1870.03 台风中的夜晚

shiyi18

台风中的夜晚
1870年3月号
分享

可能在海军中没有其他船只像爱达荷号这样经历了如此多的事件，尽管它的职业生涯如此短暂。在战争后期，她被设计为一级蒸汽护卫舰，速度为每小时15节；她热情而自信的设计者甚至保证每少15节就减免10万美元的价格，只要她每超过一节，他们就能得到同样的钱。人的计算能力真糟糕！在她的试航中，她几乎没有得到任何回报。在她的试航中，她几乎没能打出九个结。签订合同的杰出公民众所周知的爱国主义精神和毋庸置疑的诚信，她的建造者在世界范围内的声誉，以及她的船体无与伦比的美丽，使政府决定接受她的原样，并拆除了她的引擎，她成为并一直保持着一艘航海船。战争结束了，对蒸汽船的直接需求不再存在；因此，这个问题一直没有得到解决，即不同结构的发动机是否可以达到其他效果。


一段时间以来，海军部一直在建议在几个外国站点的总部建立浮动医院和仓库船，爱达荷号被认为是进行试验的合适船只。因此，她只配备了足够的风帆动力就能到达目的地；1867年11月1日，她离开纽约前往日本的长崎，在那里她将 "永久驻扎，并部分地作为亚洲中队的医院和仓库船。"

杂志封面图片
以PDF格式查看本故事
请看这个故事出现在《大西洋》杂志的页面上。

打开
在海军圈子里，她无疑被认为是一个昂贵的失败。她在大洋上的唯一一次亮相是不值得信赖的。许多人甚至怀疑她是否能到达目的地，而拒绝请求的借口也不止一次提出，她肯定会丢失，没有必要在她身上浪费更多的钱。加入她的军官们带着对她能力的疑虑上了船，带着那种不甘心的咆哮上了船，这种咆哮成了从事不确定职业的人的习惯，在这种职业中，服从命令带来的危险和不适往往比轻松和快乐更多。她的手下迷信地预示着她会遭遇不幸，因为她在星期五开始巡航。然而，在她开始漫长的航行之前，她就已经证明了她非凡的能力，并为塑造她美丽线条的天才主持了公道。在离开纽约后不久，风就刮到了前面，一个小时后，她的航速达到了14.5节，她的船坞几乎被撑得很尖。船员们和军官们一下子都为她着迷了。似乎是为了回报他们对她的赞美，她在四个小时内跑了65节（大约75英哩），在东南贸易之前跑到了里约热内卢，--她后来有一次在南印度洋超过了这一速度，当时她把所有的线都从卷轴上跑了下来，在沙子完全离开玻璃之前，标出了18.5节，而当时她很可能每小时在水中移动20英里。没有亲自检查过她的航海日志的航海家们，不必责怪他们把如此无与伦比的速度看作是空洞的吹嘘或夸大。即使有人站在她的甲板上，目睹她如何稳定地在海面上滑行，无声无息地切开波浪，不留下麻烦的泡沫，甚至不屈服于微风，而是像尖塔一样直立起来，他自己也会感到难以置信，直到他看到上面的芯片，并数出10、12和15，记录的风力会促使许多其他高贵的船只，用相应更大的帆布，只有6、8或9。

但在爱达荷号上，这并不全是一个夏日，她的行进也不只是一个胜利的过程。11月22日下午两点，就在军官们吃完饭，正懒洋洋地忙着读书、写字、抽烟或聊天的时候，一位乘客从下层衣帽间冲了出来，头也不抬，脸色发白，喘着粗气说："我的天，杂志社着火了！"。"浓浓的黑烟迅速跟在他身后，表明这不是一场虚惊。火警铃声立即响起，船员们迅速赶往各自的岗位，以纪律严明的水手所特有的那种不顾一切的勇气工作着，无论发生什么紧急情况。船上所有的人都意识到了他们可怕的危险。他们从一开始就被训练成在处理火药时要非常小心，甚至当火药被装在牢固的铜罐中带到船上时，他们也要熄灭所有的灯光和火，无论多远，甚至不穿普通的鞋子进入弹药库，以免铁钉打出火花，在这里他们看到火焰自己在数千磅的危险炸药周围激烈地玩耍。火魔已经进入了死亡之室，但勇敢的人跟着他战斗，并在烟雾、黑暗和火焰中辛勤工作，自己没有任何生命的希望，以拯救他们在甲板上的船友的生命，他们站在那里，许多人无事可做，因此更加悲惨，贪婪地听着从下面传来的疯狂报告，说火势越来越大，弹夹无法启动，这一切都取决于我们。在10分钟内--似乎是几个小时--人们坚定地看着死神的脸（后来在游轮上，我们在现实中也盯着他看了好几个小时），并想到那些他们再也见不到的家中的亲人，以及当他们知道他们是如何失去亲人的时候，他们会遭受的痛苦。我想，很少有人会在这种时候，即使有任何人爱他们，也会想到自己或自己的未来，而只是为了别人，--亲爱的母亲或姐妹或妻子，而祈求逃脱。火焰渐渐平息，烟雾越来越浓，从下面拉上来的昏厥和半昏迷的人宣布危险已经过去。人们很少能逃脱比这更紧迫的危险，但这将是爱达荷人的命运，使我们更加接近永恒的边缘。

