it had begun already to veer towards the NE, and it was in that direction that it crossed the Sea of Japan, with increasing speed: about 13, 8 nautical miles an hour, It passed through the Tsugaru Strait during the night of the 22nd, as shown by the variations of pressure and the backing of the wind from ESE to WNW ( force 7 ) . at Hakodate; then it darted across the Pacific, along the south of the Kurile Is, in the direction of the ENE, a course very familiar te many typhoons, At Nemuro, the pressure fell below 749mm, on the morning of the 23rd, and the wind freshened while backing from ESE to NNW and NW.
III. — EFFECTS OF THE TYPHOON EXPERIENCED ON BOARD STEAMERS
A contribution to the knowledge of these revolving storms will be supplied by some extracts of the reports of ships having f the influence of the present typhoon: they will show at what distance from the centre its presence was felt and under what form; this might be useful to captains who, in the future, may encounter a similar typhoon. As a rule their advance and course of action are more simple, but it is necessary to state that one must be always on the look out, and not rely too much upon instructions drawn according to calculations based on the means, and on what takes place in the majority of cases. When you are in the hurricane, you have not to fight against a mean danger, but against an actual and practical enemy not a merely theoretical one. Here for instance it is recorded in the Far East that a steamer was wrecked on the dangerous reefs of the Paracels, because, in the opinion of a captain, the conviction existed on board that typhoons never could advance towards the SW. When we remember the uncertainty and anxiety experienced here during the 18 days we were watching the present typhoon, with all the information we could gather, we quite understand the trouble that may prey upon the conscience of a commanding officer isolated at sea, and having often to take a decision merely with the observations made on board.
The Observatory of the Imperial Japanese Navy at Kobe has published the names of 21 japanese steamers that were caught in the storm: these may be found in the Bulletin of August, page 164 with the value of the barometric minimum and the duration of the gale. To have some idea of the violence of the cyclone, we find there that the pressure fell to 708mm, 8 (27in. 90) on the 10th at 10 p. m. on board the Batavia Maru to the NW of Naha; we see there too that some steamers, at different dates, from the 9th (Nanking Maru) to the 20th (Peking Maru) noted winds of force 11 and even 12, that
