Monday, April 20, 2015

Great Weather Turns Bad for CSS Shenandoah-- Part 2: The Big Blow

"After the vessel had reached the parallel of 43 degrees north the weather became cold and foggy and the winds were variable and unsteady, and that ever reliable friend of the sailor, the barometer, indicated atmospheric changes.

"The ship was prepared for the change of weather which was rapidly approaching.  Soon the ocean was boiling with agitation, and if the barometer had been silent, I would have called it only a furious tide but a dark, then a black cloud, was hurrying toward us from the N.E. and so close did it rest upon the surface of the water that it seemed determined to overwhelm the ship, and there came in it so terrible and violent of a wind that the Shenandoah was thrown upon her side...."

"Squall after squall struck her, flash after flash surrounded her, and the thunder rolled in her wake.  It was a typhoon.  The ocean was as white as the snow and foamed with rage.  A new close-reefed topsail was blown to shreds, and the voice of man was inaudible amid this awful convolution of nature."

Into Every man's Life, Storms Must Come.  --Old B-R'er


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