推荐阅读
以手机、笔记本电脑和平板电脑为特色的森林场景缩影
无所事事也能赚钱的应用程序
安妮-洛瑞（ANNIE LOWREY
人们在纽约公共图书馆的玫瑰主阅览室里阅读
少担心破烂的道路，多担心破烂的图书馆
埃里克-克利南伯格

工作场所食物破坏者的暴政
阿曼达-穆尔
在印度洋上进行了前面所说的非凡的航行之后，变幻莫测的风仿佛满足于给这艘船一个展示她的步伐的机会，抛弃了她。一连串刺激性的平静和逆风袭击了她；这艘在任何海域中航行速度最快的船只在日本航行了两百天，是有记录以来最长的航程之一。她在构成翁贝海峡的海峡和岛屿中逗留了53天，其中20天只航行了17英里。她在长崎的逗留是不顺利的。关于她的速度的报告，以及军官们对这样一个我们海军建筑的美丽标本应该被留在她明显不适合的岗位上腐烂的提醒，最终使政府决定召回她，她被命令到横滨，在去香港卸下她的剩余物资之前，然后与中队的伤员一起驶向巴拿马，最后到旧金山，在那里被修理和改装成一艘巡航船。

正如预期的那样，在长崎港的同一个停泊点停留了15个月，使她的底部被海草和藤壶弄得非常脏，以至于她在前往横滨的路上没有表现出任何著名的速度。然而，她的厄运仍然伴随着她，因为在一条先是西南偏南，然后是东南偏东，最后是东北偏北的航线上，她总是遇到逆风，并在8月19日遇到了台风，尽管这对她腐烂的船身造成了极大的压力，但却显示了她作为一艘海船的令人钦佩的品质。尽管飓风非常严重，事后发现，它对横滨和耶多附近的航运造成了巨大的伤害--除其他破坏外，还将一栋一百英尺长的建筑物举到空中三十多英尺，并将其吹成碎片--爱达荷号没有损失一根脊柱，也几乎没有出海。缝隙被打开，螺栓被拉开，横梁被折断，但她表现得很高贵，并确立了她被认为是航海者的典范的地位。尽管这次飓风很猛烈，但与这艘船即将经历的磨难相比，它只是一场中等强度的大风，而本文的目的就是要讲述这一点。这艘英勇的船只将300个灵魂带入永恒之门，并将其安全送回，他们的经历很少有人能体会到，因此他们的故事有必要被记录下来，即使只是为了科学的利益。

在叙述这些事件之前，也许应该向非专业读者解释一下台风的性质。这个词是中国的词源，在原文中仅表示 "很大的风"，并被学者接受为表示那一类最猛烈的飓风，一般称为 "旋风 "或旋转的大风。它们最常出现在西印度群岛、印度洋，特别是中国海。在后一个地区，盛行的风被称为 "季风"，从五月到九月稳定地从西南方向吹来，从十月到四月从东北方向吹来。季风变化的季节特别容易产生大气扰动，尤其是东北季风开始的时间，与秋分相吻合，是最猛烈的台风发生的时候。所有的风都有一个普遍的趋势，那就是向曲线方向移动，而在飓风的情况下，它完全变成了圆形，而大风在向任何一个方向的海面上前进的同时，也以其中心为中心旋转，就像地球在其轨道上飞速旋转时以其轴为中心旋转，或者车轱辘在地面上滚动时以其轴树为中心旋转。

杂志封面图片
探索1870年3月号
查看本期的更多内容，并寻找你的下一个故事来阅读。

查看更多
因此，很明显，当大风本身可能在行驶时，比如说向东北方向行驶，风会从罗盘的每一个点吹向龙卷风圆周的几个部分，当然还有它的对边或半圆，正如它们在技术上的称呼，直接向相反的方向吹。龙卷风的直径从一英里到几百英里不等，风的速度和强度从外部向中心增加，在那里突然停止。这个平静的中心，或者说是旋风的漩涡，可能非常小，以至于风从一个方向到另一个方向几乎没有停顿，或者像即将叙述的例子那样，当它在爱达荷上空经过近两个小时时，它的直径可能达到20英里。一股旋转的大风的范围往往是几千英里，它以每小时10至30英里的速度前进，同时，与整个大风的这种渐进速度无关，大风本身的几个平面的回旋或旋转速度可能有各种可以想象的力量，根据它与涡流的接近或距离。

