Sessional_Paper_1896 — Page 514

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On the 12th at 4.15 p. Haiphong." On the 13th at Haiphong during the night.' and showery.

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"The centre of the depression is approaching the neighbourhood of 10.45 a. The depression, moving northward, entered the coast near At 11.20 a. Forecast:-"barometer falling: fresh SE winds: squally

The depression (III) indicated above was probably formed to the NW of Palawan between the 8th and 9th of June. This is not clearly established as information is wanting from that part of the China Sea. Calms and light variable breezes had prevailed across the China Sea between the parallels of 10° and 20° on the two or three days previous to the 8th. On this day, however, owing to a considerable increase of pressure over China, NE and E winds, moderate or light in force. became general over the Northern and Western part of the above area. Pressure in Luzon was slightly in defect, while at Hongkong it was about 0.1 inch, and at Shanghai about 0.2 inch, above the normal.

On the 9th the relative conditions as to pressure were almost unchanged. At Shanghai the barometer read 29.96, at Hongkong 29.91, at Bolinao 29.81 and off the Cochin-China coast 29.83. In the latter district moderate breezes from NNW to NNE prevailed; in the China Sea to the N of 15° latitude winds were moderate breezes from NE and E, while at Bolinao a light SE breeze prevailed. On this day there was therefore a tendency for winds to become cyclonic about that part of the China Sea to the NW of Palawan, or perhaps around the position 12°, 117.

On the 10th the existence of a cyclonic depression is clearly shown by the observations made at sea, and the centre was situated in 14° 00′, 114° 00′ at noon on this day.

The schooner Queen City, in the right-hand semicircle, and situated in 14° 43′, 116° 16′ at noon, experienced a strong ESE veering to SE gale during this day, the barometric minimum, 29.59, occurring at 8 a. The steamships Shanghai, Kutsang, Glenartney and Shantung were all situated at noon in the area comprised by latitute 14° 11', 14° 47' and longitude 112° 12', 112° 36'. They were thus directly in front of the advancing typhoon which at the time was moving towards WNW. On board the Shanghai, which was steering S 30° W, a heavy cloud bank was noticed in the E and SE during the early morning and this gradually overspread the sky. At 9 a. a sharp thunderstorm was experienced with strong wind from NNE. The barometer then commenced to fall rather rapidly, but they continued on their course and ran across the path in front of the centre during the afternoon, a fresh gale backing from N to WNW being encountered, the minimum barometer reading, 29.49, occurring at 6 p. The Kutsang, steering about NNE for Hongkong, had a strong breeze from N by W at noon with the barometer, 29.64, falling fast. They rightly turned the vessel round at this time and steered S 15° W experiencing a fresh NW backing to WSW gale which decreased after 10 p. The barometric minimum, 29.43, occurred at 6 p. The Glenartney, also bound for Hongkong, had similar weather to the Kutsang at noon, but they were a little later in turning the vessel round and' had much worse weather than the Kutsang. The barometer fell to 29.36 at 6 p. and a whole gale and storm from NW backing to S was experienced. The Shantung was hove to at noon in 14° 26,′ 112°

The barometer, 29.59, was falling fast at the time and a moderate NW by N gale was blowing: The barometer continued to fall and the wind, which was slowly backing, increased quickly in force. Between 7 p. and 10 p. typhoon force of wind was experienced from WSW backing to S, the barometric minimum, 28 97, occurring at 7.30 p. at which hour the centre passed a little to the N of the vessel.

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The steps taken to avoid the typhoon in the case of these four vessels furnish particularly interesting examples for comparison. It is seen that the Shanghai came out in safety by crossing the track in front of the centre, thus passing from the dangerous to the manageable semicircle. The Kutsany, Glenartney and Shantung were all steering for Hongkong, and within a few miles of each otlier at noon.

The Kutsang then turned round in time and ran to the southward. The Glenartney executed the same manœuvre but a little too late and had much worse weather than the Kutsang, while the Shantung was hove to near the track in front of the centre and in consequence experienced the full force of the typhoon.

On the 11th at noon the centre was situated in 16° 30', 110° 15'. The vessels chiefly concerned on this day were the steamships Erato and Norden and the Chinese Customs' Cruiser Likin. The Erato, hove to, had an increasing NNE gale with rapidly falling barometer during the early morning and at 8 a, the vessel being situated in 15° 54', 110° 23, they had storm force of wind from NNW. Between this hour and noon the wind backed steadily to SSW, typhoon force of wind being experienced from 9 a. to 11 a. The mercury descended to 29.01 at 9 a. at which hour the centre was passing to the NE and N of, and very close to, the vessel. The Norden hove to in the left-hand semicircle, and situated in 17° 43', 108° 19', had an increasing N gale at noon. The centre passed a little to the E of the vessel at 7 p. at which hour the barometric minimum, 29.11, occurred, with the wind of storm force from NNW. The wind backed to SW at 9 p. and decreased rapidly in force. The Likin at anchor in Yulinkan harbour (18° 12', 109° 33′) was in the right-hand semicircle. The barometer fell to 29.43 at 8 p and a whole gale from EXÉ veering to SE, with squalls of typhoon force, was experienced during the afternoon and evening.

The path of the typhoon inclined more and more towards N between midnight of the 10th and the same hour of the 11th and on the 12th, in the Gulf of Tongking, it was moving towards NNW. At noon on this day the centre was situated in 20° 00′, 107° 40′ and about 8 p. it entered the coast to the E of Haiphong where a strong NNW backing gale was experienced during the evening.