41
377
station at 7 a. and to have then entered the China Sea. At noon it was situated in 16° 45', 118° 45.' There was no vessel near this position, but the S.S. Rheingold had an increasing NNE gale at noon at a distance of about 175 miles to the NW of the centre.
The barometer was falling on the S and SE coasts of China, but at present the weather was fine and the winds light.
On the 4th at noon the centre was situated in 19° 30′, 115° 00′ and the disturbance had thus moved towards NW about half a point westerly at the rate of rather over 11 miles per hour, so that when the gun was fired at Hongkong and notice given of the approaching gale the centre was situated at a distance of 190 miles to the SSE of the Colony.
Pressure had increased in Luzon and in Formosa, but had decreased at Hoihow and Hongkong particularly at the latter station where it continued to fall at the rate of about 0.01 inch per hour during the latter part of the day with the wind gradually increasing. At midnight a strong gale from E was blowing accompanied by rain and the barometer had fallen to 29.63.
At sea the S.S. Rheingold about 50 miles to ENE of the centre had typhoon force of wind from SE decreasing during the evening. The S.S. Siam had a whole NNE gale at a distance of 90 miles to the NW or in frout of the centre. They ran to the SW and had the wind of storm and typhoon force, backing to NNW at 4 p. with the barometer at its lowest point, 29.39. Later the barometer rose and the wind gradually backed to W decreasing slowly. They noted lightning in the W during the evening. To the WSW of the centre at a distance of about 80 miles the S.S. Glamorganshire had a whole WNW gale backing to W. A heavy cross sea prevailed and her decks were constantly filled with water, but during the evening they made use of oil on both sides of the vessel which had a good effect in smoothing the sea.
At noon on the 5th the centre was situated in 21° 45,′ 113° 35′ or about 20 miles to the west of Gap Rock, and between 2 p. and 5 p. it was passing over or perhaps a little to the east of Macao at the slow rate of about 6 miles per hour only. At 9 p. it was situated between Hongkong and Canton at a distance of 30 miles to the NW of the former and 40 miles to the SE of the latter. Since early morning its course had been more and more towards a northerly direction and during the evening it had gained a NNE course, It was thus recurving on this day to the west of Hongkong, and as a consequence of the recurvature and the fact that the disturbance moved slowly during this act, the Colony, being in the righthand semicircle, experienced a strong gale, veering from NE to SW, for no less than 30 hours, viz., from 9 p. on the 4th until 2 a. on the 6th, the wind rising to typhoon force for a few hours on the 5th. The barometric minimum (29.20) occurred about 5 p. on the latter day with the wind, from SE by S, of full typhoon force. Unfortunately the velocity apparatus of the Observatory anemograph was broken by the wind, probably at 4.30 p., and the exact record of velocity was therefore lost but from estimations the wind was considered to be at its worst between 4.30 p. and 6 p., the squalls during this time being very severe. It is, however, doubtful whether the maximum hourly velocity as yet registered by the instrument, viz., 89 miles per hour, during the typhoon of September 10th to 11th, 1884, was exceeded although some few of the squalls on the present occasion were undoubtedly of very great violence. Some damage to property resulted, several houses being unroofed and a few partially demolished, but it does not appear that any very consider- able damage to structures of a substantial character took place. The telegraphic lines suffered severely and many fine trees were uprooted, but for the latter the heavy rain (10.19 inches in the 24 hours) which fell in torrents the whole day was, perhaps, to some extent, responsible. Several launches and junks which had sheltered in Yaumati Bay during the morning, the wind being then from E and SE, drove ashore during the evening when the wind got round to SW, but otherwise no damage occurred in the harbour although two or three sailing vessels dragged anchors.
The following are some of the most important observations made at Hongkong and the neighbouring stations on October 5th:
Hour.
Hongkong.
Macao.
Gap Rock.
Canton.
a.
29.56
E
10 org.
7
9
.53 E'S 11
.52 ESE 12
73
29.53 ENE
.48 E/N
5 opq. 29.38 ENE 6 orq.
10
.22 E
11
"1
10
.49 E/S 11
.43 .38
6
29.68
وو
J
NE 7ory.
7
,05 ENE 12
•
""
39
JJ
11
.46 ESE 11
.30
...
**
22
""
Noon.
.41 SEE 11
.17
..
...
23
P.
.33 SE/E 12
.06
.01 SE
12
""
22
2
31 SE
10
28.92
5 od.
""
24
3
.27 SES 11
.96 ENE
1
.64
69pq.
17
**
.25 SSE 12
.96 NNW
1 o.
.14 SSW
12
39
.20 SE S
12
.97 WNW
5 odq.
وو
21 SSE
12
29.00
5 orq.
"
12
7
.25 S/E 10
.09
.87 SSW 12
-
55
9
35 S/W 9
.36 W
.46
NNE 10 or,
وو
10
.42 SSW 9
.44 WSW
.46 SW
11
""
Midt.
.50 SSW 10
.52
>>
37