9月18日，爱达荷号被报告准备出海，20日被指定为开往香港的日子。在船上，人们普遍希望再多呆一个星期，原因有二：一是等待家里的邮件，这是我们这种流亡者生活中唯一真正的乐趣；二是到那时，各地通常在赤道期间出现的恶劣天气，以及这里的恶劣天气，都将结束，而且更有可能出现有利的季风来催促我们前进，在这个特殊季节，即使是一个星期或两个星期，也会有这种前景。海上和岸上的朋友，水手、海军军官、商人和保险代理人，都对我们的轻率行为提出了建议和批评，并指出大量的商船，满载而来，准备出海，只是因为拒绝了保险单而被扣留在港口。但决定权并不在我们自己手中，当我们真正说出再见时，得到的回应是许多人的 "上帝保佑你们"，以及许多人的祈祷，希望我们能躲过这么多可能遇到的危险。我们于20日上午启程，我们的 "归途 "挂件在我们身后数百英尺处欢快地流向我们的目标。对即将到来的坏天气的预感可以追溯到当天凌晨1点，气压计从30.05下降到8点的29.96，不久之后我们就开始航行了。泥土是令人不快的，阴沉的，有威胁的。一些老居民和天气预报专家甚至在前一天就预言会有台风，而这次事件证明了他们预言的正确性。我们被 "Ashuelot "号拖走了，但这艘船仿佛对接受这样的帮助感到羞愧，在港口直接吹来的清新的微风中，它很快就带着小双桅船跑了，并迫使她抛下了她的绳子。白天，风稍微变大了，但仍保持着从北向东的方向。到了下午，天空放晴了，船上的人在我们快速奔向家园的影响下精神大振；但气压计缓慢而稳定地下降。整个晚上，这艘船都在扬起风帆欢快地航行，速度从未低于10节，几乎让我们相信我们的预感是没有根据的。21日白天下起了小雨，到了早上8点，海面上出现了适度的波浪，船开始不安地行驶，尽管现在从南向和东向吹来的风的力量几乎没有增加，而且气压计的下降是如此缓慢，以至于中午时分，水银仍然保持在29.70。然而，大风的到来已不再有任何疑问，人们已做好准备迎接它。一点钟的时候，顶帆收起，风速很快，主帆和后桅顶帆很快就被收起。两小时后，前帆开始裂开，被收了起来，到四点钟时，船在左舷停了下来，挂着前风浪帆、试帆和收紧的主帆，由南向西南方向行驶，一股狂风从东南方向吹来，气压计为29.50，下着细密的雨，海面上波涛汹涌，毫无规律。这艘船就像在港口一样轻盈地行驶着。

从这时起，水银迅速下降，风势也迅速增强，稳定地保持着东南方向，并刮起了可怕的阵风，风势减弱了，似乎只是为了重新凝聚力量。大风已经变成了飓风。很明显，它正在迅速接近我们。五点过后几分钟，主帆，一块长98英尺、周长7英尺的木头，在雷鸣般的撞击声中被折成了三块；几乎与这场灾难同时，主帆在一连串像火枪射击一样的巨大裂缝中裂开，并消失在背风处。主三角帆很快就收紧了，并被吹成了丝带；不久之后，前三角帆转眼间就消失了，紧随其后的是防风帆的边缘。飓风变成了龙卷风；我们正在与大海的大祸害，可怕的台风搏斗。试图对这些可怕的自然界的抽搐之一进行描述是一项无望的任务，即使是对那些没有不幸经历过的航海家来说也是如此。风的嚎叫，在音调和力度上不断变化，是地球上从未听到过的声音，但却像所有恶魔在大闹天宫时发出的不和谐的叫声一样。它使人的耳朵感到疼痛和震耳欲聋，并在整个框架内发出奇怪的恐怖的刺激。船只静静地侧卧在那里，被疯狂的风吹着，与此同时，风把海面吹平了，把波浪的顶端切下来，分成细小的白色水花，像厚厚的云层一样覆盖在海面上，高达顶桅的头顶。有时，从四分之一的甲板上看不到主桅杆。头部无法抬高到栏杆之上，甚至无法看向风向。眼皮被挤得紧紧的，脸也被飞驰的盐雾刺痛。人们呼吸着盐雾，感到恶心。他们蹲在甲板上，用尽全身力气紧紧抓住任何看起来最安全的东西。有一两个人爬到了船头，但不得不全身躺下。肘部的人不可能听到命令；如果听到了，也不可能执行命令。这艘船几乎是趴在船梁上的，她的舵竖起来了，甚至连船帆都被扯掉了，这些船帆已经在船坞上被收起来了。凡人的手对她无能为力。


