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The information for the 27th shows that a rather rapid decrease of pressure was in progress on the SE const of China, winds there being light chiefly from a S direction, and the weather fine, hot and dry. At Bolinao the barometer was rising and moderate SW and S winds prevailed accompanied by wet weather. At 3 p. on this day we have the following observations:-Amoy 29.64, SSW 3. b: Swatow 29.65, SSW 1, c: Hongkong 29 67, W 1, c: Bolinao 29.73, S 2, or, The only vessel reporting bad weather on this day was the ship Paramita which experienced a strong W gale in 16" '9', 116° 24'. Unfortunately barometric observations were not recorded.
The bark Geo. F. Manson began to feel the effects of the advancing typhoon at midnight of the 27th. The vessel was situated in 18° 57′, 114° 18' at this hour when the wind suddenly sprang up and blew with the force of a strong breeze from NNW. The barometer read 29.60 (uncorrected) and the mercury was falling fast. The vessel was steering on a N course, bound for Hongkong, with the wind gradually backing towards W and increasing steadily in force. When they discovered that the vessel was in the left-hand semicircle they decided to run the vessel as nearly as possible to course so as to lose no time; but considering that the barometer continued to fall rapidly with the wind increasing in force, this manœuvre was a dangerous one and they barely escaped running into the centre, for at 2 p. on the 28th, the vessel being in 20° 16′, 114° 14', the barometer had fallen to its minimun, 29.10, (uncorrected) and the wind was of storm force from W by S. The ship Alcedo was situated a few miles to the E and S of Hongkong when at 2 a. on the 28th the barometer, 29.71, began to fall rapidly and at the same time the wind, which had been light and variable, suddenly freshened form ENE. The weather was squally and threatening and lightning was observed in the É and SW. The vessel was on the port tack heading SE by E, in the right-hand semicircle, but as they had no sea-room this could not be avoided. Sail was taken in as required and at noon in 21° 48′, 114° 38′ she was lying to under a storm trysail, heading S and making 7 points leeway, the wind being a fierce gale from ESE and the barometer standing at 29.22. Between 1 p. and 2 p. the barometer was at its lowest point, 29.20, with the wind at SE by E, and the vessel was drifting dead before the wind at about 24 knots per hour. After 3 p. the wind commenced to decrease in force with rising barometer.
At midnight on the 27th the centre may have been in about 20°, 116° and at noon on the 28th it was situated midway between these two vessels and in 21° 00', 114° 30'. At 3 p. it passed about 40 miles to the South of Gap Rock, the barometric minimum, 29.24, occurring there at this hour with the wind a strong NE veering gale. At Hongkong the lowest barometer reading, 29.45, was recorded near 3 p. and the highest hourly wind velocity, registered by the anemograph, was 33 miles at 2 p. and 3 p. the direction being NE by E.
Of other vessels the steamships Tai Cheong, Derawongse and the Austrian frigate Aurora were all situated in the left-hand front quadrant on the morning of the 28th. The Tai Cheony was situated in 19° 59′, 113° 50′ at noon. At 7 a. they had the wind increasing from NW with falling barometer, and they suspected that a typhoon was situated to the NE of the vessel. At 9 a. they therefore rightly ran to the southward. At noon they had a strong W backing gale, but at 3 p. they steered N again as the barometer had commenced rising with the wind steadily backing towards S. The Devawongse was situated in 19° 30', 112° 16' at noon and steering N 31 E. The barometer, 29.61, was falling and the wind a fresh breeze from NW. At 2.50 p. the vessel was very properly turned round and steered S 22° E, the barometer having fallen to 29.54 with the wind a moderate NW gale. They had the wind backing to SW, a fresh breeze, during the afternoon with the barometer rising slowly after 5 p. They steered N 17° E at 10 p. but as the wind increased to a moderate gale accompanied by fierce squalls from S and SW and the barometer had a falling tendency, they again turned the ship's head to the southward and waited till the barometer rose decidedly. The Austrian frigate Aurora was situated in 19° 8', 113° 38′ at 11 a. During the morning hours moderate to strong NW and W breezes were experienced accompanied by constant rain. The wind backed slowly towards SW and the barometer fell to its minimuin, 29.53, at 3 p. at which hour the wind was from WSW of the force of a fresh breeze. At 3.15 p. a distinct band of peculiarly disturbed sea was observed to be approaching the vessel from ENE. It stretched from NNW to SSE and was between 300 and 400 yards in width. It passed the ship in a few minutes, at the rate of about 6 miles per hour, moving towards WSW. It passed the ship in a few minutes, at the rate of about 6 miles per hour, moving towards WSW. The sea was pyramidal in this area, the tops frequently bursting and throwing up the spray to a height of about 6 feet with a sound as though the vessel was lying in violently boiling water. Before the passing of this band of broken water a rough cross sea prevailed, but after its passage the sea calmed down considerably.
At this time the centre was passing at a distance of about 100 miles to the N of the vessel, the barometer on board showing the minimum at 3 p. with the wind thereafter backing rather quickly towards S, so that although the trough phenomena often observed in the depressions of more northern Intitudes are not always well marked in typhoons, there is every reason to suppose that this phenomenon was connected with the passage of the trough in this case.
Between the 28th and 29th the disturbance moved towards W by N at the rate of about 9 miles per hour and it entered the coast in the neighbourhood of Hui-Ling-Sau (21° 35, 111° 50′) on the morning of the latter day. At noon on the 29th it was probably situated in 21°, 110° and during the evening of this day it passed a little to the N of Pakhoi where a NW gale, in the morning, backing o SW, in the evening, was experienced. At the Custom House the lowest barometer reading, 29.26,