Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1889 — A WATER SPOUT. [ARTICLE]

A WATER SPOUT.

An Interesting Observation of an American Officer. Among the reports of the Hydrographic Bureau for October is the following remarkable account of a waterspout by Chief Officer Calloway of the American steamship Santiago: w On the 99th day of April, 1889, at about 6:30 o’clock a. m., lloyal Island (one of the Bahamas) bore about, distance four miles; wind light from south- | southeast, weather partly cloudy. Observed a waterspout forming off the starbord bow (ship heading southwest), and moving in tho direction of the , steamer at an angle of throo .points. ! On account of its close proximity, I wa* about to sleor clear of it. when I observed it breaking, about thirty yards from the ship. Immediately | afterward the steamer passed through the outer edge of the whirlpool, the diameter of which I should judge tu have been about fifty to seventy yards. ‘ ‘On j)a3sing through the outer edge | I observed that the center was hollow, the water circling from west to east, or against the sun. The water that fell on the deck was very salty, and the drops as large as a fifty-ceut piece. I During the few seconds of our passage of about thirty or thirty-five miles per hour. I did not observe any calm in center at all. the water arising from it resembling an inverted fountain, j After clearing it the wind resumed its regular force, about fifteen miles per hour; Being the officer of the wAtch, I had little time to obierve the barometer, but it fluctuated one or twohundredths and then resumed its pre- | vious reading. “The clouds above and around the spout were very ragged and much disturbed, similar to those in a thunderstorm; their motions wore very rapid, ascending, descending and breaking away from each other. The water was whirling rapidly for several minutes alter the break, showing what tremendous circular force there must have been. I mayTncqtion that upon passing through it the steering of the vessel was not affected, sojif there was any ourrant at all It must have been eircular and confined to theeonter.”

Dosen’t Work by the Piece. Old Sol—You’re five minutes behind time. Town Clock— Oh, I work by the day- | Pretty Near It, Though. First Whiskey Barrel—Are yon empty P Second Whiskey Barrel—Not by ajugful. Soltis. First Eleotrio Wire —What’s the aewfeP- w . Second Electrio Wire—Shooking. Extending Its Arms. First Tree—How’s business? Second Tree- Branching out