934 SUPPLEMENT TO THE HONGKONG GOV" GAZETTE OF 13m DEC., 1884.
the evening, when the barometer fell to 29.00. It caused great destruction in the French Settlements in that neighbourhood, the inhabitants of which were evidently quite unprepared for such an occurrence. 2.4 inches of rain were collected on the 8th and 4.8 inches on the 9th, but the wind does not appear to have reached typhoon-force and perhaps did not exceed a whole gale. The typhoon then disappeared in its motion westward.
Meantime light southerly and south-westerly winds had blown over Luzon and the barometer had been rising. The rise was checked in the afternoon on the 8th, after which it fell quickly, owing to Typhoon III, which was then approaching the Bashee Channel from about SE. In the evening upper clouds were observed in Hongkong coming from ENE and backing quickly to NNE. In the morning of the 9th, when the centre was in about 15° 23′ N and 125° 16' Eat 10 a., the barometer began to fall at the S. Cape of Formosa, where haze was observed later in the day, and in the evening it fell decidedly in Hongkong. At 10 a. on the 10th the centre appears to have been in about 16° 35′ N and 123° 42′ E. The NE wind increased to a strong breeze at S. Cape, where a heavy swell had set in from the SSE and the threatening appearance of the sky increased and it was blowing from WSW with the same force in Manila. In the evening when the centre was passing round the NE point of Luzon, strong NE winds and a high sea were encountered outside of Amoy, but the wind was light and the weather fine elsewhere along the coast. The gale was still blowing over Luzon, but the direction of the wind had backed to SW in Manila. Heavy rain had then already fallen at S. Cape. At 10 a. on the 11th the centre appears to have been in 19° 47′ N and 121° 25′ E, and fresh NE gales with high sea, and squally weather prevailed in the Formosa Straits, and strong W breezes over Luzon. At S. Cape a moderate gale blowing from the North brought down heavy rain, and the Temperature was 770,--rather low. At 1 p. the Temperature rose to 80°, a thick mist appeared and the wind shifted to ENE, from which point it kept steady, its force increasing from a fresh breeze to a storm at 7 p. At 8 p. the wind began to die out. At 8 40 p. the lowest reading of barometer 28.36 reduced to 32° but not to sea level was recorded and the wind shifted to SE and the sky partly cleared. The central calm-the "bull's eye" of the mariners-appears to have then been situated about 12 miles towards WSW of the light-house. The wind thereafter veered and when it reached SSW---from which it again continued to blow steadily for 12 hours--at 9' 30", it attained to full typhoon-force, being as violent as any that Mr. G. TAYLOR, the light-keeper in charge, had ever experienced. By this time, the NE wind had increased to the force of a whole gale at Takow with rain. At 10 p. it had increased to storm force and then it died away, the wind veering to S. The calm passed over the locality at about 11' 15" p. Ten minutes later, the full force of the typhoon broke from SW, with terrific gusts and heavy rain. After midnight it moderated. At 1 a. on the 12th it blew a strong gale in Takow, but now it was blowing with typhoon-force from NE at Ockseu, over which the centre had nearly passed about midnight. A strong E gale was felt at that time at the northern entrance of the Straits, and a whole gale from S with heavy rain in the southern part of the Straits, and at Takow at 3 a. a moderate SE gale with heavy rain squalls. At 10 a. when the centre was in 25° 55′ N and 118° 30′ E the sky cleared in Takow, the rain ceased and a fresh breeze blew from SSW. The typhoon was then blowing in terrific squalls accompanied by blinding rain at Ockscu, and at that time, the centre appears to have been due West of Foochow. Here squally weather with a gale froin NE, had been felt in the course of the night. During the 12th the weather got worse and a strong gale from SSE with heavy squalls and much rain did considerable damage about the place. The humidity at Hongkong was then beginning to fall and the temperature to rise steadily, and upper clouds were coming up from NW. A strong breeze blew from SW during the afternoon but no rain fell. In Amoy the wind does not appear to have exceeded a fresh breeze.
It appears as if this typhoon-like many others following a similar track through the Formosa Straits would have recurved in about 23° N latitude, but was prevented from passing north eastward by the high mountains of the island; and-in contra-distinction to Typhoon I at the end of June which skirted the coast and effected the recurvature north of the island-it at about 11 p. on the 11th suddenly turned north westward and thus struck the opposite coast early in the morning of the 12th. At about 10 a. on the 13th in about 28° 50′ N and 117° 42′ E the centre of the Typhoon appears to have attained its greatest distance inland, but the violence of the disturbance died ont and it lost the characteristics of a Typhoon as soon as it struck the coast and only gentle breezes are reported at inland stations. Strong southerly breezes and high seas prevailed in the Straits. At about 10 a. on the 14th it passed northwest of Shanghai, where a fresh breeze from SSE had been felt for some hours in the afternoon of the 13th. The sky became clouded and about half an inch of rain fell in the afternoon but the wind died out. The depression then passed off towards ENE. On the 13th, according to the Daily Weather Reports issued from the Imperial Meteorological Observatory of Tokio, Japan, the barometer had been falling, especially over the Inland Sea, and was under the monthly mean at all their stations, calms and variable winds prevailed with rain in many places. On the 15th the following remarks were issued by Mr. Kxippisa:–“ A depression coming from the W is entering the Sen of Japan with a decided fall and the lowest barometer readings (29.61 inches) on the W coast, the highest (29,76 "inches) in Eastern Nippon. Winds are generally light and the weather rainy in the S;" and subse- quently it was intimated that the minimum of pressure had travelled NE and was lying off Sakai in the Sea of Japan, with much rain in Central Japan. At 9 p. the centre was in about 33° 12′ N and
and