到了六点半，台风的威力已经到了难以形容的程度。每阵风的强度似乎都无法超越，但在经过一段并不平静的停顿后，又被更可怕的风暴所取代。气压表显示为27.82。桅杆和码子一个接一个地砸下来，尽管震耳欲聋的风声几乎淹没了它们坠落的声音。船只开始沉重地工作，每一次摇晃都有巨大的浪花，把所有可移动的东西都冲出了甲板，把船和舱壁、船舱、军械库和储藏室、天窗和吊床栏杆都带走了，把人和军官都冲到了船尾，成了混乱无助的人群。七点半，气压计下降到27.62，这本身就能让航海家们满意--他们以强烈的兴趣观察这个小显示器上每小时的十分之一和百分之一的变化--元素正在上演他们最伟大的悲剧之一。现在，一股巨大的海浪从船头和舷梯涌来，完成了它的前辈们已经开始的破坏，把甲板扫得干干净净，并撕掉了放在舱门上以防止水从下面流进来的压条和防水布。暴风雨正处于最猛烈的状态。黑暗是无法穿透的，除了偶尔闪现的片状闪电，为这一景象增添了新的恐怖，脸色苍白、惊恐的人们静静地、绝望地注视着这一切。这艘船的每个部分都在颤抖，它的木头在工作和开裂，仿佛它每时每刻都要断成两截。


突然间，水银上升到27.90，随着一声狂野的、不食人间烟火的、令人魂飞魄散的尖叫声，风也突然降到了平静，那些曾经在这些海域呆过的人知道，我们正处在可怕的台风漩涡中，是可怕的旋风中心。船上的水很快就灌满了，人们努力开动水泵，但都没有结果；但当风停后，人们高兴地跳到刹车上，感叹道："大风破了！我们都安全了！" 对于军官们来说，却没有这种欣喜若狂的感觉。他们知道，如果他们没有在漩涡中丧生，他们还得遭遇台风的另一个半圆，而且是在一艘残废的船上。这就好比一个由刚受伤的士兵组成的军团被命令在战场上迎接新的敌人，而且不能拖延，因为风的停止并不是一个休息的时期。在这之前，大海一直被风压制着，只有在船只完全无法控制的时候才会登船；但现在，海水摆脱了一切束缚，以自己的力量上升。恐怖的闪电显示出它们在四面八方堆积成粗糙的金字塔形，高耸入云--旋转的风圈到处包围着它们，使它们沸腾和翻滚，仿佛它们正在某个强大的熔炉中被搅动。这艘船不再被吹得东倒西歪，而是翻滚着，像个软木塞一样被抛来抛去。海水上升，翻倒，并以粉碎性的力量落在她的甲板上。有一次，她的船头、船尾和右舷舷梯上都有巨大的水体，在同一时刻。她在巨大的负荷下沉没了，没有人想到会再站起来，有些人正在为多活几分钟做准备，抓住梯子和箱子，当她从他们脚下消失时，他们可能会被浮力托起来。她剧烈地颤抖着，停了下来，然后慢慢地、疲惫地上升，她的甲板上有四英尺的水。她的缝隙前后都打开了，水成片地涌入，给那些被关闭的舱门关在下面甲板上的人带来了最悲惨的无望感。对他们来说，情况甚至比甲板上的人更令人震惊，因为对他们来说，完全没有逃生的希望。他们看到水从上面的甲板缝隙中流过，看着水在泵井中一寸一寸地上升，在不到一个小时的时间里，就有15次。他们目睹了这艘船的变形，看着巨大的横梁和坚固的膝盖断成两半，柱子被拔掉，螺栓被拉开，水口被打开，大量的烂木头从表面光滑的油漆和清漆掩盖的地方掉出来，他们知道，只要从这艘船的侧面拿出一块木板，就能把她变成他们的棺材。在一个地方，一个人把他的胳膊从一个洞里插到了最外面的木板上。上面和下面的人都被抛在甲板上，其中许多人受伤。有些人骨头断裂，四肢脱臼，爬到外科医生那里，乞求帮助。


在八点前二十分钟，这艘船进入了漩涡；在九点过二十分钟，漩涡过去了，飓风又回来了，从北方重新猛烈地吹来，转向西方。

这艘曾经高贵的船，不仅是我们海军的骄傲，也是全世界造船人的骄傲，现在只是一个无法管理的残骸。风除了将大量的断裂的桅杆、破损的船帆和被钢丝索具固定在一起的分离的绳索越缠越紧外，几乎没有什么可做的了。有一个奇怪的捆绑物，大约有四英尺厚，由帆、绳索和避雷针组成，结在一起，十几个人的努力都无法将其解开，它被保留下来，作为我们与风斗争的战利品，也是它们能够完成神秘效果的一个显著例子。当天亮的时候，危险已经过去了，我们第一次意识到，在那个可怕的夜晚，这艘船在带着我们度过危险的过程中所造成的损失是惊人的。很明显，她是为了救我们而牺牲了自己。

很快，所有的人都在努力工作，清理残骸，挂上陪审团的桅杆和船帆；在太阳再次落山之前，这艘船正缓慢地驶回横滨，几小时前，它还以一个装备精良的战舰的姿态从那里出发。她的返回几乎有一种悲壮的感觉，因为在她重新进入港口并到达她可能永远不会离开的锚地之前，她已经爬行了8天，走完了她曾经如此愉快地飞驰过的距离。她躺在那里，被调查委员会认定为不适合航行，是我们海军历史上的一个有趣的遗迹，也是那不朽的天才的一个高贵的纪念碑，它使人类在最伟大的竞争中成功地应对了各种因素。




