxiii. p. 368.)
i. In passing over ponds, the spout has taken up all the water and fish, and scattered them in every direction, and to a great distance.
j. The barometer falls very little during the passage of the spout. (See the Natchez hurricane of 1827, Espy page 337.) Not more than it frequently does during gentle showers. ”

“ The condensation of the moisture, contained in so great a quantity of warm air as may be supposed to rise in a short time in this prodigiously rapid whirl, is, perhaps, sufficient to form a great extent of cloud, though the spout should be over land, as those at Hatfield; and if the land happens not to be very dusty, perhaps the lower part of the spout will scarce become [29] visible at all; though the upper, or what is commonly called the descending part, be very distinctly seen. ”

“ Do water-spouts occur on one side of the equator more frequently than they do on the other? I have cruised a great deal on the southern hemisphere, and never saw a water-spout there. According to the log-books at the Observatory, they occur mostly on the north side of the equator.—Maury.
↑ At sea the face and hands burn (change the skin) much quicker under a clouded than under a clear sky.—Jansen. ↑ In the north-east part of the Archipelago the east monsoon is the rainy monsoon. The phenomena in the north-east part are thus wholly different from those in the Java Sea.—Jansen. ”

“ We have seen, that evaporation proceeds much more rapidly from a surface of water, as a pond or river, than from a land surface, unless it be fully saturated, and that evaporation from the water exceeds the whole amount of rain, about as much as evaporation from the land falls short of the amount of rain. ”

“ Another surprising phenomenon at sea is what is called a whirlwind water-spout, or syphon, which often carries up high into the air whatever comes within the circle of its force, as fish, grasshoppers, and other things, where they appear like a thick vapour or cloud. ”