Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1901 — GREAT WEATHER SHARPS. [ARTICLE]

GREAT WEATHER SHARPS.

Olden-Time Sailor* on the Gnlf ol Mexico Were Experts. “The greatest weather sharps In the world,” said a citizen, who takes an interest in meteorology, especially ol the goosebone brand, “were the old time sea captains In the gulf and coast trade. Squall smelling was a necessary part of their business, for, as you probably know', the biggest dirty weathei factory in the universe is the Caribbean Sea. There are no such things as times and masons dow r n there, nnd what’s coming next is a matter of pure chance. It may be a dead calm aud it may be a rip-roaring hurricane, so the men who cruised In those waters before we had any signal service to help them out had to keep continually on the alert, and It’s no wonder that some of them acquired a skill that seemed next dooi to supernatural. “It became a sort of instinct, a second nature, with them, and they couldn’t tell how they did it them selves. They would predict changes before they were even hinted at in the glass; they would anticipate the very coprice of the wind, aud many a time they saved fheir ships and their skins by quick, sharp orders which for the moment appeared to be nothing short of preposterous. Of course it was all a matter of minute observation, a good deal of which was no doubt unconscious. They had learned by long experience to read meaning in the different forms of clouds and the way the cloud strata lay In the upper air; the water was an open book to them, and they would detect a hundred und one small atmospheric phenomena Invisible to the ordinary observer. “I was on the ship of one of these famous old weather prophets years ago on a voyage to Havana. We were Just entering the harbor when the captain, who had been moody and distraught for several hours, suddenly called the mate nnd ordered him to get anchored ns quickly ns possible oml make everything fast for a hurricane. The mute made a mild protest. ‘The glass Is pretty steady, sir,’ he said. ‘Never mind,’ snid the captain, it’s a-coinln’ all the same!’ ’’—New Orleans Times* Democrat.