A Night in a Typhoon
MARCH 1870 ISSUE
SHARE

PROBABLY no other vessel in the navy has had so eventful, though so short a career, as the Idaho. She was designed, during the later years of the war, as a steam frigate of the first class, to have a speed of fifteen knots an hour; her enthusiastic and confident projectors even guaranteeing to abate a hundred thousand dollars of her price for every knot less than fifteen, provided they should receive an equal sum for every one she might exceed that rate. Alas for human calculations! On her trial trip she was scarcely able to make nine. The well-known patriotism and undoubted integrity of the distinguished citizen who had contracted for her, the world-wide reputation of her builders, and the unrivalled beauty of her hull, determined the government to accept her as she was, and, removing her engines, she became and has ever since remained a sailing-vessel. The war was over, and the immediate need for steamers no longer existed; whence it happened that the problem was never solved, whether engines of a different construction might not have accomplished other results.


The Navy Department had, for some time, been proposing to establish floating hospital and store ships at the head-quarters of the several foreign stations, and the Idaho was deemed a proper vessel with which to make the experiment. She was accordingly fitted out with merely sufficient sail power to carry her to her destination ; and on the first day of November, 1867, she left New York for Nagasaki in Japan, where she was “ to be permanently stationed, and used in part as hospital and store ship for the Asiatic squadron.”

Magazine Cover image
View This Story as a PDF
See this story as it appeared in the pages of The Atlantic magazine.

Open
In naval circles she was undoubtedly regarded as a costly failure. Her only appearance upon the ocean had been discreditable. Many even doubted whether she could reach her destination, and the excuse for refusing requests was more than once given that she would certainly be lost, and that there was no use of wasting more money upon her. The officers who joined her went on board with misgivings as to her powers, doing so with that growl of resignation which becomes a habit with men who lead that uncertain career, in which obedience to orders brings often more danger and discomfort than ease and pleasure. Her men superstitiously foreboded evil to her because she commenced her cruise on Friday. Scarcely, however, had she started on her long voyage ere she gave evidence of her extraordinary powers, and nobly did justice to the genius which had modelled her beautiful lines. Soon after leaving New York the wind drew ahead, and hour by hour she logged fourteen and a half knots with her yards braced almost as sharp as they could be. Both crew and officers at once became enraptured with her ; and, as if to merit the praises they lavished upon her, she made sixty-five knots (about seventy-five statute miles) in four hours, running down to Rio de Janeiro before the southeast trades,— a rate which she afterwards exceeded, on one occasion, in the South Indian Ocean, when she ran all the line off the reel, marking eighteen and a half knots, before the sand had entirely left the glass, and when she was, in all probability, moving through the water twenty miles an hour. Nautical men, who have not personally inspected her log, need not be blamed for regarding speed so unparalleled as an idle boast or exaggeration. Even one who has stood upon her decks and witnessed how steadily she glided over the sea, cutting the billows noiselessly, leaving no wake of troubled foam, not even bending to the breeze, but standing upright as a steeple, would himself have been incredulous, until he had seen the chip thereon, and counted ten, twelve, and fifteen, with a recorded force of wind which would have impelled many another noble vessel, with proportionably greater spread of canvas, only six, eight, or nine.

But it was not all a summer day on board the Idaho, nor her march one of triumph only. At two o’clock of the afternoon of November 22d, just as the officers had finished their tiffin, and were lazily occupying themselves after their wont, reading, writing, smoking, or chatting, one of the passengers rushed up from the lower wardroom with uncovered head and blanched face gasping out, “My God, the magazine is on fire ! ” and thick volumes of black smoke quickly following him showed that it was no false alarm. Immediately the fire-bell rang, and the crew hastened to their several stations, working with that desperate courage which characterizes the disciplined sailor, no matter what the emergency. All on board were conscious of their fearful peril. Trained from their entering into the service to be so careful in handling powder, that even when it is brought on board in securely fastened copper tanks, they extinguish every light and fire, however distant, and do not even go into the magazine with ordinary shoes lest the iron nails might strike a spark, here they saw the flames themselves fiercely playing around thousands of pounds of the dangerous explosive. The demon of fire had entered the very chamber of death, but brave men followed to do him battle, and toiled amid the smoke and the darkness and flame, without a hope of life for themselves, to save the lives of their shipmates on deck, who stood there, many with nothing to do, and all the more wretched therefore, greedily listening to the wild reports that came from below, that the fire was gaining, that the magazine cork could not be started, — that it was all up with us. For ten minutes — hours they seemed — men looked death steadily in the face (later in the cruise we stared at him as many hours in reality), and thought of those dear ones at home whom they were never again to meet, and of the agony they would suffer when they knew how they had been bereaved. Few men, I imagine, who have any one to love them, even at such a time, think of themselves or their own future, but pray for escape only for the sake of others, — dear mother or sister or wife. Gradually the flames subsided, the smoke became denser, and fainting and half-suffocated men, drawn up from below, announced the danger over. One seldom escapes a more imminent peril than this, but it was to be the lot of the Idaho to bear us still nearer the brink of eternity.

