Sessional_Paper_1895 — Page 371

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At noon on the 9th the Lilian Robbins was still close to the centre, but her position, which is from dead reckoning, may possibly be somewhat in error as the vessel had been subject to a whole gale for a period of 36 hours and her position had not been determined by observation since noon of the 7th. The centre is, therefore, placed in 17° 45,' 114° 00′ at noon on the 9th which is a few miles to the westward of the position which the observations made on board this vessel would appear to indicate. This gives the disturbance a motion at the rate of rather less than 4 miles per hour in a W by N direction during the 24 hours ending at noon on the 9th. The Lilian Robbins was evidently situated close to the centre and was probably being carried along by the storm. The lowest recorded reading of the barometer was 29.26 and the mercury remained practically steady at this point the whole day. The wind, however, changed from SSW to E between 4 a. and 6 a. so that the vessel passed from the SE to the NE quadrant during the interval. After noon the wind veered to ESE but continued to blow with force 10 to 11 accompanied by heavy rainsqualls for the remainder of the day. The S.S. Arratoon Apcar experienced a strong SSE gale at a distance of about 90 miles to the rear of the centre. the S.S. Holstein a fresh NNE gale at a distance of about 150 miles in front of the centre and the S.S. Tai Cheong a fresh NE gale at a distance of 200 miles to the N of the centre. When the Black South Cone was hoisted the centre was situated about 260 miles to the south of Hongkong.

At noon on the 10th the centre was situated in 18° 30′, 112° 30′ or about 250 miles to the SSW of Hongkong and about 150 miles to the SE of Hoihow. The disturbance had continued to move at an average rate of about 4 miles per hour during the preceding 24 hours, the direction being towards WNW. At Hongkong it blew with an average force of a moderate gale from NE and ENE during the middle part of the day accompanied by rainsqualls, but the disturbance was now slowly moving away from the Colony and the barometer commenced to rise during the afternoon. At Hoihow the barometer was falling and a strong N breeze, increasing, was experienced. The sky was overcast and drizzling rain was falling. As usual the observations made at this station failed to reach Hong- kong until two days later on. At sea the S.S. Taicheong was about 69 miles to the WSW of the centre at noon. This vessel had continued on her course towards SW since noon of the previous day and had run across the path in front of the centre in the course of the morning during which time winds of storm force backing from NE by N to NW were experienced accompanied by violent squalls. The lowest recorded reading of the barometer was made at noon. After this hour very heavy rain squalls were experienced and the wind continued backing towards W and SW but decreasing slowly in force. At midnight the barometer had risen to 29.50 but it still blew a strong gale from SW by The S.S. Holstein was in the righthand semicircle and situated at a distance of about 75 miles to the N by W of the centre. During the afternoon and evening a typhoon from NE veering to E was experienced, the lowest reading of the barometer (29.22) being recorded at midnight. Next morn- ing the wind veered to SE, decreasing slowly, with rising barometer. The ship Lilian Robbins, in the NE quadrant at a distance of about 120 miles from the centre, still had a whole gale from ESE at noon on the 10th but the barometer was rising quickly and the gale decreased during the evening. The S.S. Mathilde was hove to on the port tack early on the morning of the 10th. At noon she was probably situated at a distance of about 75 miles to the front of the centre.

The barometer fell very rapidly during the evening and the wind which had been gradually increasing from the NW since noon attained typhoon force at 8 p. At 11 p. the wind decreased to force 4, and at midnight with the lowest recorded reading of the barometer (28.74) the wind changed to SW of force 3, the rain ceased, the sky partially cleared and the sea became moderate. The wind continued light from SW until after 2 a. of the 11th, the barometer having risen slightly but at 3 a. it was blowing with typhoon force from SW and the barometer bad risen to 28.94. Typhoon force from SW lasted until G a. when the storm began to abate, the direction backing to SSW at 9 a. The vessel therefore appears to have been situated on the southern edge of the central area at midnight of the 10th and the disturbance appears from these observations to have been moving to the NW at the time.

W.

During the morning of the 11th the centre entered the island of Hainan. At Hoihow a whole gale from N by E was experienced at 2 a. and the barometer fell to its lowest point, 29.40, at noon, at which hour the wind had veered to ESE and decreased to a fresh gale, In the course of the after- noon the wind further veered to SE and gradually decreased in force and at 9 p. the barometer had risen to 29.71. The I.M.C.C. Kaipan was anchored in Yulinkan Bay on the extreme south coast of Hainan. A strong W breeze was experienced during the morning which decreased in the afternoon and backed to SW in the evening. The barometer was rising after 8 a. and read 29.79 at 8p. The centre at noon was situated in 19° 30′, 110° 0′ or a few miles to the south of Hoihow and it had evidently commenced to fill up on entering the island. The course of the disturbance continued to be towards the WNW but the average speed had increased to 6 miles per hour between the 10th and 11th. In the course of the evening the steamships Strathdce and Hongkong encountered the typhoon in the Gulf of Tongking. The Strathdee which had left Hongay for Hongkong on the morning of the 11th experienced a moderate N breeze with cloudy and gloomy weather. During the afternoon the barometer began to fall quickly and at 8 p. they had a heavy gale from NNW which increased to typhoon force from the same direction at midnight, the vessel then being situated in 20° 00′, 107° 33'. The barometer was at its lowest point (29.56) at the same hour. The vessel was in the lefthand semicircle and the wind gradually backed to NW 10 (29.65) at 4 a. and to W 10 (29.79) at 8 a.