RECOMMENDED READING
A forest scene in miniature, featuring a cellphone, a laptop, and tablets
The App That Monetized Doing Nothing
ANNIE LOWREY
People read in the Rose Main Reading Room of the New York Public Library
Worry Less About Crumbling Roads, More About Crumbling Libraries
ERIC KLINENBERG

The Tyranny of Workplace Food-Shamers
AMANDA MULL
Having made the extraordinary run in the Indian Ocean, already stated, the fickle wind, as though content with having given the ship an opportunity of showing her pace, deserted her. A succession of provoking calms and head-winds befell her; and the fastest sailing-vessel afloat in any sea made a passage of two hundred days to Japan, — one of the longest on record. She lingered fifty-three days among the straits and islands which constitute Ombay Passage, twenty of that time being consumed in making only seventeen miles. Her stay at Nagasaki was uneventful. The reports of her speed, and the remonstrances of officers that such a beautiful specimen of our naval architecture should be left to rot on duty for which she was so manifestly unfitted, finally determined the government to recall her, and she was ordered to Yokohama, prior to going to HongKong to discharge her surplus stores, and then sailing for Panama with the invalids of the squadron, and ultimately for San Francisco, there to be repaired and refitted as a cruising vessel.

As anticipated, fifteen months’ swinging at the same moorings in the harbor of Nagasaki had so fouled her bottom with sea-weed and barnacles, that she did not exhibit anything of her famous speed on the passage to Yokohama. Her bad luck, however, still attended her, for in a course which led first south-southwest, then southeast, afterwards east, and finally north-northeast, she invariably experienced an opposing wind, and on the 19th of August encountered a typhoon, which, though it sorely strained her rotten sides, demonstrated her admirable qualities as a sea-boat. Notwithstanding the severity of the hurricane, which, as afterwards discovered, occasioned an immense amount of injury to the shipping at and near Yokohama and in Yeddo,—among other ravages, lifted a building one hundred feet long more than thirty feet into the air, and there blew it to pieces, — the Idaho did not lose a spar, nor scarcely shipped a sea. Seams were opened, bolts drawn, and beams broken, but she behaved nobly, and established her claim to be considered the paragon of sea-goers. Violent as was this hurricane, it was only a moderate gale compared with the ordeal soon to be undergone by the ship, and which it is the purpose of this paper to relate. Three hundred souls, which this gallant vessel bore within the very gates of eternity and brought safely back, have had an experience vouchsafed few men, and hence their story has a claim to be put on record, if only in the interests of science.

Preliminary to the narration of these events, it may be desirable to explain to the non-professional reader something of the nature of typhoons. The term is of Chinese etymology, denoting in the original merely “a very great wind,” and is accepted by ipariners as expressive of the most violent of that class of hurricanes, generically termed “ cyclones,” or revolving gales. They occur most frequently among the West India Islands, in the Indian Ocean, and especially in the China Sea. In the latter region the prevailing winds, termed “ monsoons,” blow from May to September steadily from the southwest, and from October to April from the northeast. The seasons of the changes of the monsoons are especially fruitful of atmospheric disturbances, and particularly the time of the setting in of the northeast monsoon, which, coinciding with the autumnal equinox, is that when the most violent typhoons occur. There is a general tendency in all winds to move in a curvilinear direction, and in the case of hurricanes it becomes completely circular, and the gale, while advancing bodily over the face of the ocean in any one direction, at the same time revolves upon its centre, as the earth rotates upon its axis while speeding along in its orbit, or a cart-wheel turns upon its axle-tree while rolling over the ground.

Magazine Cover image
Explore the March 1870 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.

View More
It is evident, therefore, that while the gale itself may be travelling, say to the northeast, the wind will be blowing from every point of the compass in the several parts of the circumference of the tornado, and of course in its opposite sides or semicircles, as they arc technically called, in directly contrary directions. The diameter of a cyclone varies from one to several hundred miles, the velocity and intensity of the wind increasing from the exterior towards the centre, where it abruptly ceases. This centre of calm, or vortex of the whirlwind, may be so small that the wind shifts almost without lull from one direction to the opposite, or, as in the instance about to be narrated, when it was nearly two hours passing over the Idaho, it may have a diameter of twenty miles. The extent of range of a revolving gale is often several thousand miles, over which it advances at a speed of ten to thirty miles an hour, while, independent of this progressive rate of the whole mass, the gyratory or rotatory velocity ot the wind in the several planes of the gale itself may have every conceivable force, according to its nearness to or distance from the vortex.

On the 18th of September the Idaho was reported ready for sea, and the 20th was appointed her day for sailing for Hong-Kong. On board ship there was a very general desire to remain only a week longer, for two reasons,— the first, to await the arrival of the mail from home, — that one only real pleasure in the lives of such exiles as ourselves ; the other, because by that time the bad weather, which usually attends the equinoctial period everywhere, and here invariably, would have been over, with the additionally greater prospect of a favorable monsoon to urge us along, which even a week or fortnight at this particular season would have given. Friends afloat and on shore, sailors, naval officers, merchants, and insurance agents, advised and exclaimed against our indiscretion, and pointed out that a large number of merchant vessels, laden and ready for sea, were then detained in port only by the refusal of policies of insurance. But the decision did not rest with ourselves, and when we actually uttered our good-bys, they were responded to with many a “ God bless you,” and many a prayer that we might escape the dangers there were so many chances of encountering. We sailed on the forenoon of the 20th, our “ homeward-bound ” pendant gayly streaming hundreds of feet beyond us towards our goal. The premonitions of impending bad weather dated from one o’clock that very morning, the barometer having fallen from 30.05 to 29.96 at eight, soon after which we commenced getting under way. The clay was disagreeable, gloomy, and threatening. Some of the old residents and experts in signs of the weather had, even on the previous day, predicted a typhoon, and the event established the correctness of their prescience. We were taken in tow by the Ashuelot, but the ship, as though ashamed of receiving such assistance, with a fresh, fair breeze blowing directly out of the harbor, quickly ran away with the little doublcender and compelled her to cast off her lines. The wind slightly freshened during the day, but held its direction from the northward and eastward. Towards afternoon the sky cleared up and the spirits of those on board rose under the influence of the quick run we were making towards home; but the barometer slowly yet steadily fell. All night long the ship sped merrily along with studding-sails set, never making less than ten knots, and almost inducing us to believe that our forebodings had been groundless. At daylight of the 21st a drizzling rain set in, and by eight o’clock in the morning the sea had become moderately rough, and the ship began to ride uneasily, though the force of the wind, now from the southward and eastward, had increased but little, and the fall of the barometer was so gradual that at noon the mercury still stood at 29.70. There was, however, no longer any doubt that a gale was approaching, and preparations were made to meet it. At one o’clock the topsails were closereefed, and the wind freshened so rapidly that the mainsail and mizzen topsail were soon after furled. Two hours later the foresail began to split and was taken in, and by four o’clock the ship was hove to on the port tack, under fore storm-sail and trysail and close-reefed maintopsail, heading southwest by south, a furious gale blowing from southeast, the barometer at 29.50, a fine, drizzling rain falling, and the sea rough and irregular. The ship rode as lightly as though she had been in port.

From this time the mercury fell rapidly, and the wind as rapidly increased in violence, steadily maintaining its direction from southeast, and blowing in terrific gusts, which abated as though only to gather renewed force. The gale had become a hurricane. It was evident that it was quickly nearing us. A few minutes after five o'clock the main-yard, a piece of wood ninety-eight feet long and seven in circumference, was broken into three pieces with a thundering crash ; and almost simultaneously with this disaster the maintopsail split with a succession of loud cracks like rapid volleys of musketry, and disappeared to leeward. The maintrysail was soon close-reefed and set, only to be blown into ribbons; and not long after the fore-trysail vanished in a twinkling, followed by the fringes of the storm-staysail. The hurricane had become a tornado ; we were wrestling with the great scourge of the sea, the dreaded typhoon. It is a hopeless task to attempt to give an idea of one of these fearful convulsions of nature, even to nautical men, who have not had the misfortune to experience one. The howling of the wind, which continually varies in tone and force, is like no other noise ever heard on earth, but is such as all the fiends in pandemonium, yelling in discord, might be supposed to make. It pained and deafened the ears and sent strange thrills of horror throughout the frame. The ship lay quietly over on her side, held there by the madly rushing wind, which, at the same time, flattened down the sea, cutting off the tops of the waves and breaking them into fine white spray, which covered the ocean like a thick cloud as high as the topmast-heads. At times the mainmast was invisible from the quarter-deck. It was impossible to elevate the head above the rail or even to look to windward. The eyelids were driven together and the face stung by the fleetly driven salt spray. Men breathed it and became sickened. They crouched about the decks, clinging with all their strength to whatever seemed most secure. One or two had crawled upon the poop, but had to lie down at full length. Orders could not be heard by the man at your elbow ; had they been, they could not have been executed. The ship lay almost on her beam-ends, with her helm up, stripped of even the sails, which had been furled upon the yards. Mortal hands could do nothing for her.


By half past six o’clock the fury of the typhoon was indescribably awful. Each gust seemed unsurpassable in intensity, but was succeeded, after a pause that was not a lull, by one of still more terrific violence. The barometer indicated 27.82. Masts and yards came crashing down one after another, though the deafening howling of the wind almost drowned the noise of their fall. The ship began to labor heavily, shipping great seas at every lurch, which swept everything movable off the decks, carrying away boats and bulkheads, cabin, armory, and pantry, skylights and hammock rail, and washing men and officers aft in one confused and helpless crowd. At half past seven the barometer had fallen to 27.62, which of itself will satisfy nautical men — who watch with intense interest the hourly changes of tenths and hundredths of the scale of this little monitor — that the elements were performing one of their grandest tragedies. A tremendous sea now came over the weather bow and gangway, completing the destruction its predecessors had commenced, sweeping the decks clean, and tearing off the battens and tarpaulins which had been placed over the hatches to keep the water from below. The tempest was at its intensest fury. The darkness was impenetrable, save when lighted tip by occasional flashes of lurid sheet-lightning, adding fresh horror to the spectacle, at which pallid, awe-stricken men silently and despairingly gazed. The ship quivered in every part, her timbers working and cracking as though she were every moment about to break in two.


Suddenly the mercury rose to 27.90, and with one wild, unearthly, soulthrilling shriek the wind as suddenly dropped to a calm, and those who had been in these seas before knew that we were in the terrible vortex of the typhoon, the dreaded centre of the whirlwind. The ship had been fast filling with water, and fruitless efforts had been made to work the pumps ; but when the wind died away the men jumped joyfully to the brakes, exclaiming, “The gale is broken! we are all safe!” For the officers there was no such feeling of exultation. They knew that if they did not perish in the vortex, they had still to encounter the opposite semicircle of the typhoon, and that with a disabled ship. It was as though a regiment of freshly wounded soldiers had been ordered to meet a new enemy in battle, and that without delay, for the cessation of the wind was not to be a period of rest. Till then the sea had been beaten down by the wind, and only boarded the vessel when she became completely unmanageable ; but now the waters, relieved from all restraint, rose in their own might. Ghastly gleams of lightning revealed them piled up on every side in rough pyramidal masses, mountain high, — the revolving circle of wind which everywhere enclosed them causing them to boil and tumble as though they were being stirred in some mighty caldron. The ship, no longer blown over on her side, rolled and pitched, and was tossed about like a cork. The sea rose, toppled over, and fell with crushing force upon her decks. Once she shipped immense bodies of water over both bows, both quarters, and the starboard gangway, at the same moment. She sank under the enormous load, no one thought ever to rise again, and some making preparations for a few more minutes of life by seizing ladders and chests, by which they might be buoyed up when she should disappear from beneath them. She trembled violently, paused, then slowly, wearily rose, with four feet of water on her spar deck. Her seams opened fore and aft, the water pouring through in broad sheets, and giving to those who were shut down by the closed hatches upon the deck below a feeling of the most wretched hopelessness. For them the situation was even more appalling than for those on deck, since for them there was absolutely no prospect of escape. They saw the water streaming through the opening seams of the deck above, and watched it rising inch by inch in the pump-well, — once fifteen in less than an hour; they witnessed the contortions of the vessel, and looked at huge beams and sturdy knees breaking in half, stanchions fetching away, bolts drawing, butts opening, water-ways gaping, and masses of rotten wood dropping out from places where a smooth surface of paint and varnish had hidden the decay, and they knew that a single plank out of that ship’s side would convert her Into their coffin. In one place a man thrust his arm through a hole to the very outer planking. Both above and below men were pitched about the decks, and many of them injured. Some, with broken bones and dislocated limbs, crawled to the surgeons, begging assistance.


At twenty minutes before eight o’clock the vessel entered the vortex ; at twenty minutes past nine o’clock it had passed and the hurricane returned, blowing with renewed violence from the north, veering to the west.

The once noble ship, the pride not only of our own navy but of the whole craft of ship-builders over all the world, was now only an unmanageable wreck. There was little left for the wind to do but entangle the more the masses of broken spars, torn sails, and parted ropes which were held together by the wire rigging. One curious bundle, about four feet in thickness, of sail and cordage and lightning-rod, so knotted together that the efforts of a dozen men failed to undo it, has been preserved as a trophy of our battle with the winds, and a remarkable example of the mysterious effects they are able to accomplish, An hour or two later the tempest began sensibly to abate, and confidence increased in the ability of the ship to hold together. When daylight dawned the danger was over, and we first became aware of the astonishing amount of damage the ship had incurred in bearing us through the perils of that dreadful night. It was evident that she had sacrificed herself to save us.

All hands were soon hard at work clearing away the wreck, and rigging jury-masts and sails; and ere the sun again set the ship was slowly working back to Yokohama, whence she had sailed but a few hours before in all the trimness of a well-appointed man-of-war. There was something almost funereal about her return, for she was eight days crawling back over the distance she had so gayly sped in one, before she re-entered the harbor and reached the anchorage which she will probably never again leave. There she lies, condemned by the board of survey as unseaworthy, an interesting relic of our naval history, and a noble monument of that immortal genius which enabled man to cope successfully with the elements in one of their grandest contests.